El Chaltén
El Chalten is a small village in Patagonia in southern Argentina. It is located in the department of Lago Argentino in the province of Santa Cruz, near the Chilean border at the northern edge of Los Glaciares National Park. The town was founded on 12 October 1985, making it one of the youngest towns in Argentina.
The village of El Chalten offers the most direct access to the mountain massifs of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy. The latter is, in the language of the natives, the Tehuelche Indians, El Chalten. That means in their language "Smoking Mountain", although the Fitz Roy is not a volcano. The name derives from the often visible at the top of the mountain clouds.
The village can only be reached via an hour-long bus ride. Previously led gravel roads there, today the route is paved. The village can be reached from, among others, of El Calafate. It houses only about 100 inhabitants in winter. It has no industry and little agriculture, witnessed by the increasing tourism around the extensive trekking and mountain climbing areas close to the Fitz Roy but a strong economic recovery.
The foundation has been driven by the Argentine government largely due to border disputes with Chile. Thus, the claim to the territory should be underpinned. This ensures continued for polemic, since both countries established themselves contractually to define the membership of this region only in the near future. The Santa Cruz province shows in her coat of arms Fitz Roy Mountain and thus presses the Argentine claim over the mountains from.