The weather was windy with broken cloud this morning, which in these parts almost qualifies as a good day, so Nina encouraged me to hike the trail to Lago Torre, at the foot of the Grande and Torre glaciers and from which there are supposed to be good views of Cerro Torre.

Cerro Torre though relatively short at 10-11,000 ft is one of the great mountains of the world and is famous in mountaineering circles so I was keen to go see it. Unfortunately as I progressed up the valley the sky was blue in all directions except where the mountains were. At the eastern end of the lake there were many hikers like myself all huddled up behind rocks trying to avoid the howling wind, with the occasional dash out from shelter to take a photo of the few icebergs in the lake; the mountains were not visible.

In the hope of getting a better view I continued along a rough trail that followed the crest of the moraine on the North side of the lake. This trail took me high above the lake, and far enough West to be almost level with the foot of the glaciers. I even waited 45 minutes at the end of this trail, again sheltered behind a bolder, in the hope that clouds might lift - but no luck. In fact the weather deteriorated and as I retraced my path along the moraine I had to fight a ferocious wind. At times it was so strong that I could not walk, and on a few occasions I was lifted off my feet. By the time I got back to the Eastern end of the lake it was raining hard and all that was left of the day was a 3 hour wet walk back to town.

I was surprised by the number of inadequately prepared hikers I saw on the trail. But the one that took the cake so to speak was the couple that where hauling their camping gear in a two wheeled shopping trolley!! - and not looking very happy about it.