Torres del Paine and Puerto Natales (November 20th - 30th, 2013)

For me, trekking in Torres del Paine was one of the highlights of this whole trip: I loved the wildlife, the stunning rock formations and pristine lakes. Moreover, we met some wonderful people along the way.

We'd just done a lot of hiking near El Chaltén, so once we arrived in Puerto Natales (the town closest to Torres del Paine National Park), we took a day to relax and prepare ourselves. We also had an important decision to make. Namely, there are two popular routes in the park: the "W" Circuit, lasting four to six days, and the longer "O" Circuit, which includes everything from the "W" and the more remote backside. I'd never camped for more than three nights in a row, so I was a bit worried that if we would do the longer route, we'd simply need to carry too much weight. Radek managed to talk me into it, saying he'd carry most of the food. Thus, on the morning of the 22nd, we took a bus straight from our hostel door to the park.

We were dropped off at the Laguna Amarga ranger station, where we paid the entrance fee, listened to the safety instructions and received this map. From there, many people take a bus or walk to Hosteria las Torres and then continue along the circuit, but we decided to shortcut (and not spend money on the second bus), and turned to the right much earlier. The path was easy to find: after we'd crossed a couple of bridges, we saw the trailhead with orange markings and a sign. In fact, with the exception of a couple of places that were covered in snow, the path could be very easily identified along the whole circuit.

Although it was a bit cloudy, we managed to get a sneak preview of the magnificent rock formations that make this place so famous. Before long we also encountered a group of beautiful and graceful guanacos, and soon after that, a fox crossed our way. We saw several other animals that day and on the next, but practically none later on, possibly because this first section was the most remote part of the trail. Indeed, the only other people we saw on the trail that day were Gabe and Jessica, whom we soon befriended. They hiked at a very similar pace as us, and we thus met them again on countless times during the following days.

Guanacos and cloudy Torres

Upon arrival at the Campamento Seron, we noticed a scale hanging off a tree branch, and decided to weigh our backpacks. Our friends Gabe and Jessica had approx. 14kg. Mine was also approx. 14 kg and just Radek's 23 (my hero!). Fortunately, his bag would get lighter with our next meal. It was still way too early for dinner, though, so before cooking we set up our tent and also spent about a half an hour just twiddling our thumbs. Eventually, we cooked and ate, and then played cards with Gabe and Jessica. Our evening ended with a hot shower - a luxury that we decided to take advantage of because it was included in the camping fee.

This Southern Caracara was a frequent visitor at the Seron campsite

We'd planned day 2 of hike to be a long one - ca 10 hours - and in the rush to get an early start, forgot our towels. We noticed only after we had already walked for several hours, so there was no going back. Our relatively flat path took us through a landscape filled with shrubs and bushes, with snow-topped mountains in the distance. We had a bit of a rest on the grassy field in front of Refugio Dickson, and then continued towards our campsite. Here, some of the path lead through a forest, and likely because I was getting tired, I stumbled on a root. This, the first of my many falls on the circuit, left me with a scraped knee and a bent hiking pole. After a minute for recovery, we continued and were soon rewarded with a view of a hanging glacier. The Campamento Los Perros was not far off. We put up our tent and went to cook dinner in a common kitchen, which was basically a makeshift shack with a wooden carcass and a plastic covering. Although it looked as though it would fall down any minute, it gave us some protection from the cold and wind. Thus, we started to cook a much anticipated dinner, but suddenly, the flame from our stove flickered and went out. At first we thought that the gas canister was empty, but when we changed canisters, it still didn't work. Radek had a close look at the stove from one side and the other, and hypothesized that some sand had entered it in El Chaltén, where we'd basically cooked in the midst of a sand storm. Gabe and Jessica lent us their stove so we could finish preparing our food, and we decided try to solve our problem only after dinner. Just before going to sleep, Radek borrowed a needle and used it to clean the inside of our stove, which made work as good as new.

The views were absolutely amazing!

Another great view

On the way to Campamento Los Perros

The first glacier we saw during this hike

Day 3 was short, but by no means simple. We woke up to a cold morning and discovered a thin layer of snow on our tent. It was cloudy, and moreover, the trees that surrounded us would have blocked any sunlight from reaching us even on a clear day. Thus, we realized that drying our tent was mission impossible, and just packed it after brushing off the snow. By the time we were done and had had breakfast, nearly everyone else had already left. We started following the others' footprints along a very muddy trail. Soon, another couple - Annelisa and Brent - caught up with us. This was the first of many nice encounters with them. We chatted for a while and eventually, they overtook us. After some more walking in the mud, we made it to the tree line, and from there on, it was very windy. We continued towards the highest point of the circuit - the John Gardner Pass, fighting snow, hail and wind. It was very tough, especially close to the top because of the icy ground there. One particularly nasty gust of wind made me lose my balance and I started sliding on the ice; lucky that my knee hit a rock and brought me to a stop. After this, both of my knees were rather unattractive and somewhat painful. Believing that the conditions would be better on the other side of the pass, we pushed on. Indeed, going down was much easier, and until reaching the tree line, we had a wonderful view of Grey Glacier. Soon we reached Campamento Paso, and even though it was only 3 PM, we decided to camp there because we were exhausted. Gabe and Jessica had arrived some time earlier and chose to stay as well. We spent the afternoon and evening drinking tea and playing Mariáš, one of the most popular card games in Czech Republic.

