Torres Del Paine - how to really know if you´re as unfit as you think!

South America » Chile » Magallanes
February 29th 2008

Published: March 17th 2008

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Ev n Jo

Torres del Paine

On the way to Grey Glacier - the wind was mad and we were already feeling aches and pains

After the easy Moreno Glacier tour, it was time to really get into it. So we packed our gear up again and headed off on the bus to Puerto Natales, Chile. Another long bus journey - about 6 hours, and a painful border crossing into Chile. Somewhat like home, they have strict policies on agricultural products - basically you can´t bring them into the country, so they have a luggage search at the border. Time consuming but you can´t really complain.

Finally we arrived in Puero Natales. A very bustling town on another beautiful lake, but we presume it gets pretty quiet in wintertime. At this time of year it is normal to see tourists everywhere, most carrying backpacks of some kind or another, and many looking pretty worn around the edges after trekking through the main attraction - Torres del Paine National Park.

We arrived mid afternoon and spent the rest of the day and early evening getting organised for our trek. Renting equipment, buying food and trying to pack our gear up as small and lightly as possible. We ended up with Evan carrying his large pack (with tent strapped on) and me carrying the two small

Grey Glacier icebergs

Hard to believe he is wearing a singlet near a couple of icebergs isn´t it?

day packs. We both felt like pack horses!

Day 1.
After a pretty short and not so great sleep we were on the 7:30am bus to the Park. We arrived about 11am and then caught the 12pm catamaran across Lake Pehoe to Paine Grande Refugio. We headed this way because on advice we decided to do the "W" trek west to east, rather than the more traditional east to west. The boat journey was a nice way to start, it got rapidly harder after that. We arrived at the refugio and had our packed lunch before beginning the trek northwards to Grey Glacier. Not quite the easy (or at least not too hard) trek we were anticipating. The recommended time period was 3.5 hrs but we came in at 4.5hrs. A few too many uphills for us, and we weren´t accustomed to hauling the baggage so far. We decided it would be good to rest for 2 days and eat all the food and then keep going - at least then our packs would be lighter. Of course, this wasn´t feasible, so instead we just ate our organised dinner. Despite the discomfort of being back on mats in a

Waterfall (still on way to Grey Glacier)

Were we ever going to get there? At least the scenery was good!

tent, we slept pretty well!

Day 2.
We took our time getting organised and after a leisurely breakfast we walked up to the Grey Glacier lookout. It was only a 10 minute walk, but the view is quite amazing. We were not as close as we got to the Moreno Glacier, but it was still beautiful. We spent about an hour there watching the glacier, listening to it creak and groan and waiting for an avalanche or two, but weren't lucky enough for that. After freezing our butts off we headed back to camp and packed up ready to start the descent back to where we started. Going down was easier, but definitely not a walk in the park.
At the bottom we had lunch at Lake Pehoe and then started on the next stage of the trip - luckily an easy walk to Campamento Italiano at the base of Frances Valley. Unfortunately we had a spot of rain that night, and combined with the mossie infestation, the lack of any shower whatsoever (so I managed an extremely cold water bath in the river!) and an overflowing and stinking toilet, it was not the best night. But it was

Bundy on Ice (Glacier ice!)

worth it the next day!

Day 3.
We got going pretty early and started up the valley. The scenery is beautiful. Even from the camp you can see the glaciers on the mountains all around, and the river roars past the camp - with a couple of funky bridges including a suspension bridge which was a little worrying.
It was quite a hike up the valley, but it was really nice not to be walking with our full packs on, we just had our day packs, having left our tent and everything else in it back at camp. We got to the top and decided it was all so easy (not!) that we could keep walking higher up the valley. We walked up a bit higher to where there is another view point of the whole valley all the way to its bottom, and there we enjoyed the view and a spot of lunch. Then we had to make the descent. It was not easy. We took it really slowly and were regularly passed by other people we had seen higher up. But who cares right? We enjoyed ourselves.
Back at camp we packed up and started the trek

Finally - grey glacier!

The first day of trekking was over (even if we didn´t quite get to see it until the following morning!)

to our next campsite, Los Cuernos Refugio. This place was really nice, right on a lake and it even had flash bungalow private cabins. We were in our tent again enjoying the rain. We had a hot beer (even better a hot shower), a late dinner and then hit the sack.

