When the alarm went off this morning at 4:30 the weather looked like it might be decent so I strapped on my pack and set off in the pre-dawn darkness through town and up the trail towards Mt. Fitz Roy. An hour and a half later I arrived at an overlook as the clouds were clearing and the light was getting dramatic. I reached into my pack, took out my camera, and realized that all of my film was back at the hotel. The eleven shots from the roll that was already in the camera will be all I have to show for the absolutely perfect weather today — I could have easily shot ten times as many photos, but with luck the mountain will show itself again at least once in the next four days.
After my photographic debacle I hiked the remainder of the trail (round trip about fifteen miles) and the views were mind-blowing. The final uphill stretch was a killer (1300′ of elevation change in an hour), but was absolutely worthwhile as the trail ended at a turquoise lake surrounded by an awe-inspiring cathedral of stone and ice. Fitz Roy is most definitely a mountain like no other.