author : Bartolomé Desmaisons (BD)
So, some more* natural areas were transformed/destroyed in order to offer the possibility to get more people (confortably) aware (in principle - usual pretext) about the fragility of wild areas and their disappearance !
This is a "great" achievement and a "magnificent" prospect !
So, recently** we learnt that a new facility will be available for "eco"-tourists*** (wealthy ones...).
The construction was realized by a company with much superior ethics : « la empresa profundizó su transformación en una empresa de triple impacto bajo » (it was done by a firm which increased its transformation to one company of "triple low impact"). God and morons who invented this hollow, shallow and pointless terminology who deserve no attention know what it's supposed to mean.
No impact, or negative impact (recovery) would have been better, but they felt the irresistible need to sacrifice a little bit (MORE) of the wilderness in order to convert and convince more people about the necesity to preserve it..., while living within it (the remains) with simplicity/sobriety, under the concept of "lujo de lo esencial" (luxury of the essential) for the modest cost of US$ 540 per night, per person (with a minimum duration of the stay of three nights).
No doubt awareness of customers will rise spectacularly.
Moreover, customers will be able to enjoy the result of a construction site of (no doubt) low impact, for buildings of low impact, with transports of low impact, in order to transform completely a virgin/pristine place so that customers can confortably move (from the bridge over río Eléctrico to lake Eléctrico or even the very end of the valley in the future ?) within it with low impacts, on foot, or with motorized vehicles of low impact (obviously), etc..
Frankly the company is too modest and have grossly underestimated the level of low impact of their project : « tenfold low impact » (« décuplo impacto bajo ») would have been, at least, more correct.
In order to reduce its impact even more and to increase its involvement in the preservation, we learn that on the chilean side of Patagonia two hotels of the company will be connected through small plane(s) (« los dos hoteles-destinos chilenos serán unidos en avioneta »).
Customers are suggested to get in the region with planes (« la puerta de acceso por vía aérea para el Lodge El Chaltén es la ciudad de El Calafate »).
Fortunately for them in the near future they'll even be able to have a connexion in small plane between El Calafate and El Chaltén, to "reduce" even more their (environmental ?) impact.
But WTF is this "impact" ?? Surely something much more subtle than carbon footprint, and most profanes/laymen are not able to understand what is the meaning of this astute term...
So, aerial connexions will facilitate even more their "low impact" sojourns in the area in order to make their « viajes de exploración » (« travels of exploration »). "Exploration" of a region which is known, charted, inhabited, traveled, equiped with infrastructures, etc. since decades... Great "explorations" and "adventures" for sure ! Worth the money and the carbon !
About the "exploration" of río Eléctrico valley or Marconi glacier valley itself : it has been wandered by thousands of people every year since decades, so customers will have an immense privilege, for sure. They'll surely feel like pionneers, no less.
Last point, but not the least, the deep orographic aperture in the cordillera (paso Marconi and then río Eléctrico valley, and even paso Moreno and meseta de los cuatros glaciares upstream (westward)) at the level/latitude of the río Eléctrico valley (Piedra del Fraile valley, glacier Marconi valley, whatever you want) make the weather in this area the worst in the zone between lake Viedma and lake O'Higgins/San-Martín. It's much more often windy (strong wet and cold wind from the stormtracks over Pacific ocean), rainy than anywhere else. This is obvious when you look northward from El Chaltén (toward Ea Bonanza & cordón del Bosque). And when the wind blows, it blows much much harder there than anywhere else (thank you Venturi effect !, even stronger at the narrow entrance of the valley where the lodge is exactly located !).
So enjoy your stay in the lodge !
You won't regret the thousands of USD you'll spend/leave (often waste) for an unforgettable sober experience of bullshit « lujo de lo esencial » (« luxury of the essential »).
Lucky ones with weather will enjoy a nice/normal stay (no more that what travellers/hickers usually experience (and even less, as their (speculated) average physical condition won't allow them to go further or higher than lago Eléctrico)), while most visitors/customers will enjoy the (strong wet and cold) wind, drops of water and poor visibility.
BD
* in a zone (between lake Viedma and lake O'Higgins/San-Martín) which already saw a lot of transformations. There are infrastructures everywhere in its southern part !
** https://ahoracalafate.com.ar/contenido/8366/la-chilena-explora-desembarca-en-argentina-con-un-lodge-en-el-chalten
*** well, they're :
neither "eco"-tourists in the sense of "economical" ones,
nor "eco"-tourists in the sense of "ecological" ones, as their activities drive to the destruction of more ecosystems,
but they're much more "eco"-tourists in the sense of "ecocide" ones : the one who bring and make even more destructions to the natural/virgin/pristine/wild places, to ecosystems, possible (thank you !).
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Update, nov. 10th, 2021
so, the lodge seems visible on a photograph of Julián Casanova and Joaquín Paul photographic set (great one) published by Patagonia Vertical on the 9th of november.
Two hardly visible straight dark shapes seem to correspond to the construction.
The lodge is located on the northern bank of río Eléctrico. A location which is much less catastrophic than if it was on the southern bank.
The lodge is also located on a hillock. Most customers will really have a great opportunity to enjoy Patagonian wind and weather... The region is not avaricious/stingy with wind, and customers will get their money's worth with the wind (wether literally or figuratively (thanks to all the nonsense they'll be talked about in the field of culture)).
Said POS (infographics)
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