After the easy Moreno Glacier tour, it was time to really get into it. So we packed our gear up again and headed off on the bus to Puerto Natales, Chile. Another long bus journey - about 6 hours, and a painful border crossing into Chile. Somewhat like home, they have strict policies on agricultural products - basically you can´t bring them into the country, so they have a luggage search at the border. Time consuming but you can´t really complain. Finally we arrived in Puero Natales. A very bustling town on another beautiful lake, but we presume it gets pretty [View Full Entry]

---

---

[View Full Entry]

---

---

I left El Calafate the day after my mammoth trek in Fitz Roy, and took a short seven hour bus ride across the Chilean boarder to Puerto Natales. The city of Puerto Natales, 247 km. northwest of Punta Arenas, together with black necked swans and seagulls, greets the visitor from its misty dock, characteristic of this rural tourist area. It is capital of the Province of Última Esperanza, situated by the Señoret Channel facing the Andes Mountain Range. Puerto Natales is the gateway to the famous Torres del Paine National Park, which attracts hikers and visitors from all over the world. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Despite the relative extravagance of our room I had a rubbish sleep. The wind was back and rocked the room from side to side. I was less than impressed, and my thoughts wandered onto our variety of transport methods to take us out of the park. Generally speaking its naff leaving somewhere when you've had a brilliant time. In anticipation of the onset of melancholy caused by leaving torres del paine our exit from the park was intended to be somewhat entertaining. Initlally we were to take a zodiac ride past the serano glacier before another boat would take us onto [View Full Entry]

---

---

We woke early due to the noisey Germans. I uterred 5 - 1 under my breath, and recited the 1966 world cup winning team in order to remain calm. Despite the wild weather overnight the lake was completely flat. We were relieved at not having to trek back to Paine Grande. We wanted to get outside and away from the hut and so set off to take in a few viewpoints. The views of the glacier and surrounding peaks were impressive and the camera was busy again. We chill-axed at the viewpoints before heading down to the lake to have our [View Full Entry]

---

---

As I waited in the cold, early morning air, battered by the wind, I began to wonder if my effort had been worth it. I have to say, it wasn't looking good - when I'd got up at 5am, the sky had been clear. But within half an hour it had clouded over and had even started to rain. But just as I was about to give up and go down to my tent, the sunrise broke through the clouds...and at the same moment the sunlight hit the Torres, a rainbow magically appeared, arching directly over the tower. I had my [View Full Entry]

---

---

Liebe Leute zu Hause Der Sueden Chiles hat uns so empfangen wie von saemtlichen Reisefuehrern vorausgesagt: mit Regen. Der Regen, der in der patagonischen Steppe im Sueden Argentiniens fehlt, faellt hier und das nicht zu knapp, den Anden und dem Pazifik sei Dank. Die Fahrt von El Calafate nach Puerto Natales fuehrte ueber teilweise abenteuerlich schlechte Naturstrassen und der Grenzuebertritt war eine typisch suedamerikanische Angelegenheit, d.h. er benoetigte insgesamt fast zwei Stunden und mehrere auszufuellende Formulare. Wir blieben zuerst nur eine Nacht in Puerto Natales, um unsere [View Full Entry]

---

---

The last day of the trek would take us from Refugio Paine Grande along Lago Grey to refugio Grey behind which sits Glaciar Grey. The names might not be especially evocative but people we'd met had said it was spectacular. Added to that it was only about 3.5 hrs which suited our sore legs. The blue skies were gone but it looked pretty bright so we set off looking forward to an easy day with plenty of stops for taking in the views. As with day 2 that got walloped pretty quickly. Ascending away from the hut the weather got worse [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 3 - huge day, boardering on enormous. The route was to take us from Refugio Cuernos to Refugio Paine Grande with an 'in and out' into the Valle Frances (french Valley for those who don't speak fluent french). Depending on how far we made it into the Valle frances would dictate the length of the walk, but we were looking at a good 8 hours with some decent ascent thrown in. The pants weather from the day before was gone and we awoke to some blue sky. Due to the cabanna the first thing i saw was the sun lighting [View Full Entry]

---

---

This time I decided to do a big trekking adventure in the national park of Torres del Paine Like this is a year without any compromise I decided to do this trip on my own ! :) To prepare myself to this trip I bought myself a nice lightweight tent of 2.5 kilos in Puerto Natales. And of course not to forget the food for at least 8 days. Basically it consisted in milk powder, bread, pasta, rice, dry fruit, tuna, etc.. I must admit that when the bus was driving to this huge park I was a little bit stressed [View Full Entry]

---

---