Patagonia – four seasons in one hike

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The evening of Tuesday 14th Dec we battled London rush hour on the tube out to Heathrow. That was all forgotten once we were in the lounge sipping on bubbles waiting for our flight to Buenos Aries; the start of our 3 week holiday in Argentina. We touched down in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where we had to stay on the air craft while they restocked and cleaned it. This was a little odd, and after 12hrs it would have been nice to get off the plane. It was a little chaotic arriving in BA people everywhere and multiple unorganised queues for passport checks and customs. Like NZ and OZ they scan bags for meat and fruit products. It was then a cross town dash to the domestic airport on the other side of the city. The first impressions of BA weren’t fantastic; however we were just on the main arterial road. The flight was less bumpy than I had imagined and we landed safely in El Calafate, Patagonia beside Lago Argentino. The town itself was great, one main road with little shops, bars and restaurants lining it. It reminded us of a small skiing town in NZ. After enjoying a drink in the sun, Scott had the first steak dinner of many in the home of the large steaks. Given how southern we were (further south than the Auckland & Campbell Islands south of Stewart Island), there was nearly 20hrs of daylight.

The following morning we were up and out the door early barrelling towards the largest Glacier in the world, Perito Moreno. On the way we managed to spot the only pink flamingos of the trip, the two of them were prancing around Lago Argentino edge. Usually they are in large flocks so rather odd to see just a pair. The Glacier did not fail to impress, the thing is massive! It is 60-80m high at the front above the water and 200m all up below the water, and it gets bigger the further back into the Glacier you go. It took around an hour to walk around the front of it on the very nicely made platforms. You can hear large booms, before seeing the ice cracking and collapsing into the lake. The wind was blowing in off the ice, so it was pretty cold on the walk. Next we jumped on a boat and got a little closer to the front, but not too close. As you got closer the scale of the thing came home. We docked on the left side of the glacier and started the 1hr hike up the side. We were then suited and booted in a very unflattering harness and crampons. They were very odd to walk in as you are very much anchored to the ground, so have to be careful not to spike yourself or others. One guy on the trip didn’t quite get the hang of things with trying to get across a small stream on the ice and ended up with hands on one side and feet on the other. It ended up being a bit of a ‘dick-dip’ for the poor chap, whoops. Hiking across the ice was brilliant the different shapes, patterns, colours and amazing sink holes. While on the ice we realised maybe we needed some more gear for our hikes to protect necks and ears, it was pretty cold. But the sun came out just before stopping for lunch. However for us it wasn’t much of a lunch given we weren’t aware it was BYO. On the way back given the sun had some out the ice had a lovely sheen on the top and the streams started to flow, so we had a few to leap across. As we boarded the boat back to the bus the weather changed, you could see the rain racing down the Glacier. So we were pretty lucky for the hours on the ice in the sunshine. The trip ended with a whiskey with Glacier ice on the boat, excellent.

It was an even earlier start for our journey to Torres Del Paine (TDP) National Park. We were up and ready at 5.30am and started to get a little nervous once it was past 6am with no bus. We ended up leaving the town just after 7am and slept pretty much all the way to the boarder. When we turned off to the frontier I swear it started to snow, big hunks of snowflakes. It was very surreal. The frontier boarder was hilarious, classic wanted posters with some dodgy looking men and the boarder control team were typing with one finger. So it was a slow process getting through there. Then we hit the Chilean boarder, more chaotic lines, forms to fill and bags to be scanned. Fairly soon we were racing towards TDP, the scenery was very pretty. Wide open valleys and large majestic mountains with pretty shades of brown, green and blue. We managed to spot lots of large hares, condors and guanacos (lama). The guanacos we everywhere, and we thought we would see a lot more, but that was our only sighting of the wonderful creature. The puma’s like to feast on the chilengoes (baby guanacos), as our guide put it ‘McDonalds for the puma’. We stopped at a bright blue lake with a white salted edge, and got our first view and as it turned out the best view of the three iconic pillars; Torres Del Paine. We left the tour at the National Park entrance and jumped into another van for transfer to our hostel for the night and start point of the classic ‘W’ hike across the park. Refugio Las Torres was a lot nicer than we expected and very clean. That evening we enjoyed one of many pisco sours in a hotel close by and watched a low budget movie about the puma. The evening meal was amazing large chunk of steamed local fish with a potatoes and pumpkin mash. Rather sophisticated, I was expecting pasta, pasta and more pasta. At all the Refugio’s we were treated to a three course meal, very civilised hiking. In addition all the Refugios had a lovely selection of Chilean wines bottled and in a carton, on our first night we treated ourselves to a bottle but after that stuck to the carton given the price. Over dinner we met a lovely couple from Sheffield. They were half way around the ‘O’ hike, this is the real deal-o and goes right around the TDP mountains, so you must camp and carry everything with you; taking around 8-10 days. The ‘W’ just takes in the South Eastern part of the park, the most spectacular and took us 4 days. However you can complete it in around 3 if you push it. We also had to carrying everything we needed so clothes, toiletries, lunch and water, bedding was provided in the Refugio so that lightened the load.

