El Chaltén

El Chaltén
El Chaltén
Flag Coat of arms
El Chaltén Location within Argentina
Coordinates: 49°19′53.069″S 72°53′10.064″W
Country	Argentina
Province	Santa Cruz
Department	Lago Argentino
Government
• Intendant	Néstor Ticó (PJ)
Elevation	397 m (1,302 ft)
Population  (2022 Census)
• Total	1,861
Time zone	UTC−3 (ART)

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El Chaltén is a small mountain village in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is located on the riverside of Rio de las Vueltas, within the Los Glaciares National Park (section Reserva Nacional Zona Viedma) near the base of Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy spires, both popular for climbing. It is 220 kilometres (140 mi) north of El Calafate. It is also a popular base for hiking numerous trails, such as those to the base of surrounding peaks and glacial lakes, such as Laguna Torre and Laguna de los Tres (near the base of Fitz Roy).

For those reasons, El Chaltén was named Argentina's Trekking Capital or Capital Nacional del Trekking. In 1985, Argentina and Chile had a border dispute over El Chaltén. There was no war, and El Chaltén was awarded to Argentina. Homes, government buildings, and flags of Argentina went up to mark the city settlement.

The town is located at the edge of the 12,363 km² (4,773 mi²) Southern Patagonian Ice Field and about 3000 inhabitants live there throughout all the seasons of the year. Snow and ice mostly fence the town, and the homes are low structured with roads mostly made of rocks and dirt.