I should firstly point out that this update might be a tad
long, so if you make it to the end, I applaud you.
We weren’t expecting much from Puerto Natales given our last
experience of a ‘gateway’ town (Puerto Natales acts as the gateway into Torres
Del Paine National Park) but we were pleasantly surprised. It’s a nice sleepy
little town with a very friendly atmosphere.
F
So that is what we decided to do.
With some of the friends we had met on the Navimag ferry we
prepared ourselves for the week ahead. For Nic and I it was a little harder to
cater for ourselves with Nic’s diet but we loaded up with 5 days worth of food,
supplies, equipment and all we could think of to survive whatever came at us.
Fair to say we may have over-packed – well maybe only me. It
would now be safe to assume that one does not need a hacky sack in the middle
of Patagonia, or a small gridiron and pump for that matter. In all I reckon we
set out with about 35kg between us – this included all cooking equipment,
tents, sleeping bags, etc. Luckily I brought along a small, well-mannered mule
to help me out!
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| My small, well-mannered mule! |
Our first day was meant to be the easiest, although our
packs would be at their heaviest, the hike was meant to be nice and flat. We
caught the bus out to the park, paid to get in and then were to be dropped off
at ‘Administration’ at around 12.30pm. We then had 18km to trek in to the first
refugio – Grande Paine. Well that was the plan anyway, our driver conveniently
forgot some hikers back in town so we lost about 40 minutes heading back to
collect them and then he proceeded to make unknown stops along the way for some
people apparently on a day trip through the park.
All this added up to us getting to Administration at around
2pm. This wouldn’t have been too bad, but given the sun goes down at around
5.30pm and we had 5 hours hiking ahead of ourselves one would say it wasn’t
ideal – especially given Nic and I only had one flashlight between us. Most
experienced, or even novice hikers would have a couple of head torches but not
us. But then again most hikers setting off for a 5 day trek would also have
proper hiking equipment – not high top adidas sneakers and tracksuit pants (I
did actually hire some wet-weather pants but the high tops were what I went
with!).
We made good time for the majority of the hike but when the
sun went down so did the morale and we didn’t end up getting to Grande Paine
until around 7pm. For the most part we had reasonable weather on the first day
– a few showers here and there but never the big three all together. In
Patagonia you get the big 3 – wet, windy and cold. You just have to hope you
only get 1 or 2 of the 3 at one time. You can tolerate up to 2, but all 3 tends
to eat away at the soul a tad.
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| Lago Pehoé |
As I said we made
good time for the most part – then the sun went down and with the dark came the
big three. The final 3ks took us over an hour and when we finally reached the
refugio we were tired, sore and wet but pretty happy. Grande Paine is by far
the biggest refugio in the park (but not necessarily the best) and the best
news was that it was open. This meant we could set up our tent in the shelter
and light of the refugio (we also could have paid a little extra to stay the
night inside, in the warm, but for some reason (still unbeknown to both of us)
we decided to slum it), cook inside out of the elements and actually get a hot
shower.
Then we tried to go to bed.
Between us that night, I think we got about 45 minutes of
combined sleep. The winds were rolling through the valley like a freight train
– you could hear them coming and then they’d hit the tent. Without us in the
tent I’m sure those bastards would have ended up being blown back to Aus or
Argentina – just depends on which the wind hit you. They seemed to be coming
from near on every direction but we managed to stay in Chile and lasted out the
night.
We actually weren’t too tired the next morning but were
rather sore. But ‘As the wise man once said: So?’ (Anchorman 2 quote for those
uneducated amongst us). Day 2 we planned to hike out to Glaciar Grey –
approximately 11km to Refugio Grey and then say another 1km to view the glacier,
so a nice 24km to stretch the legs. We would be returning to Refugio Grande Paine
which meant we could leave our larger packs behind and just hike out to Glaciar
Grey with a day pack.
