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Torres del Paine

"W" trek.

Por Javi Lorbada

19 de February de 2018

The last bits of Chile where at Torres del Paine, Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas.

Although both Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas served us for overnight and dropping of the car point, this story will focus on the Torres del Paine "W" trek.

It took us five days, four nights, and it was certainly the wildest and changing weather I have experienced during the Patagonia trip, but also in my life so far. We were not lucky, and it was very demotivating at some point to have nearly 30h non-stop snow and rain. That made the trek very difficult, having wet cloths for two full days isn't a pleasant experience, but I take the good parts, and to me, that shows us, that we are never in charge, mother nature is.

Rain, snow, wind or clear skies and sun, Torres del Paine is without a doubt, as many say, the 8th Wonder in the World. Well, would happily admit that, as it really has unique landscapes and conditions that made this journey a memorable one.

It is difficult to represent this trekking through the map, but I hope you have an idea what this trek means. Although our journey we couldn't really do the "W" shape, unfortunately the weather was so bad that Mirador Britanico and Valle Frances were closed.

Snow and no visibility forced the Rangers of the park close this amazing area. I was very sad when I heard that, it seems to be one of the most beautiful areas.

Let's get into the daily adventures along this amazing trek!

Puerto Natales - Torres del Paine National Park - Refugio Chileno - Mirador las Torres

20 km, 29k steps.

Left Puerto Natales after breakfast, 2h driving and we were at Torres del Paine, paid entrance fees, parked the car and started the trek.

First day, seemed easy, at least on the map. However soon I felt my heavy backpack, I'm carrying cloths, sleeping bag and mattress, tent for three people and some food. It's just 2h until the campsite, right on time for lunch.

After lunch, we setup the tent and started the real hike up to the Torres, that was about another 2h but always up, about 500m altitude, reached the top and started a storm, which made us stay very short. The park ranger also advice us to go down due to the severity of the snow, so we did.

Back at the camp early than expected and almost fall asleep, then, at 22:00 dinner and bed. I went early to bed since my idea was to wake up at 3 am in the morning to try Mirador las Torres for sunrise.

On the way up.

The thick forest.

Lucky to have seen them.

On the way down.

Refugio Chileno - Mirador las Torres - Refugio Los Cuernos - Camping Frances

35 km, 48k steps.

So yeah, woke up at 2:45 for the sunrise mission, a couple from the US and a couple from Canada joined. The ascend was easier than I thought, and it looked promising, the sky was clearing out, and around 4:50 we summit to the viewpoint, it was cold though, setup the tripod and look for a place, soon after, I mean not later than 10 minutes, started to snow. Then I joined the guys, they were having some coffee, and the weather turned upside down, heavy snowstorm. Totally cloudy sky, grey tones everywhere, windy and cold, very cold. So we decided to head back, it was a nice hike in the dark, we were not lucky at all.

After breakfast, we started the daily hike, supposedly to be easy, it wasn't, not because of the path or length, just because two thirds of the time was raining, and not lightly. The landscape is outstanding though, there are mountains everywhere, and also of them just had fresh snow, the lake is iconic, the green fields and the water aqua color makes a perfect match for a postcard.

This day we were exhausted at lunch and we stop at Refugio los Cuernos, also served us to get dry and warm, not much though.

Very fatigued we had to continue until our overnight place, Camping Frances, which we make it early to have time for a shower and relax.

Sunrise mission failed.

Back on track

Torres del Paine rockies

Camping Frances - Paine Grande

13 km, 18k steps.

Torres del Paine it's undoubtedly an incredible place, the weather can be always even worse than you can imagine.

Full day non stop rain, that totally drained my energy and in fact, we didn't walk much, but honestly, it was enough. Rain didn't stop at Torres del Paine for about 30h, which was very uncomfortable to walk, I was totally soaked.

To me, the worse part was that I couldn't take any picture at this wonderful park, rain and fog made it impossible. Although my camera has a weather sealing protection it was impossible not to get drops on the lens, so I didn't use it much. Some areas of my backpack got wet too. It became to be frustrating because we missed a couple of amazing viewpoints, in particular Valle Francés and Mirador Britanico, but every told us it's not worth the time to hike up.

Anyway, we ended up at Paine Grande where we can get our clothes dry, and hopefully, enjoy the next couple of days with a bit of sun.

Paine Grande - Grey Glacier - Refugio Grey

28 km, 37k steps.

Although I tried to go out for the sunrise, I didn't, weather didn't change much and decided to sleep for another 2h.

We started the day around 9 am, luckily the sun was behind us for a bit, just a glimpse of it, but good after the last days. The trek though was easy, it took me around 3h to reach the Refugio Grey, just in time for lunch.

After that, we got ready to visit glacier grey, oh boy! Such an incredible place, so great. The lake, the glacier, the walk, the hanging bridges, and finally the weather, although we had everything, rain, snow, strong winds and a bit of sun, we could really see and feel Torres del Paine.

On my down to the refugio, I saw another ice calving event from Grey Glacier, insane moment, it sounded like an earthquake, so beautiful. Nature sometimes can be unexpectedly wonderful.

After dinner tried the sunset cause seemed promising, but it wasn't in the end, so went to bed.

Way to Refugio Grey

The three bridges.

Majestic Glacier Grey

A dreamy moment.

Refugio Grey - Paine Grande - Pudeto - Las Torres - Puerto Natales

Our last day at Torres del Paine brought us some sun rays, and snow and rain, as usual.

The trek was easy, even though was mostly going up, it didn't mean much effort, maybe the strong winds from the back helped a bit, such a windy day, the ranges told me a speed between 100& 120 km/h, I could feel it!

After the hike, we started the journey back to Puerto Natales, a ferry, a bus and then the car, once at the car we took the other direction to enjoy Torres del Paine park a bit longer, and once again, showed us it's amazing beauty.

Around 6pm we arrived at Puerto Natales, we visited the supermarket for some basics and headed back to the camp for a shower.

The evening I decided not to take my camera and enjoy a traditional meat meal here in Chile, some beers after, and headed to bed.

In the boat.

Everything we went through at Torres del Paine, strong winds, heavy rain, snow and sun.

Salto Grande

Leaving the park

Puerto Natales

Torres del Paine, it is without a doubt one of those places on earth that leaves a mark on you, whether is the climate, or simply the scenery, you'll get something that nowhere else exists, these remote lands are so wild that will never cease to amaze their visitors. Next time I will visit, I'll do the "O" trek.