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Published: January 11th 2008
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Bader Valley
Spooky with the low level cloud. Cont. ...
The 26th dawned cloudy, and a little cool, but not too much wind. It would turn out to be a long hard day. This was the day we went to the Valle Bader (Bader Valley). Felipe had only been their twice before, on his own, and had never taken anyone there, let alone a client. There was no real trail; the climbers have made a rough trail some of the way, but we didn't take it on the way in.
We basically went straight up a ridge, then across a scree field, then across a boulder field (the difference is in the size of the rocks that are turning underfoot), and came to a sheltered site beside the glacial stream that was running out of the lake just ahead of us. There, after a three hour hard slog, we took a break and had some chocolate. In front of us was a stunning vista - even with low clouds obscuring the top of the tallest peaks, you could see how beautiful it was. A semicircle of rocky peaks rising out of a grey glacier. And that only a few people had ever been there was incredible. I
Tired but Happy
A brief break before the final push. figure that almost no trekkers had been there - no trail, no indications on any maps, it was only climbers who would go and even they generally chose routes up other valleys to assault the peaks.
And then the hike got interesting.
We climbed up to the notch that Felipe had described to me that sounded incredible. The way he had described it, it was a narrow hanging valley, about 100 m across and 300 m straight up. Which it was. He had kind of neglected that there was some climbing to get to it. It seems the other times he was there there was snow all the way to the notch, so it was easy to clamber up. But, no worries. It was pretty simple to get up. And with no wind, it seemed very safe.
What Felipe had (deliberately, I think) failed to mention was that although the valley soared 300 m up both sides, it wasn't actually a valley at all. It was the end of the valley, and the rock curled away from under you to drop 150 m down to another glacier. It was absolutely breathtaking - once I got over my
The Notch
What we were shooting for. "Holy crap!" moment when Felipe said, quite calmly, "You go first and see..." I have to hand it to him - he does have a great sense of the dramatic.
We enjoyed the view for a while, then descended. The descent was also a little hairy. I've never actually been on a talus slope that decided to move under my feet, but it wasn't too bad once I got used to it. In any event, we made it down safely and trucked back to the campsite. As we made it down to the main trail the sun came out and it got hot - again. What a fanatastic finish to a fantastic day. We polished it off with another swim - the lake seemed to get warmer the second time around - and a celebratory beer (did I mention the refugios sold beer and wine too? This, my friends, is trekking with a vengence!).
The next day started clear and warm, and we had another long one ahead of us. We hiked hard and fast for the first hour, covering 5.5 km with full packs (OK, Felipe's was full, mine was only about 18 kilos). I don't know
Snow Slope
Snow covered rock is easier to walk on. exactly what Felipe wanted to do, but he was on some sort of mission. Dropped our packs off at Campimento Italiano (there are a few camping sites run by Conaf,the park authority,which are free with park admission; this is one of them) and then with day packs flew up Frances Valley.
Frances Valley is the other, main route for the W and circuit. A beautiful valley, many consider it the highlight of their Torres visit. While it is spectacular (Frances glacier and Frances mountain right beside the trail was particularly moving), after Silencio and Bader I have to say it was just OK. Bader & Silencio both were better, but I wouldn't have missed any of the three!
Another fast hike down, picked up our packs and headed off to Refugio Peohe. The day was now hot and clear, and the thought of a cold beer at Peohe drove us hard. In what was supposed to be, on the map, a nine hour day, we knocked off in about six. And probably an hour or so of breaks in that. I was impressed with myself - it was a very good day of hiking.
A well deserved
Climbing
A little climb on the way. rest and then a nice short day up to Refugio Grey. This is on Lago Grey, which is a long lake with a large glacier at it's head feeding the lake. The Refugio is probably the nicest of the ones we stayed at. Protected by trees (although many had been recently cut down, which was a shame), the campsites were right by the water and you could watch the icebergs drift by. They would calve off the glacier throughout the day and night and be pushed by the prevailing winds coming off the glacier (always strong) down the lake.
At which point Felipe thought a swim might be a good idea (OK, OK, so did I. I didn't think it could be too much colder than Nordenskjold.) So, asking another hiker to take some pics, in we went. Now, I've dived in ice-covered lakes, and understand cold water, but when I stepped in my muscles felt immediately like inert rocks. I didn't want to flex my foot because my achilles tendon felt like a piece of wood and would snap if I did. We walked out to waist level (argh! the pain to the troops was not pleasent) and
then ducked under. Swimming was not an option. And we go out quick. But you can seein the picture the iceberg floating behind us - maybe 20 m away. Something I will always remember!
After another tasty dinner at the refugio, we hiked uptrail to the mirador and watched the glacier as the sun set. A large calving occurred, and a 2 m high wave rolled out from the glacier as the iceberg crashed into the water. It was pretty incredible, I have to say.
The next day we hiked up to get a closer view of the glacier, then back to Peohe to get the catamaran out to meet our ride. The cat ride out was spectacular, as the weather was warm and perfectly clear. In two of the pictures below you will see a narrow cleft in the mountain peak. That is the notch we were in in the Bader valley; and the closeup shows you the drop that we were looking down. It was, in short, one of the most incredible trips I have every been on.
Next segment - New Year's in Puerto Natales and then Puerto Williams and the most southerly trek
in the world. It comes with snow.
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Mark Rayner
non-member comment
Wow!
Awesome pics Mike! That looks like it was an incredible hike. Me jealous! m.