twelve countries twelve months

80km, 5 days, 4 nights, 2 ruc-sacs, 1 stove, 1 tent. Wind, snow, hail, rain and sun: “W” trek – done! 

The “W” trek through Torres del Paine national park in Chile was something we had decided to do well before leaving England. It was such a big part of our planning that it even features as the heading picture of our blog! However, we were both secretly dreading it as well. We have done lots of treks before but we have always had a guide, porters and a cook with us. This was the first time where we would be completely unaided, we would be carrying all our equipment including our tent, stove and food and be doing all our own cooking. 

When we arrived to the freezing cold of Ushuaia having both been suffering with a virus for almost a week, our resolve started to weaken.  “We don´t have to do it”, “If it is going to be really cold we are just not going to enjoy it”, “Maybe we could just go to the park for one night” were some of the conversations we started to have!  But when we arrived in Puerto Natales, the starting town for the trek, and were surrounded by other travellers preparing for the trek, we stopped our whinging and decided to go for it, and we are so glad we did as it is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences of the trip. 

We spent two whole days in Puerto Natales, psyching ourselves up and preparing.  I had to cast my mind back 13 years to my Duke of Edinburgh expedition days to remember what we would need.  Rach had no such experience and was horrified by the amount of chocolate and biscuits I insisted we would need for the five days.  Three supermarket trips and several tours of the town later and we had a tent, a stove, all our food and were ready to go. 

We started the trek full of energy in glorious sunshine, walking along the edge of Lago Grey. We got very excited when we spotted a small iceberg floating in the lake, only to feel a bit silly, when an hour later we saw the massive expanse of Glacier Grey flowing down into the lake.  We camped for the first night on the edge of the lake and cooked our first dinner on the beach, where we enjoyed our pasta while looking out over the glacier and its icebergs. 

The second day was much longer and by the time we reached our campsite, in the late afternoon, it had started to rain and it looked like it was going to get worse.  We cooked our dinner straight away and were in bed at 6:45! 

The next day we awoke to even worse weather – more rain and strong winds, but we donned our full waterproofs and braved the hike up Valle Frances.  At first it was more of a scramble over rocks than a trail, and almost immediately we realised we were lost.  We had a pretty scary ten minutes, when we scrambled around looking for the red trail markers, exposed to the worsening weather, while arguing with each other as to who´s fault it was! 

We managed to reach the mirador at the top of the Valle without any further issues and the weather even cleared briefly so we could appreciate the spectacular scenery and take some photos, but we only got two minutes before it started to snow!  For the rest of the day it alternated between snow, hail and rain and sometimes the wind was so strong it almost blew us over. When we reached our campsite we were cold and tired. Luckily the campsite was next to a refugio, where we were allowed to take a hot shower and enjoy a cup of tea inside next to the fire. 

The trekking the next morning brought some amazing views. We could see the dominating granite towers of Cuernos del Paine on one side and a rainbow dipping into Lago Nordenskjoid on the other. There were good views in the afternoon as well, but we had to earn them as there was some relentless uphill walking. We reached our final campsite and it was also our favourite. It was set in amongst the trees next to a small stream, and for the first time we arrived early enough to have a cup of tea before dinner!

On the last day of the “W” trek we got to see the highlight of the national park – The Torres del Paine themselves.  Three towers of granite that illuminate with the sunrise.  We started the tough uphill scramble in the dark at 5:45 so we could make the viewpoint before sunrise and see the Torres glow orange in the sun.

We both were so glad we didn’t back out of the trek. We really enjoyed the camping and surprised ourselves with what we could cook up on a single butane stove. As we left our camp on the final day we felt a little disappointed and almost wished we were camping for longer. However, when we sat in a warm restaurant back in Puerto Natales, eating a pizza and drinking a beer, with a warm bed to go back to, we thought perhaps we had made the right decision! 

~ by robcheek on February 26, 2010.

Posted in travel
Tags: camping, chile, glacier, lakes, mountains, patagonia, trekking