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Published: March 9th 2008
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Day 3 : Dickson - Los Perros
Uli walking with his heavy backpack of 25 kilos!! This time I decided to do a big trekking adventure in the national park of Torres del Paine
Like this is a year without any compromise I decided to do this trip on my own ! 😊 To prepare myself to this trip I bought myself a nice lightweight tent of 2.5 kilos in Puerto Natales. And of course not to forget the food for at least 8 days. Basically it consisted in milk powder, bread, pasta, rice, dry fruit, tuna, etc.. I must admit that when the bus was driving to this huge park I was a little bit stressed if I didn't forget something, because it was my first trekking where I had to organize all by myself.
This was my trekking program folks!
Day 1 : Hosteria Las Torres - Seron (9km-4 hours) Day 2 : Seron - Dickson (19km-6 hours) Day 3 : Dickson - Los Perros (9km-4hours) Day 4 : Siesta + Visit Puma Glacier (2hours) Day 5 : Los Perros - Paso (12km-6hours) Day 6 : Paso - Grey (10km-5hours) Day 7 : Siesta + viewpoint Glacier Grey (2hours) Day 8 : Grey - Italiano (18,6km-5,5hours) Day 9 : Going up heavy Day 3 : Dickson - Los Perros
The German guy Michael and my 2 friends Alavaro and Rodrigo from Chile on the campsite in Valle Frances (9km-6hours)
Day 10 : Italiano - Cuernos (5,5km-2,5hours) Day 11 : Cuernos - Chileno (15km-6hours) Day 12 : Heavy Climbing up to Los Torres during the day (7km-4hours) Day 13 : Going up at night at 3:30 am to Torres to see Sunrise (7km-4hours) + Chileno exit park (5km-2hours) To see the map of the national park Torres del Paine, click on the following link:
Map Torres del Paine On
day 1, I felt quite dying with 25 kilos on my back. Quickly I had pain in my shoulders, but luckily I met a german guy who told me that I had to put more weight on my hips. Result, heavy legs, but at least better for the back. 😊 The first night on the camp site I had to discover how to put my tent up, because it was a brand new one. I socialized with Michael, a guy who was also travelling by himself.
On
Day 2 we walked together to campamento Dickson. 6 hours walk and I was very glad to arrive at the camp site. There I met two other sympathic guys of Chile, Alvaro and Rodrigo. They had
Day 4 : Los Perros - Visit Puma Glacier
A visit to the puma glacier to drink rhum on the rocks afterwards! to stay one more night in the camp because Rodrigo had his feet all open. The next morning I could admire a beautiful rainbow on the camp site.
Day 3 was a real struggle and I decided to stay one night extra in Los Perros, because the next traject was the most dificult of the whole park.
On
day 4, I told myself that it was a good idea to take a shower, because I didn't wash myself for the last 2 days. Sorry for that people 😊 (But I used deodorant) But the shower, was a cold shower!! Brrr!! But hey, I'm not a sissie!! 😊 In the afternoon Rodrigo and Alvaro came into the camp and they start laughing. Now it was me who was staying one more day extra in the camp. We really had a nice conversation and we also talked a lot about photography because Alvaro is professional photographer.
He invited me to come to his house in Santiago later on this year and we will travel a little bit around with his car. Rodrigo offered me some yogha lessons, if I was interested. Incredible guy, he could even put his 2 legs
Day 5 : Los Perros - Paso
Amazing highest pass of the circuit between los perros and paso in his neck. The whole camp site was looking 😊
On
day 5 we started together the most difficult part from Paso to Grey. Amazing valley with a lot of wind and we even had snow for a moment because the high altitude. Just amazing passing through this valley!! Later that day we had an incredible view on the Grey Glacier with an enormous thick icefield.
In campamento Paso I said goodbye to Alvaro and Rodrigo, because they wanted to walk 3 hours more to Grey after already a 6 hours walk. A little bit too hardcore for me!! Campamento Paso was a nice camp, but only the basics. A whole to go to the toilet and a wooden shelter too cook. But very nice!
Day 6 was a lot going down and I had some problems with my knees. That's why I decided again to do a day of siesta in Grey. In campamento Grey I putted my tent up on a nice place on the top with a great view on the lake. But I did regret a little bit afterwards... The second night the wind was blowing at 90km/hour and I thought that my tent
Day 6 : Paso - Grey
Amazing huge icefield of the Grey glacier was blowing away 😊 But hey, I didn't sleep well but I survived that night!!
The next day,
day 7, was really tranquilo and I spent the whole afternoon having a siesta just in front of the Grey glacier. That day I also spoiled myself with a nice meal in the refugio after 5 days having pasta and rice.
Day 8 was from Grey to Italiano and not so tough but I started to have more problems with my knees.
On
day 9 it was supposed to be an easy day, but I decided to go all up to the Valle Frances. So 7 hours of walking again, but it was worth suffering for this view. Maybe an coincidence but I met some French people on the top of Valle Frances 😊 I was lucky that the girl gave me her knee protection because I was having some problems. In the evening we ate together and my knee felt already better, luckily!
Day 10 was a easy day with only 2 hours of walk. I discovered a nice beach, at least that was wat I thought. I opened my bag to take my tuna and to
Day 7 : Visit Viewpoint Grey Glacier
Uli set up his tent with a nice view on the lake have a nice picknick. While I saw in the distance the water going up to 2 meters because of the wind. I saw this kind of tornado coming on me and I just had the time to jump on all my affairs so that the wind would't blow all it away. I was laying down and than it felt like a fuckin shower over me. I was soaking wet!! So I decided to have my picknick in campomento Cuernos. The sun was shining with a lot of wind so I got dry very quickly. That night I ate again in the refugio with a nice glass of wine this time talking with a couple of Los Angeles. They were working in the film industry.
Day 11 to Chileno, because of course, I still had to see the torres. The headliner of the park!
Day 12 I climbed up to see the torres, cloudy in the beginning of the day but afterwards the sky opened. Back down in the camp I heard people talking about to see the sunrise on the Torres.
On
day 13, I thought that sunrise is something for me!! But other people wanted to
go up in 1 hour time what was really quickly. I was afraid to come too late to the sunrise. So I talked to 2 Argentinian guys if they didn't want to leave earlier with me. They where interested and during the night we started to go up in the dark at 3:30 am in the morning. I was their guide because they didn't know the trail and I already did it the day before. But I must admit that it was not so easy to do it in the dark. With a headlamp of course. But hey, I did my job well and we arrived at 5 am on the top to see the sunrise. But.. Some people gave me information that sunrise was at 5 am and it was at 6:30 am. I wanted to kill these people! We had to wait one hour on the top for sunrise and it was freezing cold. Finally the sunrise was not so impressing because there were a lot of clouds so the torres didn't really became orange. But than, totally unexpected a huge rainbow over the Torres.
Thank you God for this amazing gift!!
Day 13 : Torres by sunrise
Amazing rainbow over the 3 torres !!
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emiel henrix
non-member comment
survival of the fittest
Hallo Uli, This seems an other story than walking around in Brussels. Your good condition and energy are definitely needed to survive such tough trips.Your photos shows us that the landscape is really impressive. Los Torres makes clear that people are small in the universe. The blog gives us a good opportunity to travel a little bid with you. Up to the next exiting trip. Mama and Pappa