Aches and pains at the Torres del Paine

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After the trip down southern Chile aboard the Puerto Eden we were very excited about our forthcoming visit to probably the most celebrated national park in the entire continent. We'd tried to buy pretty much everything we'd need, although we were still pinning our hopes of hot dinners on a camping stove (bought on eBay some weeks before) which we were to collect at Puerto Natales post office. We were also worried about the weather, we'd heard all sorts of conflicting weather reports (heavy snow being a recurring theme - the park is probably no more than a thousand miles from Antarctica).

After much faffing, and our visit to Ushuia and the Tierra del Fuego, we were ready. Luck was on our side and we had collected the stove without incident, so early one cold morning we left the lovely Casa Cecilia hostel and set off for the park.

We spent 11 days in the park in total, way more than we had predicted before going there. Trekking options in the park are many and varied, but two of the most popular are "The W" and "El Circuito Completo". Most people opt for the W circuit, it covers most of the sights of the park, but misses the high mountain pass and the north section completely. Since we don't like to do things by halves, we went for the whole circuit - some 100km of hiking - and planned to carry all our camping gear and food.

As far as supplies for the trek were concerned, again we didn't do things by halves. Some people that we met were eating very bland and simple meals in the evenings (instant mashed potato with no salt was the least appetising concoction I heard of), but not us! When we set off we were carrying all sorts of fresh ingredients, onions, tomatoes, peppers, even minced pork and Thai fish sauce! Although we're not sure how much we were carrying, we estimate my pack to be around 25-28kg and Em's at around 18-20kg. That's a lot of food!! As a result though our dinners were the envy of the campsite, we even managed to rustle up a good old English fry-up one morning....

Since we spent so long in the park I won't give a day by day account of the hike, but instead just list the highlights:

• The sheer
  
  Glaciar Grey at sunrise

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  There wasn't much of a sunrise, which was a dissappointment having walked to the lookout, but managed to take some interesting photos of the glaciar in the morning light.
  beauty and scale of the park itself. Sounds obvious but the place really is something special. As you approach on the road you just see a collection of beautiful peaks rising up out of the plains, it's an amazing sight.
  
  
• Feeling like we were the only people in the park for much of the time. As we were hiking the full circuit and most people do just the W circuit, for the first few days it was just Em, myself and two cool guys we met, Antonio and Chris. We saw hardly anyone else, which lead to a team spirit amongst us and although it sounds unsociable, it's nice to feel like it's just you and the nature around you.
  
  
• Crossing the John Gardener Pass, and seeing Glaciar Grey for the first time. Words can't describe this experience adequately. We trudged for at least 3 hours up one side of the pass, first through bogs and woods, then up steep scree and finally through snow that was at times thigh deep. All this with winds that I reckon were approaching 60mph and which were strong enough to rip the waterproof cover off Em's bag and blow it irretrievably
  
  The barren plains of the lower parts of the park

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  Many trees in this area had been damaged by fire in the past. We were very careful not to damage any more.
  back down the valley! The winds were so strong that at times we had to sit in the snow and wait for them to pass, lest we were blown off our feet. In any case, when we finally got to the pass, all our hard work in getting there was rewarded. Em hadn't ever seen a glaciar before, and although I had, I'd never seen anything like this. Glaciar Grey is absolutely HUGE. The pictures don't really convey it's vastness, but from the top we could see where it ended but not where it started. It's an amazing sight, and for me completely justified the extra effort of the Circuito Completo.
  
  
• Seeing the Torres del Paine lit up by sunrise on the clearest morning that we could have hoped for. Having hiked into one of the most picturesque valleys (the Valley del Frances) two days before, only to not see a thing as the weather was absolutely foul, being rewarded by the sight of the Torres lit by the red sunlight was doubly pleasing. That and we'd hiked up to the viewpoint in the dark, in order to get there for sunrise, which in itself was something of a
  
  "Los Cuernos" are one of the main attractions of the park
  mission!
  
  
• The beautiful lakes around the park. Every day we'd come across another stunning lake, of one pastel hue or another, and every day we'd have to pinch ourselves and remind ourselves to soak it all up, because the real world just isn't that beautiful. The lakes and peaks around Refugio Dickson and Lake Pehoe were particular favorites.
  

Of course, not being particularly experienced hikers, and choosing the longest and hardest circuit in the park, we had our good days and our bad days. Walking 6-10 miles per day up and down mountains is after all not what we tend to do on a regular basis, let alone for nearly two weeks! That having been said, and aches & pains not withstanding, Em and I had an excellent time in the park and it even felt a bit strange to be leaving, so used were we to the routine of having some breakfast, packing the tent and hiking up some hill or other. Still, we did hurt pretty bad by day 11, so we got on a bus back to Puerto Natales and were soon whisked back to relative normality. We returned all our hired gear, got our stinky laundry swiftly dealt with (nasty!) and made arrangements to head to Argentina the following morning. Normally we would have scheduled a rest day after such an intense week and a half, but with only two weeks of the trip remaining, it was a luxury that we couldn't afford. Oh well, we could relax on the bus..... Argentina, El Calafate & Perito Moreno Glaciar, here we come!

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