Day 4.
It rained during the night but luckily it was only the outside of the tent that was wet. We and our stuff were dry. We got going about 10am. The hike was pretty easy and uneventful to start with and then we hit the river crossing. The river was flowing fast and the only way across was straight through it. The only assistance provided was a piece of wire stretched across the river that we think hindered more than helped as it was loose.
Luckily for us, Evan is a rock hopping legend from way back, and he made the crossing 5 times. I only did it once - he came back to get me that last time - every other time he was busy taking some of our stuff across. The hardest thing about it was that the water was SO cold. It was freezing

On the way to Camp Italiano

The scenery was constantly amazing. When we remembered to look up from our feet.

coming straight off the top of the mountain glaciers. It was pretty deflating watching older men and women with full packs making the crossing - but hey - if Evan wanted to do it all....what was I to do!?

After that the walk was OK for a while before it took a turn for the worse - it went uphill! And it was really steep. Finally we made it to Chileno Refugio and we decided to make camp there. The idea of carrying our packs further up towards the highlight of the park was not very exciting. We set up camp, had a late lunch about 4pm and then started to walk up to Torres del Paine - the towers. We had thought to go for the sunrise the following morning but the weather was pretty awful and we were worried we would get rained out and miss it all together.

The first part of the trek was OK, and then we reached the last part - a trek straight up a rock slide. We were walking over a stream and clambering over boulders, but finally we made it. It was beautiful - a lot of misty clouds

Frances Valley

The morning was pretty stormy, a bit rainy, but it just made for cooler walking weather and more exotic scenery. It was amazing.

hanging around the tops of the towers, but every now and then it cleared and we got a good view. We hung around for a while and then made our descent. Finally got back to camp about 9pm and managed to get in a shower just before the storm broke. It was awesome. There was no way we were going to cook, so we just bunkered down in our tent and ate some salami - what a meal! Then we tried to sleep but the wind was so strong that I thought we were going to blow away. Definitely not the best nights sleep.

Day 5.
Due to our crappy sleep we were up early. Just in time for other people to tell us how great the sunrise was. Oh well. We were just happy we weren´t facing that rock slide climb again! For us, it was a leisurely pack up and then a slow walk down to the bottom of the mountain where we met our transfer back to Puerto Natales.

Although it was definitely hard work, the W trek was one of the most brilliant things we have done on this holiday. We fully recommend it.

Frances Valley

More glaciers for Evan to watch in anticipation of the big avalanche

Just pack light!!

After the beautiful Torres del Paine we had one night back in Puerto Natales to rest before hopping back on the bus. We bussed back to El Calafate, Argentina and had an afternoon there before catching the evening bus north to El Chalten, another hiking mecca. We almost missed our bus because I forgot that Argentina is an hour ahead of Chile - lucky Evan happened to notice a clock on the wall in the internet cafe!

El Chalten is a gorgeous little town - reminded us a bit of Balingup in south western Australia. The whole town seems to be made up of souvenir shops and restaurants and cafes. There are also some gorgeous wooden buildings which we took a few photos of - still storing ideas for our future house building. But the town is also going through massive development - they are bitumising the roads (which will be good for cutting down on dust) and we even saw them building what looked like a housing estate! Good for the town I guess, but the feel of it definitely won't be the same soon.

We checked into a cute little pension and

Frances Valley

This is not a black and white photo! But how fantastic does it look?

had a nice double room to ourselves - bit of a luxury. We had two nights there and spent some time just roaming the streets and hanging out in cafes and enjoying the local brew (there is a micro brewery in town) and the home made chocolates and icecream! The best thing about El Chalten is that it is built in the shadow of Mt Fitz Roy - so on a clear day you can see it from the streets of the town and don´t have to go anywhere if you are feeling lazy. Although we were feeling very lazy after Torres del Paine we managed an afternoon hike up to a mirador (lookout) to get a better view of Fitz Roy and also of the other main peaks in the area. It is a stunning area - but we both agreed that Torres del Paine definitely had more wow impact for us.

After two days it was back to El Calafate for a night and then back to Buenos Aires where our south america adventure began. We had one night there spent doing the little chores that seem to build up, and then we were on our way