The weather was kind to us again for the most part and we
made it out to Mirador (Lookout) Grey with the sun shining and not too much
wind around. The glacier was far more impressive than I had imagined. It’s like
a frozen mountain rather than a frozen river. From a distance it looms large
over Refugio Grey, appearing to be bearing down on it, but from up close you do
see the river formation. The baby blue ice contrasted against the turquoise
blue of the water is somewhat magical, and certainly breathtaking.
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| Glaciar Grey |
On a side note, we were really glad we did the hike in off-season.
Even though you are near on guaranteed to freeze your arse off, you get the
park to yourself. You hike for hours on end not seeing another soul – even with
our travelling companions you all seem to set off at different times, walk at
different paces, stop at different places, etc. so you really to get to walk
along by yourself with only your thoughts (mainly on how fricken heavy your
pack is, and why the f_ck did I bring a gridiron) as company.
You also get uncrowded refugios – no lines to use the
bathrooms, kitchens, etc. and you don’t need to fight for prime real estate to
set your tent up. The downside is that you don’t really get to stop for long
periods of time to take in the scenery – if you do, you get that first
guarantee – you freeze your arse off.
So after stopping for the bare minimum time to take in the
sights of Glaciar Grey, stuff our faces with some already stale bread (yeah its
Day 2 and the bread is already like an old boot to chew) and cardboard rice
cruskets we turned around and made the trek back to our ice cold, wind-swept
tent. Halfway home the thought occurred to me that our ice cold tent might not
in fact be there – apart from the replacement costs we would have to fork out I
wouldn’t have been too unhappy to never see that two-man freezer again but
lucky for us, there he was waiting for us, all covered in snow when we
returned.
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| Nice spot for a picnic! |
Day 3 – like hump day of the work week was the hardest
(although Mondays do have a fair bit to answer for) but once you got over that
it was all downhill from there (not literally). We planned to hike to
Campamento Italiano and then trek up Valle del Frances to get a better view of
Glaciar del Francés. We were told that the hike up to Campamento Britanco was
closed but if you trekked in for an hour or so you got a good view of the glacier.
Looking back, given the conditions we were experiencing: snowing, foggy and of
course cold, I’m not too sure why we even bothered heading up Valle del Francés,
but we did.
It was also at about this time that I noticed that my left
knee hurt like hell walking down slopes but was manageable going uphill. Still
we soldiered on. Nic turned back about 40 mins in and for FOMO (fear of missing
out for all my older fans) I kept on keeping on. When it was rather clear to me
that the higher you got, the worse the visibility got (I took about 20 mins
longer than Nic to figure this one out), I turned back. It would have been
rather comical to see me getting down the valley, I felt like a one-legged 95
year old who was suffering from Parkinson’s, being asked to hightail it down
the mountain because no doubt Nic was freezing her arse off waiting around for
me.
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| Glaciar del Francés - well what you can see of it |
We then had a 5km hike to make it to our next refugio, where
we had heard rumour that due to the low numbers in low-season you could
possibly stay inside for the same price as camping. The next 5km and 3 hours
were tough to say the least. My knee
hurt like shit, and my pack wasn’t getting any lighter. That’s when my trusted
steed came through for me and my little, well-mannered mule took some of my
weight for me and we trudged on to Refugio Los Cuernos. Fair to say I owe my
little mule for that one!
We didn’t get the same deal as the rumours had mentioned but
given my state we decided to lash out and stay inside – they did offer us half
price and the thought of trying to set that small freezer up again was enough
to push the deal through.
At this point I was 2 days hike from getting out of the park
and we still hadn’t seen the famed formation that gives the park its name, and
my knee really didn’t look like it was going to get me there. However, with the
help of some pain killers (donated by some more prepared hikers), some icing
and maintenance, along with a handy compression bandage made from Nic’s
stocking we decided to see how it pulled up in the morning and go from there.
One way or the other I was going to have to walk out of the
park so we decided we would make every attempt to make it to Refugio Chileno.
