Doing the ´W´ Walk in Torres Del Payne National Park

Well ... here commences one of the highlights of my trip this year, the 5 day/4 night trek through the national park of Torres Del Payne in the south of Chile.

Why is it called the ´W´walk?
This popular walk has been given this name as the shape of the path resembles the letter W. It takes usually 5 days and 4 nights to complete the walk, with camping sites all the way along, most of them free! The highlight of the W walk is viewing the infamous three towers (´torres´ in spanish and hence the name of the national park) at sunrise on the final day. We were incredibly lucky to see the towers in all their glory on both the first and last days of our trip as sadly a lot of people end up leaving the park without getting that magical glimpse.

Preparing for the big trek ... the big question is how much chocolate do we need?
After getting off the Navimag boat, we gave ourselves a day in Puerto Natales to get everything sorted for the big trekking adventure. We needed tent, sleeping bag, roll mat, cooking pots, stove, gas, big black bags for waterproofing and of course food!! We decided to hire all our equipment in town and carry it with us as it worked out a lot cheaper than hiring it in the park and we were after the proper camping and trekking experience.

When it came to food though, I really had no idea on what or how much we needed. This was where Cedric, our french friend and experienced trekker was very helpful. We copied his food list with only a few amendments and I was sure he was onto a good thing when I saw his ration of chocolate per day meant I was entitled to buy two massive family blocks just for me!!

We also went to a talk about the park and the walk by an experienced trekker who made me rethink buying waterproof pants, ponchos and other rainproofing ideas! His theory was Don't worry about wearing anything waterproof, just make sure everything in your bag is in plastic. Then when it rains, you just laugh and enjoy it ... you're in Patagonia! . So with that advice, we were ready to go!!

Day 1 ... We see the towers and there´s icebergs

My favourite plant!
This plant, called Notro in spanish, was everywhere and definitely my favourite. It really made the countryside so colourful as we walked along.

just outside the tent!
So we headed to the park on a great day, that was completely clear and we were lucky enough to see the infamous towers in all their glory. Once inside the park, we quickly jumped on a catamaran to wizz us across to the other side of the ´W´where we would start our 5 day walk. The lake we crossed was just the most amazing aqua blue colour that I've ever seen, it was simply mesmerizing to see water that colour (i'm not sure the photos really do it justice actually).

We were to spend the next 5 days with our friends Robyn and Cedric and we all headed off happily together towards the Grey Glacier, where we would make our campsite for the first night. However the wind really picked up and was blowing so hard against us that at one point we really had to fight to get one foot ahead of the other and push against the wind to make any progress at all. It was also taking a little bit of getting used to when trekking with my big backpack laden with camping equipment, although I was lucky that Pete was carrying the tent! So, after only about 3 hours we arrived at our sheltered campsite down by the lake and I was thinking it was going to be a cold night as, from inside the tent, we could see icebergs floating in the lake!!

We got our tent up no fuss, although we definitely got a lot quicker at assembling and dissembling the tent as the trek went on! We also had our first camp cooking experience and enjoyed a great meal, entree of soup and main of pasta, it was definitely the beginning of a lot of soup and pasta over the next few days! But everything was perfect and I was having the time of my life and it was only day 1!

Day 2 ... Just keep on trekking
After sleeping like a baby, it was great to wake up in the park, right by the lake and glacier. We cooked a great breakfast of oatmeal with jam for sweetening and then we were ready to start the day of trekking! First we set off without our big packs to explore the glacier a little more, although the closer we got, it definitely got colder and windier! After packing up camp, we set off again for the next camp site. With great views of gorgeous lakes again, the hours passed pretty quickly and in the late afternoon we found ourselves at Camp Italiano. It was from here on that our happy little camping group expanded as we found ourselves walking, camping and cooking with the same fun group of people every day and night and I really loved this aspect of the trip.

Day 3 ... The French Valley ... and ... a shower!!
So it was on Day 3 that we set off up the middle bit of the ´W´... which meant we could leave our big packs at the campsite as we would return the same way before contining on the trek. Moving a lot quicker without all the weight, we enjoyed the walk up the french valley which in my opinion had one of the best viewpoints of the entire walk. We also sat and enjoyed spotting the multitude of avalanches coming down the mountain and listening to their deafening thunder.

It was on this day that I greatly admired Robyn as with incredibly blistered feet, she still soldiered on to the next campsite and didn't take the out option of heading home and nursing her wounds! So after enjoying the views of the french valley, we then continued on around the gorgeous lake to Refugio Los Cuernos. This was the first campsite we stayed at where there was a refugio open and therefore showers!! So I enjoyed a great shower and a hard earned beer around the dinner table as we watched the wind stirring up the lake outside.

Day 4 ... We made it to the towers base camp!!
I think this day was my favourite as the views just seemed to get better and better, it was a gorgeous sunny day, there were condors flying ahead, life really couldn't get much better!! It was definitely a busy day for seeing other trekkers in the park though and it is only the very beginning of the season. There were massive groups of day trekkers that came through brandishing their walking sticks and nearly pushing us off the path to keep up with the person in front ... I found that people with big backpacks or campers were usually the more polite trekkers as they understood what it was like to have to move out of the way with a massive load on your back!

We made it to the base camp of the towers this afternoon and after a bit of a rest and a few rounds of cards, we decided to test out the rock scramble/walk up to the viewpoint or mirador for the towers that we would attempt in the darkness for sunrise the next morning! Trying to vaguely remember the path for the next morning so we didn't have to try and pick it with just the light of our headtorches, we started the ascent. It was definitely the most fun part of the path as it was climbing over boulders and rocks, but also quite tough. The towers were slightly clouded over this afternoon, but we were hoping for better luck the next day.

Day 5 ... Seeing the sunrise and eating breakfast with the towers!
We definitely saved the best ´til last as this was the finale of a great 5 day hike. We got up at 4.30am and made it up to the viewpoint without too much trouble in the semi-dark. We were the only people we could see up there when we first got there, so cool to have the towers to yourself for a brief period of time. Although as you can imagine there wasn't too many keen bean early morning trekkers so there was really just a handful of us up there anyway.

There was not a cloud in the sky and the towers were magnificent as the sun slowly rose and gave them an amazing red glow. We decided to enjoy the serenity of it all, so we brought up our cooking equipment and breakfast and we absorbed the towers over a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea. It was truly magical.

Back to Puerto Natales ... No more pasta and the shoe story ...
So, we headed back to Puerto Natales very satisfied and happy after a great trip. We had meet some fantastic people on our trek who we enjoyed going for dinner with that night, it was not hard to understand why no one ordered soup or pasta for dinner that night!

Also, we had left most of our things that we weren't going to need on the trek at our hostel in Puerto Natales and the other interesting happening awaiting us at our hostel was that the guy who works there was wearing Pete´s salsa shoes when we arrived back!! Slightly disturbing about the security of our stuff while we were away but he got them back and it seemed nothing else was missing ... the guy at the hostel is not moving around so smoothly now though, hehe!

And that just about sums up the Torres Del Payne adventures. Highly recommended if you're in this part of the world!

Hasta luego, Tamara :)

---

---