I just came across this quote online about the build up of El Chalten.

After a visit to the area in 1989 famed Swiss climber Michel Piola wrote,

“The village of Chalten in its frenetic build up…. All these factors force us to recognize that this region of Patagonia is hopelessly evolving towards a concept of accessibility and civilization similar to the standards defined by our modern world. The disfigured landscapes and the bulldozers marking out the road of ‘progress’ are challenging us and asking us to pause and reflect: will man ever succeed in restraining his bulimic hunger for material things, and finally have enough respect for a place to agree not to provide it with ‘amenities’? That’s the price that we must pay if we don’t want to turn the world into a giant structured Lunapark, in which the Human Being will only be a pawn without personality or initiative. We do not deserve that, and neither does Patagonia.”