This is where most people stop before getting up in the dark and making the
final trek up to Torres Del Paine to see the sunrise. This way, if I made it to
Chileno, Nic could at least go with the others in the morning if my knee wasn’t
going to handle it.
The knee wasn’t too bad in the morning so we hightailed it
while I could and actually made really good time the whole way. I think the
saving grace was that Day 4 was mainly up hill, which would normally suck arse,
but for me it worked out for the best. We actually made such good time that we
made it to Chileno at around 1.30pm. The weather was also perfect. None of the
big three! In fact I spent most of the day in just a shirt and pants. With all
of this in mind we thought whilst we still could we would make haste and try
and get to the top and back all whilst the sun still shone overhead.
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| Lago Nordenskjöld |
We were told it takes about 2 hours to get up, and therefore
about the same to get back. This would put us on the limits of darkness but
what the hell, if we didn’t go today we would be hiking in the dark up the next
morning and who knows what the weather would have in store by then.
There is a point in the hike where all you can see is
INCLINE – no end in sight. I think this may also be why a lot of people hike in
the dark, if you can’t see how far you’ve got to go, you don’t know how slow
you are progressing. But once you round the final bend, the scenery in front of
you is something that you will only ever see from that one spot. That is
somewhat much of the appeal of Torres Del Paine – they can only be viewed in
their full grandeur by hiking up near on 1km of vertical. They are nestled in
amongst the surrounding mountains so that you can’t see them from afar – you
actually have to haul arse if you want to see them. At their base is a
turquoise blue lake with not a ripple on it, and given we were the only people
up there at the time, (yet another perk of the off-season hike) you really do
feel like you have the entire park to yourself.
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| Torres del Paine - The Blue Towers |
It’s funny, you hike up for 2
hours just to see some rocks, take some photos and freeze your arse off and you
come away from it saying – shit yeah that was worth it. But really it was! We
have been told that as the sun rises the 3 peaks seam to light up from the top
down, like God’s very own candle sticks.
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| Completion of the famed 'W' hike! |
After this we made the decent as quickly as possible.
Dodging frozen streams and small waterfalls we all made it down in one piece
and no real falls. We only really had 30 minutes of darkness but with a full
moon out we actually didn’t need to use our flashlight.
This left us with a very manageable final day to hike out to
our collection spot – 12km downhill. We had planned to have a nice sleep in,
cook up pretty much all our remaining food and make the leisurely stroll out.
Well that would have been nice but it wasn’t too be. Not too sure what it was
but both Nic and I had the urge to throw up all night, so much so that at 5am I
got up to give it a go, but to no avail. I did get to see the full moon
directly above the tower’s tops which unfortunately didn’t translate to a sweet
photo but you’ve always to see the brighter side of things.
The final day was rather uneventful, you have seen all you
came to see and now it was just a matter of just getting the hell out there –
back to civilisation, a hot shower, proper bed and food that actually tastes
like food should. The final 7km of the day is hiking along a road where if you
are lucky someone might offer you a lift – of course we weren’t one of the lucky
ones, and those final 7km near on killed each and every one of us. But we made
it!
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| The torturous final 7km |
We had been recommended that we take the direction we took
for the hike, as if you go in the opposite direction you see Torres Del Paine
on Day 1 or early on Day 2 and the rest might just seem like you are hiking for
the sake of hiking. We were also gifted our best weather days for the Torres
which made for happy campers!
The five days were without a doubt the hardest 5 days I have
gone through, but also some of the most memorable and beautiful experiences I
have ever had. We have yet again made friends for life, and memories that will
remain with us until we both get Alzheimer’s. But hey that’s life!
If you ever get the chance to hike any part of Patagonia,
grab yourself a waterproof jacket, some shitty food and make hay while the sun
shines – and if doesn’t shine, who cares! That’s PATAGONIA and the Big 3!
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| One last look back at Torres del Paine National Park |
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