Chile III – Trekking the W

Hiking the W Trek to see Torres del Paine in Chilean Patagonia was one of the original drivers for our trip, so finally getting there 11 months later was pretty exciting! Big cheers go to Gareth & Michelle for giving Xavi the awesome book which seeded the idea!!

The previous 21 days on a boat wasn’t the best physical preparation for a 75km trek, but our time was running out with a pending onward flight out of Buenos Aires 10 days later, so we weren’t going to let that stop us. We spent a day preparing in Puerto Natales, another small town now very reliant on tourism since Torres del Paine has grown in popularity. We didn’t make it to the few tourist attractions of town, but instead were busy organising food, renting equipment, taking in the Erratic Rock Info Session (3pm daily @ Base Camp Pub), deciding the best route and calling home with the good news of our recent engagement. After all that, at last we were ready to set off.

The W Trek is a 75km W shaped trail in the Southern Patagonian Ice Fields at the end of the Andes, which visits the spectacular Torres del Paine (Paine Towers). There was a lot of confusion about the best direction to walk with many sources giving opposite recommendations so in the end we left it up to chance with the weather.

W Trek marked in red – red & blue together is the O and they call the red, blue and yellow combo the Q.

We caught buses in to Laguna Amarga starting point with a quick (compulsory) stop over in the National Park Office to get the briefing, weather report and pay entry fees. It was here we made the last minute decision to walk from east to west in the hope we would miss the upcoming rain when we visited the Torres. So we set off from Hotel Torres with the busload of other trekkers. We sadly left the less crowded 9-day O loop for the more hard-core trekkers & people with more time, but hope to go back some day!

The start of the trail from the East with the cloudy Torres in the distance on the right.

The 3.5 hr hike to Campamento Chileno was a good first day intro into what was to come, 4 days of incredibly beautiful scenery and some rather crazy weather! It really is four seasons in one day, and the wind that rips through the valley was enough blow sunglasses off our faces and knock us over. The walking stick became a trusty companion after that as the path often followed cliff edges which combined with the gusting winds deserved respect!

Rolling stones – some caution signs cause the opposite effect of what they’re made for…

Just after we finished setting up our tent at the camp and were getting ready to hike on to the Torres, we couldn’t believe our eyes!! Walking through the tents we ran into some familiar faces – Alex and Anne-So, mates from Sydney!! Who could have imagined that we would meet friends who we hadn’t seen in about a year (and had no idea they were in the area) in the middle of a trek…they were on their second last day after walking the trek in the opposite direction! Such an awesome surprise!!

Reunion at Torres del Paine!!

We had a great time catching up over the walk up to the Torres and over our camping stoves cooking meals. Luckily and thanks to them for the wake-up call, we made it in time to see the sunrise at the Torres the next morning too! Despite overnight rain, the morning was fine and with our headlights we tramped up to see Torres del Paine again following the track and the rough trail of moving headlights of other hikers ahead. Once at the top, we sat huddled together with all our warm clothes on to combat the cold morning air, waiting for the sun! It’s strange to think that a rock face can be so beautiful, but the way the Torres change as the rising sun lights them was incredible!

The sunrise just beginning opposite the Torres.

Before the sun really came up…

Then the light started coming over the other mountains! Talk about the golden hour!

After a good breakfast and farewell-ing Anne-So and Alex we started out in the rain on our way to Campamento Italiano for what was the longest day of walking (approx. 21 kms, 5-6hrs). The trail through the wilderness was beautiful, yet we didn’t feel too isolated as we crossed many other trekkers of all ages completing the trek with us or in the opposite direction. The weather cleared up just after Campamento Chileno, and we were treated to excellent views of Lago Nordenskjöld and los Cuernos.

Poor horses have to carry the gas in to the privately run campsites.

Los Cuernos (The Horns)

The four seasons continued to jostle each other to come out and by the afternoon of the second day it was really hot and we were in need of some refreshment!! We found a small desire path that led off the trail and down to the pebble beach by the water’s edge and had a refreshing swim in the glacial waters! It did wonders to give us the energy to continue on to the campsite!

Glacial waters made for a very quick swim!

Lago Nordenskjöld

We arrived at camp at about 6pm, well and truely ready for a rest! For our third day, we planned to hike the Valle Frances, a 5hr return trip up and back the middle leg of the W and then arrive to Paine Grande (the bottom point of the left leg) another 2hrs later. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side and the horizontal rain turned to sleet and then snow so we didn’t see too much. It was so cold, our fingers could hardly work to press the shutter button on the camera. Coming back which in the most part was mildly downhill, we had to run to keep warm because we were totally soaked.

Great weather for hiking!

Valle Frances (French Valley) – in a brief clearing in the clouds we could make out the back of the Torres

From Campamento Italiano to the Refugio Paine Grande, the terrain changed significantly again. There’s a large section which suffered from a huge forest fire in December 2011 caused by a backpacker burning toilet paper and the effects are still clearly visible!  When we got closer to the lake again, we could see the strong winds coming, pushing ripples across the lake, they knocked us about a bit, but we managed to stay standing this time.

Forest of recovering trees – a forest fire ripped through the area in trees

It’s always a good feeling during a long hike when you start to see the campsite ahead!!

Our first hot shower in days was waiting for us at Paine Grande camping site and after a day walking in the rain it was much appreciated!! That night we left Xavi’s shoes and backpack minus any valuables under a shelter to dry (as we had done with our stuff in the other free campsites along the way) and woke up to find it was missing. After travelling in some of the most dangerous countries in the world, who would have thought that we’d be robbed in the “most developed” country of them all!? Luckily however, Xavi’s giant hiking boots were not to the theif’s liking and were left there, so after about an hour searching the area for the pack and talking to the authorities, we decided to continue on with the last leg of the trek, a 22km, 6hr return loop to Refugio Grey.

Our first dry morning of the trek!!

Enroute to Grey Glacier

It was yet another day of amazing scenery! Despite having lost our lunch in the backpack, we calculated and rationed the remaining biscuits and trail mix that were in my backpack over the day (small snack every 30mins). After leaving Antarctica, we weren’t expecting to see any more icebergs on the trip, but were surprised to see quite a few more on the way to Grey Glacier. This leg of the W has great views of Lago Los Patos and Lago Grey and viewpoints of two faces of the glacier.

Lago Los Patos

Glacier Grey

One thing we didn’t see much of on the whole trek however were animals, apart from a few condors occasionally floating overhead we were surprised at the lack of wildlife. Locals refer to the W as ‘going to the city’ (busy with plenty of tourists) so probably that combined with burnt forests etc is keeping them away in the more secluded sections of the park.

We would have loved to keep on going to the next bridge after Refugio Grey which we heard had even better views of the Glacier, but we were running out of time, and were pretty tired by this stage so we went back to Paine Grande to wait for the catamaran which would take us back to Pudeto. The boat was full of familiar faces from the last few days on the trail and we all soaked up the last spectacular views of the mountains on the way back to civilisation.

The home stretch, last km!!

We never got tired of looking at these mountains!!

Back in our room in Puerto Natales and minus a big backpack, we faced the difficult task of trying to fit all of our belongings into one pack and few extra small bags. Luckily we were travelling relatively light and my bag is big!! So after hardly any rest at all, we were up the next morning in the dark to get to the bus stop, cross to Argentina and move on to our final destination in South America…Buenos Aires!! It’s kind of a sad feeling when you know the trip is coming to an end, but we’re still living in the moment and enjoying the ride. More to come soon from BA and another visit to the wonderful Argentinian family!!

Lots of love,

Xavi & Sal