Torres del Paine - Mar 5

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Beautiful sunshine and breeze to start the morning on our trek to Mirador del Paine. The first hour and a half turned out to be switchbnack after switchback which gave us plenty of reason to stop and admire the views behind. Reaching the top we turn a corner and are blasted with chilly high winds and start to descend a good 50% of the elevation we´ve just gained (!!) until reaching Refugio 2. We wind through a river valley, a damp forested area, cross a couple of adorable bridges, it´s raining mixed with a little snow, then back to the wind tunnel, we´re sweating, we´re freezing, it´s great. The last hour of the trek is way too steep and we are totally wiped until we reach the summit and can finally decide if it was worth it. And it totally was. An emerald basin with sheer rock faces rising high. A blue-white glacier coming down the mountain and the massive vertical rocks of Torres del Paine. Erratic weather kept us hunkered to the sides of big boulders (wind break) where we soaked it all up for about 30 minutes then started back. Turns out it was about an 18km hike.

Tent turns out to be very unwaterproof so a fun night back at camp in the huge rainstorm.

(Matt) Sarah tired of blogging so duties back over to me - "unwaterproof" is a bit of an understatement. The tent was good about 12 years ago, but its time has come and gone. And its why we brought it on the trip, so we could just throw it away when we were done with it. Made sense. That was until the tent tried to handle a severe Patagonian storm. It didn´t collapse or anything, but by morning we were soaking wet. Drip, drip, drip, drip on your face all night makes for little sleep. Lesson learned, only camping in good weather.

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Photos

View up the valley we were hiking
This is where the wind got ridiculously strong

Our hike
18 km and about 730 meters in elevation gain

Comments

[Katy]

MORE PICTURES PLEASE!!
MORE PICTURES PLEASE!!