We both had a pretty good sleep bar the loud boisterous snoring from the Brazilin in our room, and strangely his stuff was everywhere. A little odd when you are in a shared hostel environment. It was rainy and windy so we waited it out a little longer and took a leisurely breakfast, braving the instant coffee, ouch. Our first day was around 23km, up to our next Refugio nestled in the valley, further up the valley to another campsite then returning via the TDP mirador to get the ‘picture postcard’ views of the granite towers from the glacier to the top of their peaks (apparently). The walk up was windy and slightly rainy so we checked in to the Refugio and warmed up with a hot coco before heading further up the valley. Up the valley we leaped across a large boulder field and came across an ice slice that had tumbled down the valley and was still solid, plus a wide avalanche path were the trees had been torn down, yikes! We then spotted these odd birds in the river jumping back up it, later we found out they were the rare Torrent Duck who do swim up current to catch little river bugs. Even though it just started to rain we started our accent to the TDP mirador, hoping it would clear once reached the top and not wanting to return the next morning. It really started to hose down part way up and then the famous Patagonian winds kicked in as we were crossing the boulder face. We sheltered near a large boulder as we were hit square in the face by a hard hail pelting. On reaching the summit we could see nothing at all of the pillars, just the blue milky lake at the base. We sheltered in a little hollow, however the wind gets you from all around and then we experienced a snow flurry for the next 5mins or so. The cloud never really lifted and the weather kept rolling in, so as our hands reached freezing point we decided to high tail it back down to the Refugio for much needed wine. The evening Scott was served up rather an interesting dish. It included mince, chucks of chicken, boiled egg, chillies, all topped with a corn and cheese mash ... interesting. Over dinner we heard a rumour at the next Refugio you could upgrade accommodation to a private cabin, clearly I was highly excited about this prospect.

The following morning I got up at 5.30, the plan being if it was clear we would race up to the mirador to seek a view before starting the next leg of the ‘W’. It was howling with wind, the rain was coming down and the sky’s grey. Not many people decided to go up that morning, including us. By the time we left the winds had died down dramatically, so it was a quick stroll down the valley and we were soon on the plateau and meandering along the base of the mountain up and down rolling hills. It became even more pleasant as the sun came out and could stroll along in t-shirts, well, we still had thermals underneath. As we rounded the mountain and came up over a hill top we got the first view of the spectacular Lago Nordenskjold, flanked by three small hills and the Andes. It was simply stunning. We continued on, really the only people around with Cuenos Del Paine looming on the right hand side. Generally, we were amazed by the general lack of other hikers we came across. Given it was peak season (Dec to March), we were expecting a lot more people on the trail and lots of groups to try and get past. However all the Refugio’s were totally booked solid, thus the hiking itself was very pleasant verses something like the Inca Trail where there are people everywhere. We rounded a corner a Valle de Frances came into view, our challenge for the next day (central valley of the W), it was covered in snow showers. Also coming into site was Refugio Cuernos and some very new looking cabins, jackpot! For the bargain price of USD$50 we upgraded from a hostel room to a private cabin, with spectacular views of Cuenos, the Valle and Lake, plus usage of the natural wood fire hot tub. Yes, that’s right, in the middle of the national park a good 4hr+ hike from any mode of transport there was a hot tub, genius. That evening we were treated to a lovely sunset and Valle De Frances showed herself, all the while condors circling over head. Things took a turn for the worst over night. It felt like our little cabin was going to lift off like Dorothy’s house in Kansas. It shook, rattled, creaked and generally took a battering.

As we set off to what was suppose to the furthest and hardest day hiking the winds were howling and the rains came down. There was no visibility across the lake or up into the mountains. As we walked along the foreshore of the lake, we tackled the epic gusts, clinging to rocks or trees to steady ourselves and waiting out the gust before moving on. If you didn’t you would be knocked off your feet. You could visibility see the winds racing across the lake in wall like spray. It rained, rained and then rained some more. Ideally it would have been better to have some industrial strength waterproof clothing. The £3.99 plastic poncho bought a few days before leaving London wasn’t really cutting the mustard. We soldiered on fighting against the horizontal rain and reached Italiano Camp the turn off point to go up Valle De Frances. Given we were never coming back this way again, the desire to actually complete the ‘W’ and the optimistic hope it may, just may clear we started upwards. We got a good view of Glacier Del Frances and the icefalls clinging to the rock face above were brilliant, you could hear as the chunks of ice crashed into the valley. The weather did not let up one bit and after passing through the bonsai forest, and not seeing anything of the Curenos pointy horns from the very exposed mirador we decided to cut our losses and head back. Given we were now very much soaked through to the skin and my boots were filling up with water I think we nearly broke a land speed record racing to the next Refugio. To our delight Refugio Paine Grande was huge, clean and full of all the amenities (lots of fires to dry soaking clothes) we could want after hiking in the driving rain for 7hrs and seeing nothing. We were up in the bar for happy hour and enjoyed a few pisco sours, watching other hikers shuffle in or the hardy ones who had waited hoping it for it to clear, heading off. The winds (90kpm +) raged on all night the tents outside took a serve buffering, given the large building was still creaking under the strain.

