Puerto Natales

South America » Chile » Magallanes » Puerto Natales
December 7th 2012

Published: December 25th 2012

Edit Blog Post

Figgy and Ali B

start of the W walk

5 minutes in on day one

After a bus trip of 5hrs from Calafate to Puerto Natales in Chile was uneventful. Checked into the hostel around lunchtime we asked about the W walk in the national park Torres del Paine we were advised of a meeting in the hostel about the walk. We went off and explored the town found a place to hire the camping gear required. Later at the hostel we attended the meeting where the hostel owner chatted to all about the different routes people could take depending on the amount of time they had. We had given ourselves 5 days to complete the walk. This walk is quite popular in this area it takes in the view points of the glacier Grey , the steep French Valley and the Torres del Paine the route is in the shape of a W thus it's name. You can walk it west to east or vice a versa a lot depends on the weather and the wind as this can have a great affect as to whether you see the Torres or even complete the walk. We wanted to walk west to east as we had decided to carry all our camping gear and food then

on the way up to the first campsite

stay at the free basic campsites around the route.

At the meeting the guide said he could give a 70% accurate weather report for the first 3 days which was good this meant it would be better to start east to west as it is more important to have good clear weather to see the Torres del Paine because after climbing and walking for at least 3 hours to reach the first campsite then another 2 hours from there to the free camping under the Torres and another 1 hour to reach the view point for the Torres' it would be a big disappointment to get there and not see much of the mountains. So this information had decided for us which way to go 'east ' first but this meant we had to carry all our provisions up the steep climb first, though luckily you do not need to carry water as the river/stream water is drinkable at lest this made our weight a bit less in each rucksack. The following day we went shopping for our food this was interesting as we wanted and needed stuff to fill us up but be light in weight, so pasta

uphill all the way

, dried packets of soups, flavoured rice crackers and porridge were high on the list. We became quite inventive with our meals during the trip. The night before setting off we spent quite a bit time deciding what clothes, equipment and food we should take, when our rucksacks were filled they were heavy and the thought of carrying all this for 5 days filled us with a dread , but after unpacking and repacking the bags we finally decided what we should take and hoped it was enough and the right decision.

The following day after a restless night we caught a bus to the park, there we had to pay an entrance fee and complete a form with our personal details and how long we intended to be in the park this is for safety purposes in case an accident to one of us. Then the bus took us to the start of the walk dropping us off full of excitement and nervousness of the unknown. We walked along for 30 minutes on fairly flat terrain before the ground started to increase in steepness and the going got hard though it was nice to have sunny fairly hot

one of many river crossings

weather this did add to the difficulty of trying to keep up a good pace as we needed to be at the first refugio campsite in the recommended time so in order to be at the last campsite Torres in good time to put tent up and cook a meal, and of course human nature as it is we all want to try and beat the time given. At the first refuge Chileno we flopped to the ground after walking this section in good time though the going was quite tough especially with the heavy rack sacks on our backs, here we had a snack and refilled our drinking bottles with fresh cold stream water( we know bottle water will never taste this good) The views on this stretch were breath taking but more was to come!

Rucksacks back on and off we set the terrain by now had started to reach the maximum height so the going became a little easier, but the legs did not feel this was the case. After another hour and half we finally reached the basic campsite Torres, put our tent up near a little stream and made a welcome cuppa and rested

same crossing

for a short while before deciding as the day was so lovely and clear it would be good to climb up to the final view point. This walk took an hour and a half as we had to climb steeply to reach the top, but what a unexpected surprise no one had told us that in front of the Torres is a glacial lake below a glacier in between the mountains. Of course lots if photographs were taken and everyone there was full of awe congratulating each other on their success in getting up to the final stage and commenting on each others times to get there.

The next day we had been advised by the guide at the hostel to get up to the Torres before sunrise as the Torres are coloured a lovely pink. So the next morning we got up at 4 am and set off with head torches on and did the steep climb up again. We were not the only people to do this early morning trek up, though we were couple of the first guys who set off quite so early. When we looked behind us as we almost reached the top there

base camp day one

was a long procession of small lights making their way the narrow path too. We settled down behind a large rock for shelter againest the wind and waited for the sun to rise and touch the mounatian spires creating a pink colour to the peaks. After an hour waiting and photograph taking we climbed back down to the campsite had breakie then packed up our camping stuff loaded our racksacks and made a start for the next journey of 30 km aprox to the next campsite. This took us back down the same route as the day before and then across the plains at the bottom of the Torres we passed the huge lake Nordenskóld. Along the route we met a group of Canadian trekkers who asked us how long before they they reached the campsite at the Torres, we said about 4 hours they all said oh no really, we then made the mistake and stupidly asked how far to our half way point and they replied 3 hours and smiled! our hearts sank as we had already walked 4 hours. We gave each other the usual positive encouragement though we did agree someone should say I would not

one hour uphill to the top

One hour climb up a steep path to the Torres del Paine

really bother going its a waste of time and see the look on the person's face.

