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Published: December 23rd 2005
Penguins
Just in case you were unsure!!
The flight down to Punta Arenas was fantastic, the flight followed the Andean Mountain Range South. To one side were the snow capped peaks of the Andes and to the other the Pacific Ocean dotted with islands and the coast punctuated with inlets and lakes. The further South we got the whiter the mountains got until we passed over the Patigonain Southern Icefield. It has to be one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The icefield is 350km long and looks like a massive raised lake iced over and sitting between massive snowcapped mountains leading down to lakes at numerous points.
We arrived in Punta Arenas which is in the far south of Chile in Patagonia. We got off of the plane and immediately felt the cold wind, although the sun was warm the cold bite was evident especially in the shade. We got the bus to the centre of Punta Arenas and proceeded to try and get things booked as quickly as possible.
We were trying to find a hostel that was in our guide book when a pick up pulled up with a couple and child in. They asked if we were looking for
accommodation and said they had somewhere close to town and the price was good. We were a bit weary but since the hostel we were looking for had closed down and our bags were heavy we jumped into the back of the pickup. We were taken to a house and led around the back to a kind of granny flat, we had our own lounge, bathroom, kitchen and two bedrooms all to ourselves. It was a bit tatty around the edges but for the eight pound we were paying between us for the night it more than surficed since it had a gas heater as a bonus.
Accomodation sorted we headed off on our tour to see the Penguins at Otway Sound which is 70km from Punta Arenas. The colony of Magellanic penguins come to shore every summer to breed and raise their young. The penguins build burrows on land and when we went to see them in the evening, they were all on their way home after a hard day fishing. They are very cute and to my suprise were not very smelly. On the way there we also say large ostrich type birds called Rheas and also
a skunk!
The next morning we left Punta Arenas for Puerto Natales which is 247km North of Punta Arenas and lies between the mountain range of Cerro Dorotea and the Eastern Shore of Seno Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope Sound). Puerto Natales is the main jumping off point for Balmaceda and Torres del Paine national parks.
We spent the day organising our trip into the national park, booking our boat trip up into the park, hiring a tent and stove and buying supplies for our trip.
We boarded the boat the 21st May and left the port of Puerto Natales at 8am. The boat sailed through Last Hope Sound and past Puerto Bories industrial refrigeration plant. The refrigeration plant looks an unlikely building in its surroundings but it was founded in 1913 and was the main port for shipment of farm produce from Chilian and Argentinian Patagonia livestock farmers. A number of estancias in the area could only be accessed by boat and not by land so the plants location served a dual purpose.
As the journey progressed we passed numerous estancias and cattle ranches until we came to a cormorant colony where thousands of the birds
come to breed. The next stop was a sealion colony however, only a few were there as it is the start of the breeding season and not all of the colony have returned to the site as yet.
It seam´t like the mountains came upon us quickly and soon the sides of the fiord became steeper and we were in the Monte Balmaceda National Park. Monte Balmaceda stands at 2035m with a glacier leading off of its eastern slopes. The Glacier hangs almost in suspension with water draining from the base into the fiord. Like most glaciers on the planet this one is in receding and only 15 years ago the base of the glacier was at sea level now it's several meters up the side of the mountain.
The boat then stopped at Glacier Serrano, it was at this point where a small group of us seperated from the main tour as the rest were returning to Puerto Natales that evening. After a walk upto the base of the glacier we returned back to the edge of the fiord and boarded a zodiac boat for the rest of our journey.
After lunch in a hostelery with
the Serano Glacier in view we boarded the Zodiac for the remainder of the journey up the Rio Serrano to Torres del Paine national park. As we got further into the park the scenery became more wild and the river wider and more turbulent and milky coloured from the heavy sediment from Gray Glacier.