A bit of snow on our tent

The way up the pass was very windy and cold

Grey Glacier  

As we were walking on the path on the next, fourth day, we again had glimpses of Grey Glacier. This time, the weather was sunny and the glacier seemed even more beautiful. We needed to cross a couple of gullies and climbed some ladders and bridges to do so. We walked past the abandoned Campamento Los Guardas and eventually made it to Refugio Grey. From there on, the path was much more crowded, because the refugio corresponds to the western end of the more popular "W" Circuit. A quick lunch, and we continued south, fighting strong winds along the way. We spent the night at the most luxurious campsite of the whole circuit: the Paine Grande. The common kitchen there was excellent: they even provided cooking gas! However, we decided to make use of this option only in the morning, and bought dinner at the hut instead. This meant a four-course meal, including fresh salad, soup, main meal, dessert and drink. We must have been famished, because the dinner disappeared quickly and we could have certainly eaten more. After our meal, I went to have a shower (Radek had already gone before dinner). Unfortunately, the ladies' shower was just lukewarm. I felt quite cool for a while because I also couldn't dry myself well: as we no longer had our towels, we used our shirts instead, and these weren't as absorbent as we'd hoped.

At times Grey Glacier, seemed endless, but it finally finished here

Radek on one of the bridges we needed to cross that day

Chilean Firetree

In the morning, Gabe and Jessica, with whom we had just discussed that we hadn't seen any animals since the second day of the hike, told us that the zipper of their tent had broken and a mouse had tried to share their sleeping quarters in the night. MacGyver tape to the rescue!

Our plan for day 5 was to walk to Campamento Italiano, leave our large bags there and walk up and down the Valle del Francés, and provided that we have enough energy, continue to Campamento los Cuernos. The path to Campamento Italiano was beautiful, even though we saw many burned trees along the way. Forest fires are common in the area, although smoking and cooking are strictly forbidden except in designated places. On the way up the valley we saw many people who told us that they didn't go up the whole way but rather just to the first viewpoint, and that it was very windy there. Indeed, it the wind was extremely windy, but once we got past the viewpoint, we were sheltered by the forest. When we reached the final viewpoint at the abandoned Campamento Británico, we realized what a good decision it had been to continue to this point. We had an amazing 360° view of the end of the valley! We took some time to enjoy the surroundings and the sunshine, and then continued back down. The weather started to show signs of deteriorating, so we quickened our pace. At Campamento Italiano, we retrieved our backpacks and hurried on. A part of the path was very close to a large lake, and this section was completely open to the wind. Suddenly, we saw something coming fast in our direction from the lake. We realized that it was a cloud of wind-swept water droplets, moving nearly horizontally. The lake and wind showered us for the rest of the way to the campsite, and there, we saw the water reach tents located even at several hundreds of meters from the lake. We arrived quite late, and had problems finding space for our tent. Eventually, we settled for a small and lumpy site that was at least a bit protected from the wind. We considered this campsite the worst of all places we stayed at, and it was also the most expensive.

Burned forest

Some of the mountains had peculiar, but beautiful patterns

Walking up the Valle Francés

Us at the end of the valley, with a view back down

View at the end of Valle Francés

Walking beside the wind-exposed lake

The night was horrible! Howling wind, rain and imagination running wild. Would our tent survive, or would one of the haunting gusts make it collapse on us? Fortunately, it was still standing in the morning (we later learned that Gabe and Jessica's tent did not make it through this night).  It was still windy, however, and drizzling as well. We had a very slow morning: we waited a while, hoping the rain would stop, and when it didn't, we gathered all our things inside the tent, packed them as well as the wet tent, and then ate breakfast with Brent and Annelisa inside the refugio. They invited us to Thanksgiving dinner in Puerto Natales for the following night. Eventually, the dreaded moment came, and it was time to go outside and start walking. We wanted to go to Campamento Chileno along a well-marked shortcut that for some reason was not on the map we were provided (but can be seen on openstreetmaps), and then spend the night at Campamento Chileno. However, right before the Campamento Chileno, the wind was so terrifying that I feared it would blow me straight down to the valley. While I was holding on to a particularly sturdy root with all my might, Radek was holding on to me, and lost his sunglasses and bandana to the wind. After this, I didn't want to continue, so we decided to go down and try again the next morning. Thus, we spent the night at a campsite near Hosteria Las Torres.

Our 7th day in the park began nice and early: we woke up before sunrise, at about 5, had a quick breakfast and then hurried up the valley once more. The weather was gorgeous! We had quite a high pace, both because of motivation to get to the viewpoint and back before the afternoon bus, and because we had left most of our things at the campsite. We reached the viewpoint in just a couple of hours. Most people had gone there to see the sunrise, so by the time we arrived, it was almost empty. This place ... I just don't have the words to describe it ... you can have a look at the photos to get an idea.

Sunrise

Us at the Torres

Another snapshot of the Torres

These mountains could be seen just opposite of the Torres

Almost a jog down, past hordes of people going in the opposite direction, we went back down to the campsite. Once there we had an ultra-quick snack, packed our things, and walked to the Hosteria Las Torres where the buses were supposed to leave from. There, we were greeted by Gabe and Jessica. They had been wondering where we had gotten off to: the previous night had been the only one when we did not meet. They had been packing their tent when we were at the viewpoint, so we didn't see them on the way. We were happy to be reunited once more, and agreed to meet for dinner the following day.

In the evening, we finally got our stomachs full: Annelisa and Brent cooked an excellent Thanksgiving dinner at their hostel. Delicious food and wine, great company - a perfect evening. Our trip to the area ended the next day, when we said good-bye to our friends Gabe and Jessica over a tasty pizza.

You can see some more photos of this beautiful hike here and even though OpenStreetMap coverage was quite good, we still managed to contribute to it.