We made it to the half way point 7 hours later our legs felt pretty empty of energy, we had a lovely milky coffee and some chocolate to eat which revived us. We took our boots off to give our feet a bit of fresh air and space this was a welcome relief. Then we set off again to the Italian campsite, we passed the beauitful blue lake Pehoè on our journery to the campsite, we finally reached our destination after a further 4 hours of walking and when arrived we felt exhausted we quickly set our camping stuff had something to eat and then crashed into our sleeping bags.

The next day we walked up the middle section of the W this being called the French Valley as we walked we followed the turbulent river Rio del Francès part of the way, also there are the spectacular views of Glacier Francès and Glacier Los Perrthese we also saw small evalanches of snow falling from between the mountains causing a very loud booming sound echoing in the mountains. We then walked through

Well worth the climb

The Torres del Paine

an enchanted looking forest before making the final hike up to the steep lookout out which gave us a 360 degree view of the mountain ranges. The views were spectacular and breath taking and more than made up for the exhausted feeling we had felt the day before. As we did not feel quite so tired we decided to return to our tent packed up and continued to the next campsite to be ready for the next day's walk.

We reached this campsite after 7 hours walking set up camp again eat supper and crashed into our sacks. The following morning packed up our stuff and set off for the final leg up the last W section to Glacier Grey. After several hours hiking up hill we reached the very windy gorge Quebrada de los Vientos where we decided to eat our lunch but this was not such a good idea as we were just about to put the food to our mouths the wind just blew most of it away. After a hastly eaten lunch we set off and within an hour into the hike we had our first glimpse of the huge Glacier Grey and the lake

found a new friend

Mr Fox

Grey where there were icebergs floating. The last section of the hike was extremly exhausting as the 3 days pervious walking was starting to have a big effect on our energy levels and blistered feet. We continued the final steep climb to our last campsite, where we set up our camp stuff before going to the view point for the Glacier Grey which is a huge and long stretching glacier of a beauitfull translucent blue, the view was amazing.

The next day we packed our camping stuff for the last time and retraced our route back down the mountain, as we reached the windy gorge Quebrada de los Vientos the very strong wind blew into our backs causing us several times to be blown off our tracks but this did help to speed our pace up, behind as well were nasty black clouds and rain however fortunately the wind kept the rain away too. We reached the last refuge after four hours walking which is about half the time it took to walk up we felt so pleased with ourselves and fit, we had several hours to wait for the small ferry boat to take us back to the

Sunrise day two

Went up again the next morning for the sunrise

registration office and the bus back to Puerto Natales, so we made our final meal of pasta mixed with chicken soup in the refuge kitchen and chillled before our departure.

When we arrived back we returned our hired camping gear and spent our last night in a hostel our bed was a welcome relief.The next day we had a ferry to catch which sailed up through the Cillean Fijords from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt for 4 nights and 3 days. The next day we got up feeling pretty good and brought a few provisions like wine to take on our trip. We had to take our rucksacks to the ferry booking office in the afternoon ready to be taken on board the ship. We had to be at the office again in the evening to have a talk regarding the different things we would see during our voyage through the Fijords.

Our accommadtion on the boat had been upgraded from a large dormitory to a private cabin this was a nice suprise. The ferry set sail in the very early hours of the morning and we were given a call at 5.30 so we could be on

Sunrise on the Torres

deck to see the ferry enter into fijords which took the ship through a narrow strip of water between two small islands. afterwards we crashed back into bed untill breakfast. The following day the next interesting sight was a glacier on a mountain fell into the fijord. A lot of the time we did spend a sleep in our cabin along the many of the other guests as most had walked the W walk and were catching up on rest. Some days the weather was pleasant and we sat out on the decks enjoying the beuitfull passing scenery and the wild life, albertroses and huge seagulls and sometimes dolphins in the water. When the ship enetred the Pacific Ocean quite a lot of passengers were or felt quite sea sick as the sea was rough with large rolling waves, this included myself too though "the old salty sea dog Michael" felt fine. Once the ship returned into the Fijords the water became a lot calmer, myself and the fellow sea sick passengers all felt better and looked less green in the face.

The ship docked into Puerto Montt on the 4th morning very early and after having breakfast we