Torres del Paine

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This past week I was occupied with an eight-day trek in the Torres del Paine National Park in southern Patagonia, Chile. Torres is known for having cold, windy, rainy weather, and it definitely lived up to its reputation. Just approaching the park the enormous peaks appear to be surrounded by swirling black clouds, I started the trek out by hiking up to the base of the Torres, a series of 3 granite peaks. I met a few Argentines on the way up, and they insisted on stopping to drink mate on the way up, so we didn´t make it to the campsite until around 10 pm. However, it´s light until late, so sometimes I enjoyed hiking in the evening.

The following day I began the circuit and at the first campsite met Clement, a strange French ecologist turned gardener. Overcoming language barriers (we spoke only in Spanish), we hiked together for most of the remainder of the trip and helped eachother over the pass.

On the third day of hiking I was introduced to the Patagonian winds--strong enough to almost knock you over. Two days later, while approaching the pass, the winds actually did knock me over. The saving grace climbing the pass was that you could spot the really powerful gusts before they hit because they created mini-tornados of water in all the little streams. When you saw that, the entire line of climbers would just sit down. However, all the way up I felt pretty exhilarated by the wind. It wasn´t until Clement and I actually crested the pass that the wall of icy 60 mph wind coming off Glacier Grey really hit. Just standing straight was a challenge let alone trying to descent off the mountain. However, we soon dropped below treeline and things calmed down.

When I got into camp that night, I was pleased to see that a couple I had met my first day hiking, Alice and George, from the Berkshires was spending the night in the refugio. They treated me a lovely breakfast the next morning of eggs, toast, coffee, etc… and I was happy to avoid the oatmeal. The rest of the trip went quickly with my biggest days behind me and my pack quite a bit lighter having eaten now half my food.

I was able to see the Cuenos (the horns) of the park with their cap of resistant sedimentary rock over granite, but the following day when I was planning on ascending the French Valley for a better look, snow in the upper reaches of the valley kept me from going up.

Overall I enjoyed the eight days of hiking, but the circuit really is a bit of a highway, so it will be nice to go to some more remote spots these coming weeks. After the park I spent the next day and half recovering in Puerto Natales, Chile. I even splurged on carrot juice at a local hippy bar. The second afternoon I met up with Lucho, a porter I met while hiking the circuit. He was born in Chile, but his father moved the family to Rio Gallegos, Argentina when he was young to avoid problems with Pinochet. Lucho is quite the character, with his dreadlocks, sex pistol tattoos, and heart of gold. He had a friend who was testing a catamaran that afternoon for guiding, so we ended up going out in the Last Hope Sound for a 3 hour boat ride. I also ended up having dinner with a famous kayak guide, who now lives outside of Bellingham, and is down here preparing for a month long trip with an editor from Outside Magazine in some little-explored fjords of Chile. It´s amazing the people you meet down here—I´m not sure if that is more exciting or the natural wonders I´m seeing…

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Photos

Torres del Paine
You can sort of see the 3 Torres behind me. Lino and I hiked up there and it was actually snowing at the top, so we hung out trying to keep warm for an hour to see the peaks.

Lake Dickson
I camped at the base of this lake and hiked out the glacier way in back the following day with a polish canadian and his chilean guide, felipe.

John Gardner Pass
The winds at the top made it difficult to even stand still. Behind me is the enormous Glacier Grey.

Cuernos
The famous ´horns´of Torres del Paine with their black cap of resistant sedimentary rock over granite.

Lucho
I met Lucho in the park while doing the circuit. He´s been climbing, trekking, hiking the andes for years. This photo is back in P. Natales on his friends catamaran.