And were only on the first hill! Welcome to Torres Del PAINe National Park, Chile.
Welcome to Torres Del Paine National Park, Chiles most fricken expensive and magnificent national parks!
The 'W' circuit
This is one of the most dramatic and spectacular national parks I have ever been too. Some may disagree but man, this place is truly amazing and a must on any travellers itinerary through South America. The mountains are so eye catching and spectacular that one can only stare in wonder.
We camped for 4 days and 3 nights and completed 2/3 of the W with the main highlights being the Mirador Las Torres and the French Valley. But all in all every painful step was a highlight. During the 4 day trek you are constantly surrounded by 360 degrees of pristine southern Patagonian landscapes that constantly change with the ever moving cloud formation. With the cloud formations and position of the sun dictating the colours of the land, Torres Del Paine is a place where you just don't want to blink your eyes in fear of missing something wonderful quickly appearing then fading away just as quick into the sky.
On the last day of our trek I got to witness something so simple yet so amazing that it completely blew my mind to see it. As we were rounding the Cerro Paine Grande I looked up at the heavens and saw that small soft white clouds where being formed from the snow that was still on the peak of the mountain. It was a crystal clear blue day and seeing this occur was AWESOME!!!
The W is 76 km's long and we did about 44 km's. Tough walks, but at the same time very rewarding.
The trekking was difficult to say the least, especially when me and B have never done a trekking expedition as large as this one before. We got to go camping for the first time in our whole trip. In America we slept in our rental car, that was about as close to camping as we got.
So let's break this trip down.....
DAY 1
Here we go, we rented a tent and a thicker sleeping bag for B from our hostel. Looking back on it now I wish I had rented a sleeping bag too. Instead of taking both our sleeping bags hoping it would be enough to keep me warm at night. We also bought these cool headlamps from a camping store in town, this for me was the highlight.. Headlamps, how cool!!! I couldn't wait to use them on the trip.We went to the grocery store and bought supplies for the trip, ravioli, 2 minute noodles, tang, coffee, tuna and biscuits.
We paid for our bus tickets, entrance fee to the national park and we were off!! Here we come Torres Del Paine.
Half way to the National Park a brainwave hits me, 'Leover you idiot, you left your contacts and glasses back at the hostel' this brainwave was then followed by 'you idiot Stimpy' then it was followed by 'oh my god, I have no eyes for the next 4 days, I'm screwed'.
So, for the entire time I was in the park I had one pair of contacts that were daily disposables. To make life more interesting I had no contact holders and contact solution. I had to reuse my contacts and keep them in a small bowl with water during the night. This was the toughest task ever and by the 4th day my eyes were on fiyaaaaaa.....
The first trek was the toughest, the map showed the hike to be a 2 hour hike, it took us three and a half. The first 2 hours was all up hill with switchback turns every 200 to 300 metres. From the beginning of the walk the snow line looked a million miles away two hours later, you were practically walking in it!
When I looked back at where we had come from the thought came to my head, 'man that's high'
Poor B was struggling, hell we were all struggling to climb this huge mountain, there where times where I wanted to cry like a little baby and give up, but I just couldn't this was a test and I was going to pass it otherwise I was going to die on this mountain and I didn't want to do that.
We walked from Hosteria Las Torres to Campamento Chileno and set up camp there for the night. From the camp you could see the tops of the Torre Norte and Torre Central.
Setting up the tent was so much fun, I had never done it before so I looked like a complete dick. We arrived late at camp so everyone had already set there tents up and it was a battle just to find a spot for the tent.
Luckily for us, we had befriended a lovely couple of Aussie's from Brisbane who we now love. Bernadette and Mark.. Yup, that's right I was trekking with two Bernadette's!! What the??? The similarities between the two are ridiculous.... so here goes.
They both have the same name, they both have 7 kids in there family, 4 of the family members have the same names, Michael, John, Mary and Anne, they both had tooth issues at the same times, they are both short and catholic, they both talk about there bowls a lot, they both want to write a book, they both have the Bernadette Exaggeration Factor or what Michael Kennedy like's to call as (BEF) and they both walk at the same pace...like hung over snails.
Mark, Bernadette's husband is the typical Leyland Brother and could probably give Mac Gyver a run for his money in ingenuity. He was a great help in setting up the tent and overall keeping us alive in the bush!
We got to use our new headlamps!! Yaay!
