Hiking in Torres del Paine (Patagonia) - a story of more cloud, snow, wind and rain

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Day 29 - Friday 3rd March
The Facts:
Travel from El Calafate to Puerto Natales

The longer version:
Early start and we were on the bus to Chile. A great ride across the grassy slopes of the Patagonian Steppe. We encountered many Nandu (Andean Ostriches) though we aren’t sure whey the bus driver stopped from time to time, no announcements were made. We survived some more border crossings with Roger getting smiles from the guards. Not sure if it was the beard that wasn’t on the passport photo, or the special Antarctica stamps in his passport. Puerto Natales had much better trekking food, but we spent along time looking for Methylated Spirits. In South America it is Alcohol pronounced Alkol and is purchased at Chemists!


Day 30 - Saturday 4th March
The Facts:
To Torres del Paine
Lago Grey camp

The longer version:
A bus ride in the rain to the beautiful Torres del Paine Parque Nacionale. We had decided to do a walk known as the ‘W’, and started up the eastern end, so hopefully the weather would clear in 6 days when e got o the parks namesake, the Torres del Paine. We boarded a ferry to cross Lago Pehoe and the start of the walk. As we got to end we saw the most impressive sight of the hosteria. People can camp or stay her, and it was a magnificent two storey building with a bar, cafeteria, supermarket, post office and internet. Not exactly Rogers idea of camping and wilderness. In the rain we loaded up the packs on our bag and headed north to Camp Grey for the night, which is at the foot of Glacier grey. The autumn colours were amazing in the trees that you could see through the low cloud! The sun came out by the time we got to camp, so we set up camp and checked out the area. At the campsite there was a small refugio where people could stay, or campsites. It was here we met two Americans we were to spend every campsite with except one! They had done the full circuit which is a 10-day walk. A lovely evening watching the icebergs float nearby until we cooked dinner at which time the rain started to pur down and things got a little cold.

Day 31 - Sunday 5th March
The facts:
Back to Paine Grande camp

The longer version:
A late start saw us able to dry the tent in the sun and walk in relative dryness. We did a quick side trip to the lookout for Glacier Grey where the icebergs were congregating up one end due to strong overnight winds.
We were able to walk with rain showers back to Camp Paine Grande. The Americans reported walking for 4 solid hours in the rain, and many others were taking the first ferry out. And we didn’t blame them. Many people came very ill-equipped for such a trip, and the weather forecast for more rain, stronger winds and colder temperatures was extremely disheartening.
Still, the clouds cleared a little and we got glimpses of the Cuernos (horns), one of the centrepieces of the park, and view up the Valle Francis where we planned to spend the night, making us feel comfortable about the decision we had to stick with the planned walk.


Day 32 - Monday 6th March
The Facts:
Walk to Camp Brittanico

The longer version
A morning with threatening clouds meant we got the tent packed earlier and headed off. The strong winds that Torres del Paine is well known for were in full force today, and it was tough not to get blown off the trail at times. The winds were whipping up some amazing water features on the lake as we attempted to walk past. As we reached Camp Italiano at the base of the French Valley we passed some of the larger groups of up to 15 people, making us feel glad we weren’t in one of those groups. At Camp Italiano we decided that despite the treacherous weather forecast that we would climb to stay at Camp Brittanico, which was 500 vertical metres higher. Turned out to be a good move as those at Camp Italiano got soaked overnight, and the camp was in a dark location. The weather was windy with some rain, so the views up the valley weren’t as spectacular as they may have been on a fine day (if such a thing exists in Torres del Paine), but there was certainly some spectacular scenes with the winds and swirling clouds. On the way to Camp Brittanico we walked across many areas of landslip, so Karen hoped that Brittanico was in a more protected area, that would slide away during the night. We were able to set up camp as the rain started, and again, cooked dinner in the rain, but the spaghetti and everything else we threw in with it were very welcome.


Day 33 - Tuesday 7th March
The Facts:
To Camp
Condors

The longer version:
Today we slept in until we could hear less rain falling. When we poked our heads out of the tent, we saw that in fact it was sleet falling rather than rain, and that there was some blue sky. We quickly packed everything up whilst it was semi-dry, and headed up to the lookout. We were greeted with clouds churning speedily around us, and some nice sunshine coming through. There were some small patches where snow remained and the snowline was clearly lower on the surrounding hills than the day before.
We made our way back down slowly along the slippery path and rocks to Camp Italiano, and onwards to the next camp on the lake. Along this walk we got some spectacular views of condors soaring through the hills around above us.


Day 34 - Wednesday 8th March
The facts:
Hiking to Camp Torres

The longer version:
We awaited for the rain to clear, to dry off the tent as much as possible, before heading up to or final campsite in Torres del Paine. It was nice weather with only some passing showers at the start. We met up with many day trippers doing the walk to the Torres del Paine when we made it onto the main track. It was a solid downhill to the Refugio along the river, before heading up again to the basic campsite, 45mins walk from the Torres. The rain started to fall again, and all the good campsites were taken so we settled into what we knew could be a rough night. Fortunately, the sun came out at dusk and the night was clear, allowing a somewhat cut off view of the Torres at sunset, but a prelude of what we hoped to see at sunrise.

Day 35 - Thursday 9th March
The Facts:
Sunrise at Torres del Paine
Return to Puerto Natales

The Longer Version:
We awoke early, with some noise from nearby tents indicating others were planning the same thing as.us The stars and Venus were brilliant under these perfect skies, and with torches in hand we walked up the track and then climbed boulders to go where we thought were supposed to go up to the top of the moraine edge. About 30 people were with us as we waited and watched the sun rise and slowly illuminate the huge granite towers which towered about 1500m above us. As they turned pink and orange the cameras were snapping at an unbelievable rate. Then as the colour disappeared we all headed back down the hill to pack p the tent and return to civilisation. We passed the two americans who had spent the night in comfort at Hosteria Las Torres in the valley, dining on lamb and salmon, and made our way back to wait for the bus ride to Puerto Natales. It is always interesting getting on public transport in South America, and this short ride to the park administration was no different. We crossed a bridge that would have been lucky to have 1 inch on either side of the min-bus to the railing and roaring river underneath! We eventually got on the main bus and fell asleep on what seemed to be a short ride back to Puerto Natales. In Puerto Natales we had a fantastic dining experience, where at 7.30pm we were the only people in the restaurant and they were still setting up. Another South American lesson: dining starts late. We managed to even find some vegetables to have as a side dish, followed by hand made chocolates.


Day 36 - Friday 10th March
The Facts:
To Punta Arenas

The longer version:
Caught the bus to Punta Arenas (3 hours), where we were to fly out of the next day. After sorting out accommodation Roger cleaned the tent while Karen sought a box to post the tent back to Australia in. In this instance, at the Post Office, the staff did not speak English, and did not appear to have box for postage. So in an attempt to find a box, a trip to the local supermarket and discussion with a man in the vegetable aisle assisted in locating a suitable box for transport of camping equipment to Australia. Once we posted this we wandered around checking out the main sights of Punta Arenas before some fine dining in the Club de Union, part of a historical mansion.

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