We were dropped off at the park administration centre near the Rio Serano at gone 4.30pm and the next transfer was too late for us to catch the last catamaran of the day to get to our desired starting point. Therefore we didnt have much choice but to set off walking to Campamento Las Carretas 7.5km. It was very very windy, as we walked through the meadows with large hills either side of us and the Torres Peaks surrounded by snow capped mountains in front of us, hundred of white birds were playing in the wind next to us. We set up camp at Campamento Las Carretas, a two hour walk from the administration block.
After a good night sleep we awoke to find it raining so we stayed tucked up in our sleeping bags long enough for it to stop. We set off
walking around 10am with our target Campamento Paso, which is right next to Greys Glacier, a mere 25 kilometers walk. The unexpected leg of this walk provided us with beautiful views of Lago Pehoe with reflections Torres del Paines within the lake. We stopped for lunch about 2.30pm next to Laguna Los Patos a turquiose lake with again fantastic views, it became apparent that beautiful scenery was going to be a running theme all the way.
We arrived at Campamento Grey about 6pm feeling tired from the up hill down hill walk, we went to see the office about the possiblility of glacier walking and ice climbing. After discussions we decided that walking to the next camp was out of the question as we were both tired and it meant we'd have to be get up at daft o'clock to be back in time to do the ice hike and after another 2 hour hike and 4 hours on the glacier we would then have another 3.5 hours to the next camp. So we decided to stay where we were.
We set up camp and Sue made dinner super noodles washed down with a bottle of bubbly. I
Dinner
After hiking 28km's carrying 20kg plus in your rucksack it suprising how good Supernoodles actually taste, mind you the champagne helped!! can honestly say I've never known super noodles taste so good.
We were taken across the Lake on a Zodiac to the accessible part of the glacier where we were fitted with harnesses and crampons for the ice hiking and climbing. We experienced all four season of weather while we were there one minute it was glorious sun shine the next it clouded over and the winds picked up, then the rain started then dropped and the sun came out again, the wind then picked up blowing a thin layer of ice in our faces giving the impression that it was snowing.
The hiking ws relativley easy, given the right instructions to cross different terrains that you'd come across. We were shown different ice formations, had an explanation of an erratic rock, which is when a stone is picked up from the bottom by the current of the glacier, when it reaches the top the sun heats it up causing the ice around the stone to melt forming over the course of a year a huge creater which the glaceir then uses a a drainage system.
We arrived back at the camp at 1pm and then walked
down to Acampar Paine Grande on the edge of Lago Pehoe 11km, pitched our tent which seemed like the best spot on the site facing the lake where the Sun will rise in the morning, we later found out that it was right in the wind tunnel formed by the valleys of the mountain either side of us, we couldn't be bothered to move so risked it and made it through the night safely. However the people who took our place the next morning stayed in our hostel when we returned to Puerto Natales and they said they awoke to find their tent at a 45 degree angle touching their faces.
The next days hiking was a killer consantly going up and down few hundred metres at a time, we walked from Acampar Paine Grande to Hosteria Las Torres a total of 25km. We managed to get lost as we followed signs which led to a path which then split in three with no sign then that path split in three, we ended up following horse tracks in a rough direction we thought the camp site was in incomparision to the lake. We arrived very tired to see the
On Grey's Glacier #2
Greys Glacier is just one of many Glaciers that stretch over the southern ice fields measuring 350km top to bottom!! rich travellers taking helicopter rides around the park. The campsite was excellent with the kind of showers that you deserve after getting lost on a 9 hour trek and also had wild horses wondering around the site.
The final leg of our trek round Torres was to hike to the Mirrodor of the Torres Peaks. Most of the way there was up hill but as we were able to leave our bags at the campsite the hike was a lot easier than it could have been, with the last part more of a scramble. However the hard work was paid off by the view of the Peaks, although a lot of other trekkers were there with us it was still deadly quiet and you almost felt like you were there alone. We made the trek down in record time with leaving enough time after packing our tent to go for a well deserved beer before catching the transfer back to Peurto Natales.
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Sarah
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Amazing photos x