Finishing the Torres, and a real pain

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Day 5: Camping Seron - Regugio Dickson

I'd steeled myself for a tough day today, but it turned out to be anything but. For starters, the weather was absolutely beautiful, so as we made our traditionally tardy start, it was in high spirits. Jonas had overheard a group of Germans discussing how that they had only started at 9am the previous day, and that was far too late, and tomorrow they would need to start earlier, therefore, they had to skip tea. Being as we got away at 11:30, it was clear that we didn't skip tea, but these 2 words would become the catchphrase for the rest of the walk.

Anyway, apart from one rather annoying hill, it was pretty flat between Seron and Dickson, with some superb views of Lago Paine, and the mountain range behind. We did run into a little bit of trouble in a swampy area though. The map indicated swamp, so when we reached a trail that seemed to plough right through the middle, I decided that this must be the way to go, and charged on in. I wasn't too fussed, I had waterproof boots and gaiters on. Jonas reluctantly followed, possibly because he wasn't sure it was the path, and possibly because he was wearing trainers and jeans, with no gaiters to be seen. Anyway, at the other end, we stopped to let him declog his shoes, and 2 Singaporean girls walked past us, clean as a whistle. Turned out I'd missed the nice clean path that skirted round the swamp. Oops!

I wasn't flavour of the month for the rest of the walk, but luckily Glacier Dickson, and its associated lake saved me by being absolutely beautiful. We had planned to push on to Camping Los Perros, but the amazing location of the refugio, plus the prospect of a game of footy against the owners convinced us to pitch up here. Incidentally, our team of 4 trekkers (myself, Jonas, Canadian Dave & a Dane called Michael) triumphed 10-8 against the refugio workers who had just been sat around all day. Bizarrely, it was them that tired towards the end of the game.

Day 6: Refugio Dickson - Campamento Paso

Our biggest day. The night before, as a group we had discussed the possibility of going all the way over the John Gardner pass if the weather looked nice today. This neccissitated an early start, so Jonas and I were away by 10:30am. Shock... and we didn´t even skip tea! It took us 3 hours to Los Perros, which wasn't a particularly interesting walk. There, we reconvened with the majority of the folk from Dickson. Dave and Hayley (Team Canada A) had already set off over the pass, and both Michael and Tina (Team Denmark) and Mark & Kylie (Team Canada B) had made the decision to push on too. The weather looked good, so myself and Jonas (Team crap tents) would be joining them.

A bit more swamp, and a little bit of steep walking over a boulderfield later, we reached the John Gardner pass, the highest trail in the park. We were definitely right to push on today, as we were rewarded with incredible clear skies, and views over Glacier Grey & the Southern Patagonian icefields. It's not something I'll forget in a long time, if ever. Truly amazing. Jonas got a little carried away, and decided to go climbing at the top of the pass. It was a little too chilly for me, so I made the descent down the slippery slope to Campamento Paso alone, managing to do most of it on my feet. There, we rewarded ourselves with a big meal to celebrate a very successful day.

Day 7: Campamento Paso - Campamento Los Guardas

Bugger. Today it started raining. Luckily, we'd only planned to hike 1 1/2 hours today, so we hid in Paso until a break, and then hightailed it down the hill to the next camp, where we had a nice hot lunch. The reason for the short day is we'd heard that there were some ice caves nearby, so wanted to go have a bit of an explore. Sadly, we never found a way down to the glacier, and even more sadly, the rain really picked up. It was a pretty miserable evening, and I crawled into my tent fearing the worst for the morning...

Day 8: Campamento Los Guardas - Campamento Las Carretas

After breakfast, we said farewell to Team Denmark, and went for another look for the ice caves. Once again, we failed, but did get pretty close to Glacier Grey. All we had to do then is get back to Refugio Paine Grande to complete the Q. Easier said than done when you have 100 km/h winds to deal with. Jonas lost his glasses in them, and I, possibly rather rudely, decided to get to a sheltered spot than help look. I'm not a very patient person in gale force winds I've found.

This setback aside, we made it to Paine Grande, and celebrated with a sit down and some snacks. At this point, we could have got the catamaran, and headed to Puerto Natales, but that would have cost us 11,000 pesos each. Therefore, we retreaded our day 1 steps, and stopped at the campsite just an hour from the visitors centre.

Day 9: Campamento Las Carretas - Puerto Natales

We knocked off the final hour pretty easily, and reached the end of the trail triumphant. It had been a great 9 days walking, with only 1 really bad day weatherwise. I've got to say, I'm rather proud of myself for doing it. Anyway, we changed into our "dry" clothes, and settled onto the bus for the journey back. I popped on my Ipod, and had a thoroughly relaxing couple of hours.

This is where things turn nasty. In Natales, I put the Ipod in my pocked as we got off the bus. Two minutes later, it had gone. This was a bad time to find a hole in your trouser pockets. I searched around but it was too late, bye bye Ipod. I was more than a little upset. Still, I'd arranged to go for celebratory pizza with Jonas, Dave and Hayley, and a nice evening helped to numb the pain. Not as much as the bottle of rum I shared with Jonas, and the greasy burger afterwards did though!

Chao for now,

Stewart.


This entry is dedicated to my Ipod. I hope you're happy wherever you are.

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Photos

Icebergs in Lago Grey
And pots of gold!

Paine conquerors!
Myself and Jonas

Paine Chico
I think