Paso Huemul   144117
previous panorama
next panorama
Orientation on / offOrientation on / off
Details / LabelsDetails / Labels Markers on / offMarkers on / off Overview on / offOverview on / off   
 Cycle through labels:   first previous stop
play
pause
next last
  zoom out
 

Labels

1 Paso Huemul
2 Access road to El Chalten
3 Lago Viedma
4 Cordon Mascarello
5 Glaciar Viedma
6 2180
7 Hielo Sur
8 Nunatak Viedma
9 To Paso del Viento

Details

Location: Paso Huemul (1060 m)      by: Pedrotti Alberto
Area: Argentina      Date: 11-02-2014
For me Paso Huemul is the most interesting spot on the Vuelta al Huemul, the long loop around the bulky 2677 m Cerro Huemul, rising SW of El Chaltén. The best place to imagine this loop is by far N.12516.
Interested people are encouraged to study also the track on www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=10777530
The present view tries to give equal weight to Lago Viedma and to Glaciar Viedma, the long ice stream descending from the Hielo Patagónico Sur and flowing into it. As you see, it was taken in a very harsh Patagonian light, which will surely yield no pleasure to lovers of Pastelltöne a.s.o. - actually, let me say that Paso Huemul is definitely no place for Pastelltonic people, as I will perhaps demonstrate with some panorama shot in full daylight.
For camping, one finds little protected flat areas below the rock on the extreme right. Here the sense of isolation is acute: in the whole stretch along glacier+lake, that is, in the stretch between Paso del Viento and the junction with the popular path to Loma del Pliegue Tumbado, I met only a party of six people from Ukraine. How many times I thought of them afterwards: after this trek they were flying to the Iguacu waterfalls, and then directly home, where they were going to find the war...
Noteworthy is the similarity with the classical Paine "O" circuit, where Lago and Glaciar Viedma are substituted by Lago and Glaciar Gray, and Paso del Viento by Paso John Garner. Only Paso Huemul is unique, and does not find a suitable counterpart there. These concepts will perhaps be more clear after further panoramas from both places, but this needs time.
To conclude. Now that lovers of Pastelltöne will have long fled away, for the few remaining I dare to propose the visualization of www.panoramio.com/photo/124788544 This should illustrate even better what I mean by "harsh Patagonian light"!

Shooting data: I will retrieve them!
www.panoramio.com/photo/124359642

Comments

Wunderschön. Vor allem erkennt man auch sehr gut die wahre Größe des Viedma Gletschers, auf dem ich ja auch schon herumgetigert bin.
2015/10/20 21:49 , Jens Vischer
Herrlich und düster zugleich!
2015/10/21 11:36 , Christian Hönig
As said Jens, Wunderschön.
2015/10/22 00:19 , Giuseppe Marzulli
Jens: dort, wo die wohl sichtbaren Mittelmoränen etwas an den Aletschgletscher erinnern, ist der Viedma 5 km breit, der Aletsch 1 km...
2015/10/22 13:18 , Pedrotti Alberto
PS: probably I will never propose this, however it may help you to understand the Viedma glacier:
www.alpen-panoramen.de/panorama.php?pid=25711
(Endowed with location and a very basic "courtesy" Beschriftung)
Best, Alberto.
2015/10/23 19:21 , Pedrotti Alberto
Oh yes, that's very interesting, thanks for the link. Maybe someday you will have the free slot to post it here...
2015/10/23 19:56 , Jens Vischer
Ist ja phantastisch, dieser breite Gletscherstrom. Sieht ja noch aus wie auf den Bildern in der Zeitschrift des DÖAV von 1904, wo Rudolf Hauthal die Gletscher "der argentinischen Cordillere" beschrieben hat.
2015/10/23 20:20 , Heinz Höra
Stunning light with very intersting cloud formation ... wonderful to see your impressions from Patagonia again! Thanks for your valuable informations Alberto.

Tanti saluti, Hans-Jörg
2015/10/24 11:41 , Hans-Jörg Bäuerle
Heinz: impressed by your "nimmersatte" research activity, I transcribe in a sketchy way some of the notes that I had written down at the time for slide-shows and lectures on the subject Patagonia:

- Rudolf Hauthal worked for the Argentinian Border Commission, and it was he who gave the name Bismarck to the Moreno glacier. He was also a talented climber. Among his ascents, the high Volcán Lanín in Central Chile and, in Patagonia, the first ascent of Cerro Buenos Aires, the one occupying the Peninsula Magallanes. I am on a fore-summit of this Cerro when I shoot N.18358
His publications on the DÖAV magazine are equipped with paintings by no less than E.T.Compton.

