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Published: October 18th 2007
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Well, we returned yesterday from a five day trek on the ´W´circuit of the Torres del Paine national park. We originally planned on staying at the refugios (hostels) and eating in. But then we saw the prices and decided to rent camping equipment, cook our own food and stay in the free campsites wherever possible!
Day 1: Trek to the glacier.
The bus picked us up from our hostel at 7:30 Saturday morning to take us to the park. We bought our tickets to the park at the park entrance, from where we could see two of the famous peaks in the distance. The bus then took us to another stop where we had to wait for over an hour to take a (rip-off) catamaran across Lago Pehoe to where we planned to start our walk. As we were crossing, the wind picked up and it was quite strong by the time we landed. Our walk started up the western arm of the ´W´ towards Glaciar Grey. We began walking up a narrow valley before reaching Lago Grey and walking along it. It was quite tough going with the strong headwind, but we made it to the campsite after 3.5
hours. The campsite and the refugio at the glacier have been abandoned (either due to the low season or industrial dispute, we´re not sure). Some people before us had gotten into the refugio to kip in there, but the apparent presence of rats put us off. There were a few others at this campsite including Karen (from London) and Amanda (from Alaska), who we spent most of the rest of the walk with.
Day 2: The windy day.
During the night, the wind picked up and was stronger than ever, almost taking out our tent, which was only pegged down in loose sand. We broke camp and set off back the way we came. Today the wind was behind us but this didn´t make it any easier, and in the more exposed bits, we had to cling to the rock for dear life. We made it back to where we started and had our lunch in a kitchen hut of the campsite there. After an hour, we found Amanda and Karen in a guard hut and continued the days trekking to Campo Italiano at the bottom of Valle Frances, the middle part of the ´W´. This took another two
hours through strong winds, which lifted water of the lake surface and sprayed us regularly. Campo Italiano is much more sheltered with tougher ground, so we were more confident our tent would hold. There was also a cooking shelter, which was good because it had started to rain.
Day 3: A visitor in the night, and a thorough drenching.
When we got up the next morning, we found a hole in the bottom of our groundsheet, and large chunk bitten out of a bar of chocolate in about the same place. We thought it might have been a rat, but other campers told us they´d had problems with foxes. We plugged the hole with duct tape. Amanda and Karen had other problems. It had rained all night and their rented tent turned out not to be waterproof. Leaving them to dry their stuff in the kitchen tent, we started heading up Valle Frances. It was slippery going, and rained or snowed continuously, but we had left most of our stuff at the campsite so it was easier. We got to a more exposed bit out of the forest and could see Glacier Frances below us. We could here thundery
sounds as bit of the glacier broke off, but we couldn´t see them. Above us, the other way, Cuernos del Paine rose and the cloud lifted very briefly for us to see, but then obscured it again. Since the weather was so bad, and visibility poor, we decided to turn back. Back at the camp, we had our lunch and packed up. By now it had gotten quite cold, so we didn´t hang around. We trekked another 2 hours on to Refugio Los Cuernos, where our next campsite was. Here we could spent the evening out of the rain in the warmth of the refugio playing cards and listening to people playing guitar. We still had to cook outside though.
Day 4: An early start, a 4.5 hour hike, and a disappointment.
We got up early, had breakfast and pushed on. The walk today was quite nice. The views were good, though the peaks were still covered in cloud, and it didn´t rain too much. The last bit was a tough uphill climb to the refugio Chileno nestled in a narrow valley by a river on the way up to the Torres base camp where we intended to push
on to. We stopped in the refugio for a break and were told by the manager that the rangers had radioed him to say that the path was too dangerous. We could go on but it wouldn´t be safe. There was lots of snow around at this level and much more further up the valley. On a clear day from this refugio you can see the two northernmost torres of the Torres del Paine, but the cloud obscured them. It lifted for a few minutes to show us these peaks and the avalanches coming down from them. This confirmed that we couldn´t go any further and we set up our tent at the refugio´s campsite. Another evening inside the refugio playing cards and chatting to other disappointed trekkers.
Day 5: Return to civilization.
It had snowed all night, and whenever we woke up in the night, we had to shake the snow off the top of the tent. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground when we got up. Still the Torres remained hidden from view and we had to leave without another glimpse. Along with Karen and Amanda, and two Israeli girls who were ready
to give up on there trekking plans, we headed back down to where we could catch a transfer to the park entrance. With two hours to wait for the transfer, Jenny and I decided to walk back to the entrance. Snow and icy winds gave us a final farewell from the park. We didn´t have to wait long to get on the bus back to Puerto Natales.
Fortunately, the people we rented the tent from didn´t seem to mind the hole when we showed them and explained what happened. So we gave them our spare gas canister to sell on if they wanted. We now have an easy day in Puerto Natales before getting on the ferry this evening. Hopefully the weather will be good for that!
Jamie
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Jo
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Hey guys, glad your having a great time, don't get too cold camping in the snow! xxxxxxx