DAY 2
Today was the worst and the best of the days, here in the park. I woke up early to try and catch the sunrise over the Torres' but failed miserably. The hike to the mirador was 2 hours away, so all I could see was the sun hitting the tips of the Torres'.Today, was a 14 hour day, 14 hours of hiking. 6 of the 14 hours was with a 25 kg back pack, up hills, down valleys over and through rivers. I think I know what the biggest loser contestants must go through when they have to put all the weight they have lost during the season back on and run around with it. It's fricken hard. To make it worst, I never had the weight to start with. All the step ups, lunges, leg presses and squats in the gym couldn't get you ready for this kind of exercise. My thighs are huge now and calf muscles are the size of bowling balls.
The first hike we did was to the Mirador Las Torres, this was a 2 hour hike with the last 45 minutes a mad scramble to the top over large boulders at a 80 degree angle, we're talking hands and knees, crawling up this massive mountain to get to the view point.
Once there, the jaw drops in amazement and all the pain of the last 45 minutes quickly disappears. The Torres' are so amazing that it's worth every single painful step to see them.
Mirador Las Torres
From left to right Torre Sur, Torre Central, Torre Norte
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When we got back to camp, it was time to put the back pack an hike for 10 hours. The hike was so looooonnnngggggg, it felt like it went on forever and it did. We went from Campamento Chileno to Campamento Los Cuernos. The walk involved some major river crossings. Glaciers melting from high up in the mountains form fast moving rivers and there are no bridges so they all have to be crossed by either getting in and walking across or hopping on rocks and stones hoping they are not loose.
We all made it across 4 major river crossings. Poor B, her feet were wet for the majority of the day, cause she walked right through all the river crossings. Also on some of the down hill parts, the poor girl walked down in her socks, with out any shoes, in fear of falling down, and on other parts of the trek she was on her bum sliding down the trail because she was terrified of slipping backwards and falling down and hurting herself.
But by the end of the day approximately 9 PM we had made it to our camp, enough time to cook up some risotto, have a yarn with Bernie and Mark then off to bed, sore as fck!!
The great thing about today was the awesome and ever changing views of the park. It was awesome to walk around the mountain, it's huuugggee and walking along Lago Nordenskjol. The colour of the lake is just out of this world.
DAY 3
The weather has started to turn, the wind is up and the clouds are gloomy. It looks like we were in for a rough day, and we we're, luckily for us our walk to the next camp was only 2 hours. You know your mind is messed up when you think that a two hour walk with a 25 kg back pack, up hills, on rocks, with basketball shoes is short!
By know my body is completely shattered!! Shoulders are completely messed up, you don't even feel like you have any on ya, legs are just like jello, the arches in my feet are so flat now that they bow outwards! The pain!!! But the show must go on and it did. We powered through the walk, and made it to the next camp site in good time, Campamento Italiano.
We set up our tents and then proceeded to attack the French Valley! The middle part of the 'W'. After talking to some people back at the hostel in Puerto Nateles, this was the section not to be missed and came highly recommended by anyone who had done the 'W'. When you walk through the French Valley on your left side is a massive glacier (Glacier Francis) and on your right side you have the sharp knife like mountain peaks of the Cuernos and in front of you in the heart of the valley 2 hours away are 21 granite mountain peaks some covered with snow while others are either poking through clouds or are covered by them.
When you reach the valley Mirador, you are completely surrounded by 360 degrees of Torres Del Paine Magic. Absolutely Amazing!!! I've never seen anything like the French Valley in Torres Del Paine. It's a photographers dream and landscapes that go beyond any mans imagination.
The hike up wan't too bad either, only major river crossing which B completed quiet confidently :-)
GO B!!!
The French Valley was definitely worth the hike, we had a lot of fun! After taking all the sights in, it was back to camp for one last time. Dinner was great too, ravioli over a camp stove had never tasted so good. As I brushed my teeth in the icy cold river from the melting Glacier Francis the sun began to set behind the mountains. Torres Del Paine left us with even more images of brilliance with a perfect Patagonian sunset over the mountains.
The typical Patagonian sunsets look like this!!
DAY 4
Today was a slow hike out of the park to the Lake Pehoe campsite to catch the Ferry out of the park. We were all so buggered and short for time that we had decided to skip the Glacier Grey stem of the 'W'. Only giving us reason to come back and see it all over again :-)The walk out was amazing with the mountains and the sun behind you leaving the park offered great views and high winds. The views were just outstanding being able to see the peaks of the mountains was great, seeing clouds form of them was even better. Up here, the water is so clean, you just drink it right of the streams. The start of the water cycle!
Torres Del Paine is a must do for anyone coming to South America!!!!
Peace
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