- Friedrich Reichert moved, invited by Hauthal, from Schwäbisch Hall to Argentina. At the time, he had already climbed the diabolic Ushba in the Caucasus!! First he worked in Salta, where he climbed many summits of the High Andes (also the 6650 m Cerro Tupungato). Next the moved - because of the search for oil - to Comodoro Rivadavia. In 1913 he rode on horse one month from the Atlantic coast to Lago Argentino, reaching the now called Paso Reichert on the Hielo Sur. Two years later he was again, with Alfred Kölliker, on the Hielo Sur, where on the watershed they left a bottle with some written sheets. The bottle was found 85 years later on Glacier Viedma. Find this bottle in the Viedma panel at the Glaciarium in El Calafate: www.panoramio.com/photo/124903546

- The panel also reports on the most famous feature of the Viedma, namely, the ash belts visible on its surface. Visible, of course, more on aerial images than on my poor picture from Paso Huemul. They witness the eruptions of the Volcan Lautaro, the most mysterious object of the Hielo Sur. Some notes on its history:

- in 1876 a ship from the Chilean fjords saw some smoke coming from the Hielo Sur, The same happened in 1878, when the name Humboldt was assigned to the thus conjectured volcano;

- in 1933 Reichert, together with Ilse von Rentzell and others, went up Glacier O'Higgins from Lago O'Higgins. For a few instants, among the clouds, Reichert was able to see the conic shape of the volcano. I did not have the same luck: while I was waiting to shoot www.panoramio.com/photo/124903835 the volcano, located behind the first visible pass (Paso Marconi), seemed close to unveil its summit, but never did this completely;

- in 1952 the name was changed from Humboldt into Lautaro, the Araucanian hero, by the Argentinian expedition who crossed Paso Marconi. Later, the glaciologist Lliboutry believed to see evidence of a volcano in aerial photos of the Viedma glacier, thus "inventing" a Volcán Viedma;

- in the summer 1958-59, attracted by Volcán Viedma, no less than Eric Shipton moved in search for it! Crossing the Paso del Viento (see the Testplatz www.alpen-panoramen.de/panorama.php?pid=25711), he ascertained that Nunatak Viedma was no volcano!

- on 28-12-1959 the pilot of a flight to Punta Arenas clearly noted a volcano in eruption;

- readily, Shipton organized a second expedition and the Lautaro was for the first time seed from the land. The expedition, however, had all the stoves broken (!!) and could not climb the mountain. Later, in 1961, Shipton was to realize big achievements on the Hielo Sur: check this in www.panoramio.com/photo/124903500

- in 1964 Pedro Skvarca and Luciano Pera accomplished the first ascent of the Lautaro.

Incidentally, examining Glaciarium pictures I also found two interesting ones concerning Francisco Moreno:

- a reconstruction of his study, www.panoramio.com/photo/124903563

- a late lamentation by him, www.panoramio.com/photo/124903573
"I am 66 years old, and I do not own a cent... I gave 1800 leagues of territory to my fatherland [...] and I cannot leave to my sons a metre of land where to bury my ashes. I, who obtained 1800 leagues which were disputed to us, and who nobody besides me was able, at the time, to defend and to secure to Argentinian sovereignty, I do not have a place where to bury my ashes, a little box of 20 cm edge. Ashes which, although occupying so little space, once strewn around, would cover all the territory that I obtained for my fatherland - a tiny layer indeed, yet recognizable to grateful eyes."
[Let us agree with Moreno that his ashes could not compete with those of the Lautaro!]
2015/10/24 14:55 , Pedrotti Alberto
HJBäu: I have a scientific link also for you:
picasaweb.google.com/albertopedrotti/Misc2015_2#6208616655423340338
Cheers, Alberto.
2015/10/24 14:56 , Pedrotti Alberto
Thanks Alberto, great "Zapfhahn"!!!

I like this special discipline of science - less in theory, more in practice :-)) ... but this evening i will prefer a glass of good italian wine, inspired by Giuseppe's Panorama!!!

Salute, Hans-Jörg
2015/10/24 19:31 , Hans-Jörg Bäuerle
Ganz richtige Wahl, HJBäu!
Und, wie alte Lieder schon singen:
"Ein voller Becher Weins zur rechten Zeit
Ist mehr wert als alle Reiche dieser Erde!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp8GMBTmhpU
LG, Alberto.
2015/10/24 21:58 , Pedrotti Alberto
was für ein Gletscher! Da ist ja selbst der Aletschgletscher ein Zwergerl ... LG Alexander
2017/06/02 20:39 , Alexander Von Mackensen
Es sind einfach 977 (Viedma) gegen 81 (Aletsch) km^2.
LG, Alberto.
2017/06/04 13:57 , Pedrotti Alberto

Leave a comment


Pedrotti Alberto

More panoramas

... in the vicinity  
... in the top 100