We set off in slight drizzle and over cast sky’s, up along Lago Grey towards Glacier Grey; the final up prong of the ‘W’ path. As we reached the first mirador the sky’s started to clear and we enjoyed a fabulous view of the Glacier and surrounding mountains. The Glacier has three arms reaching into the Lago and was a brilliant icy blue colour. Within 3hrs we were waiting at the Refugio Grey, the pick-up point for the Grey’s Navigation our transport out of the park. Right on the dot of 1pm the boat appeared the moored off the lake beach and sent a little fizz boat which we boarded from the rocks nearby. The boat then of course offered as a beverage (scotch or pisco sour) with Glacier ice to enjoy as we travelled pretty close to the Glacier itself. There were stupendous views across the ice and back up the spiked TPD mountains; a sensational end to the hike. It was a bit of a bumpy ride back passed a few icebergs as the wind picked up. Unfortunately, as the clouds really did start to clear and you were treated to a full view of Valle De Frances and the Cuernos with nearly no cloud cover our camera battery ran out of gas – bummer. Once we were on shore we asked the park ranger to call the hotel and we sat on the grass and gazed upon the magnificent views of TDP at its best. 40mins later we were racing out of the park and were treated to an even better view of the entire TDP NP mountain range. We were seriously kicking ourselves about the lack of camera at this point! We thought the next night near the Rio Serrano would not provide a view back to TDP. Wrong. Absolutely sensational vistas of the range, even through our hotel room window. We could now appreciation what everyone raves about, it is truly one of the most spectacular views in the world.

At 4am the following morning I was woken up by the sound of munching. On peering through the window I was greeted with a field full of horses happily mowing the hotel lawn and it looked like we were set for a great sunrise. We were not disappointed the sunrise was excellent and I had to race outside for more cloud free photos. All in all I think we were really lucky to be able to see TDP in all its glory. Our exit from TDP area was again a memory I will never forget. After dressing in long extremely warm orange coats and lifejackets, we boarded a zodiac on Rio Serrano with the clouds starting to roll in, we were the only passengers. The zodiac zipped along the still river with mountains all around, swinging this way and that round the many turns. We reached the Tyndell Glacier and had a very clear view of the ice; apparently only 5 days out of 100 to you get such a view. Racing further along the river Serrano Glacier came into sight which was near vertical tumbling into the river below. When then sat in a hostel type place for around an hour waiting for a connecting boat to Puerto Natales, a little boring and slightly worrying in terms of what was going on. Our zodiac guy couldn’t really speak much English, but was way better than our Spanish. Once he made contact with the boat we were off, racing around the lake doing donuts. We cruised along the river edge and came across a number of graceful waterfalls and then caught of glimpse of the next Glacier that was receding back into the mountain. Although we have seen many Glaciers they have all been different or special and certainly not alike. We then got taken to do a short walk to Serrano Glacier and the most amazing thing was that a group of 5 condors swooped past us down the valley within about 30m; the noise from the wings was great. The boat that took as down the Fiord and Puerto Natales was the slowest I have ever been on. This would have been great if it was a nice day, however the rain had returned so we didn’t get to see anything of the Fiord. That said I preferred it that was round as the ride up Rio Serrano was something special. By the time we reached the lunch spot it was 4pm and I was pretty hungry. It was a BBQ, so Scott got a huge plate of various meats; lamb, chicken & sausage, I had an omelette (not ideal). The port at Puerto Natales is a fair way out of town and in total disrepair; in fact the entire town wasn’t what we expected as it is the main jump off point into the TDP park from Chile. It was very ramshackle, dusty, with a few drunks stumbling around. But we managed to find the one diamond in the ruff. It is the place that most people go to celebrate the end of their hikes. A lovely pizza place in an old weather board red house on the main square, the pizza and wine were excellent. This is the furthest South we came on the trip, approximately 51 degrees South.

The next following day we travelled back to El Calafate by bus which was jam packed so we didn’t get to sit next to each other. The frontier crossing was as chaotic as the first all up taking around 90mins of queuing. On the drive back Scott did manage to spot the last remaining native animal we had not yet seen; an ostrich like tall bird. We relaxed most of the afternoon reading books (that we hadn’t been able to take down hiking as too heavy), and getting our stinky washing done. Later that evening we went to a traditional Argentinean steak house, Scott devoured a huge hunk of meat and I had a lovely trout. All washed down with a hearty Mendoza red, which is where we are heading next for Christmas, wines and more hiking but in the Andes this time.
PHOTOS

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