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Published: February 21st 2006
Mirador Ferrier (Ferrier Viewpoint)
One of my favourite moments of the trek. Having the deserted Mirador Ferrier to myself and taking in this incredible view of the national park.
The Cuernos Del Paine are in the background shrouded in cloud and the lakes in the foreground are Lago's Grey and PehòeHave returned safely from spending two weeks trekking round the beautiful and rugged Torres Del Paine national park in the far south of Chile. I thought I´d put down a few general ramblings about my time, both in the park and Patagonia generally, and let you know a few of the highlights rather than go for a blow-by-blow account of what I got up to. Should get some pictures from the trek online in a couple of weeks time so the descriptions will hopefully make more sense then!!
Firstly, Chile has been, well chilly. I guess the clue should have been in the name. Its also the windiest place I think i've ever been and, helpfully, it is often both very chilly and very windy - at the same time. Being the slightly fair-weather travel that I am, used to blue skies, scorching temperatures and the thought of you guys back in England shivering your way through the winter-time; this last 6 weeks in Patagonia has come as a bit of a shock to the system. Things weren´t helped upon reading the promotional material for the park which proudly stated that daily summer MAXIMUM temperatues range between 8 C and
First Glimpse of the Torres
First day of the walk and we were treated to great weather. We got this great first glimpse of the Torres del Paine which would take us 8 more days to reach!! 15 C. If you remember from my earlier blogs that my trusty sleeping bag is rated as comfortable down to a mighty 13 C, the numbers were not looking good!!!
Added to that I have discovered another immutable fact down here, glaciers are unsurprisingly very cold places, and campsites that are located on the doorstep of glaciers are correspondingly also very cold places, and unsurprisingly almost every campsite in the Torres Del Paine is seemingly located, you guessed it, next to a glaciar!! Thus James and I combined with our rapidly deteriorating tent had to endure a few nights that were a might on the nippy side!!! But as James summed up: "Yes, we battled the elements. Yes, we lost. Apparently glaciers are terminally chilly. even at the height of summer. "
I have discovered a few more things in the last couple of weeks - thou who buys the cheapest tent that could be mass-produced in Argentina will find that after a few weeks of use, nothing on that tent will be working. Hence, number of working zips contained within said tent at start of trip: 3, number of working zips contained within said tent at end
Us and our (less than) faithful tent!!
James and I with the tent in the happy days before it decided to declare a working-zip amnesty!! of trip: 0. Safety pins are not known for their role in modern camping, but I feel they are an underrated commodity!!
Also, there is definately a limit to how many times you can eat both lunch and dinner of rice or pasta flavoured with tomato sauce and cooked with either tuna or salami before getting sick of it. James lasted 8 days, I reached my limit after 12!! When you reach this stage a meal of bran crackers and cream cheese (both of which were donated to us by other, slightly more culinarily prepared trekkers who were finsihing up their walks and took pity on us), tastes like absolute heaven!!! We wolfed said meal down with a satisfaction that I never have - and probably never will again - direct at some dry bits of bran and slightly plasticy cream cheese!!!
Anyway, onto the reason I was actually in the Torres Del Paine, the trekking. James and I trekked the "Sendero Circuito Grande" or Paine circuit, together for 9 days, after which James left to head on back north. This trek was a circuit of the entire Paine Massif, taking in sweeping valleys, forests, lakes, rivers, many
Hielo Sur (Southern Ice Field)
After crossing the Paso John Garner, the Hielo Sur stretches out majestically in front of us. a glacial valley complete with requisite glaciars and of course the dominant mountain scenery of the Paine Massif itself.
I then stayed in the park trekking on my own for a further five days, where I got to head to the rugged and empty south-west of the park to complete the "Pingo-Zapata" trek. Some of the highlights of my time were as follows:
- climbing up and over the highest point on the trek, the Paso John Garner at 1241 metres, and enjoying the spectacular views of the southern ice field (apparently the only ice field in the world outside Antarctica) stretching out beneath us as far as the eye could see. It was a pretty amazing sight, the scope of all this ice was pretty hard to take in.
- spending a day in perfect weather exploring the stunning Vallé De Francés. We climbed up to a viewpoint where we were able to relax and take in the "amplitheatre of mountains" as James called it, that surrounded us in a 270 degree bowl of towering peaks. I was then able to rock-hop up to a higher viewpoint that was completed deserted and which allowed me to
Taking on the trail
Fun and games on the rickety ladders, as we attempt to safely cross a ravine!! -rather bizarrely - put the sunglasses on, and sunbathe in fleece, scarf, wooly hat, bigger fleece and thermal top!!
- James and my final day together involved a pre-dawn start and a tough 45 minute stomp in the semi-darkness up through glacial morraine to reach the Torres Del Paine viewpoint before sunrise. Again, we were lucky with the weather, and a clear dawn meant that the Torres, the two and a half vertical granite towers that give the park its name, glowed an incredible bright orange the moment the Sun rose and hit them. A truly fantastic experience.
- heading the the seldom visited south-west of the park, where I hardly saw a person for days and climbing to the top of Mirador Ferrier, which allowed spectacular views over the brilliant turquoise Lago Pehóe (Lake Pehóe), and the Cuenos del Paine behind it.
- the final evening spent in a rickety hut called Refugio Pingo - having decided to ditch the tent and take my chances with the wooden floor - eating corned beef and drinking scotch, with 4 slightly nutty Polish ice trekkers who spoke not that much English, and had just returned from a four
What, another glaciar???
This time I'm posing in front of glaciar Grey - source of several chilly nights I'm sure!! day expedition trekking across the "Hielo Sur" (Southern ice field).
Hopefully the pitures will better illustrate what I got up to, but until then hope my general ramblings have amused!!
Anyway, hope all is well back hope and around the world, and one final musing from me. Where is it that German trekkers get their calf muscles. Honestly, they all seem to possess bulging calfs that are bigger than my head - I reckon they´re secretly grown in a laboratory somewhere outside Stuttgart and grafted on!!!
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Hawk
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Note to self; head to S.America
Awesome photos, awesome blog, awesome experiences. Quite quite jealous. Do not ever get a proper job. Enjoy every minute Markio