Short notes from our trek around the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. Refer to the photograph of the map from our Lonely Planet trekking guide for place names and route.
Day 1 - Punta Arenas - Campamento Las Carretas - 480km by road, 8km by foot.
- Final farewells from friends at Hostales Independencia, a 9.00am bus to Puerto Natales (290km/3 hours).
- Arrive Puerto Natales, leave day packs stuffed with books at the Casa Lili guest house, and have ritualistic last hamburguesa before the trek begins.
Bus to the Park due at 2.30pm. 2.45pm no sign. Follow up phone call has the owner of the bus company arriving in his sports car, apologising that the bus has left and offering to drive us to catch up with the bus.
- 190km to Park. Speeding along the road to the Park listening to the owner´s strange taste in music. Catch up with the bus, onwards to the park. The Paine Massif appears on the horizon, the three Torres del Paine visible. Extreme excitement accompanied by singing The Doors songs.
- Pay $30US each to enter the park at Laguna Amarga. Further one hours drive through landscape of milky blue glacial lakes, and rolling brown hills, populated by guanacos, nañdu (or the rhea, a type of ostrich).
Arrive at Park Administration HQ at 6.00pm and the trek begins.
- Walk 8km / 1.45hrs. Arrive at Campamento Las Torres. Dinner of curried eggs and instant rice. First of many ´choñacs´, namely hot milo and a dash of local brandy, which was our regular nightcap throughout the trek. During the night was the first attack of the mice. Refer to ´Attack of the Super-Mice´post below.
Day 2 - Campamento Las Carretas - Campamento Italiano - 18km
- 10km to Refugio Lago Pehoe, walking under clear skies, through blonde Pampas grasslands, along the Rio Grey, flowing fast and grey from its source, the Glaciar Grey. We catch a fleeting glimpse of it on the top of one hill, before it disappears out of sight for the next 10 days. Freezing headwind blasting out of the northwest. Spot a pair of red headed Magellanic Woodpeckers, big beady eyes spotting us. Wide views of Cerro Paine Grande and Los Cuernos (the Horns) over the broad pale blue Lago Pehoe, wind whipping up waves onto its broken black rocky shores.
- 8km to Campamento Italiano. Lunch overlooking the Lago Skottsberg, wind gusting to 35 knots. Gain views of the Glaciar Frances, its fractured mass pouring off the Cerro Paine Grande. Every hour or so, the valley shakes with a booming thunder as a chunk of ice splits off the seraced crown of the Glaciar, and dashes itself below, re-forming in a secondary glacier, dark with broken rock morraine. Cross the the Rio Frances over a wire suspension bridge, bouncing over the raging torrent below.
- Arrive at Campamento Italiano, pitch the tent under tall lenga trees. The wind howls above, and sounds like crashing surf thirty feet above.
Day 3 Valle Frances - 15km/5 hours - ascent/descent 850m
- 5.5km up to Campamento Britannico - Leaving rucksacks and tent behind, we climb up the Valle Frances, along ancient morraine ridges, noting all the signs of the glacier´s previous extent. Pass above where the upper Rio Frances comes through a gap in the ridge like a gushing waterslide, to reach a bald patch and get a full view of the Glaciar Frances. Wind blowing a gale and we have to crouch to avoid being blown over. Climb further up through lovely lenga forest beside the upper Rio Frances to arrive at Campamento Britannico, a basic camp for mountaineers.
- Scramble up a steep gulley up to Mirador Britannico for 360 degree view of a huge ampitheatre of mountain peaks. Los Cuernos to the South, Fortaleza Hill and Carreo Cabeza to the North and Cerro Catedral to the West. With mountaineers cairns tempting us higher, we climbed above the tree line, through moss and peat, to the rocky rubble, between Cerro Espalda and Fortaleza up to 1450m to gain a view of the western face of the South and Central Torres del Paine, already glowing reddish from the westering sun. We wanted to press onto the ridge to see over into the Valle del Silencio on the northeastern side, but were losing light and squalls of drizzly rain were blowing over from northwest. We returned down to Campamento Britannico for a brief lunch.
- 5.5km trot back down to the valley to Campamento Italiano, to retire with very tired legs.
Day 4 - Campamento Italiano to Campamento Las Torres - 25km/10 hours
- 10am start, with Dale´s right foot really sore, and which pains her throughout the day. Clear skies walking under the awesome black tops of Los Cuernos. From up close, the geological composition of the whole Paine Massif can be seen as a granite batholithic extrusion, toppped with black shale. So the base of the big mountains is grey granite, that has been sculpted by big glaciers from previous ice ages, and the tops are softer shale shaped by the wild weathers blowing across the Hielo Sur ice sheet.
- Along the northern shore of Lago Nordenskjold, another huge glacial lake of pale blue (Pay-nee in Teuhuelche language means pale blue and is the root of the name of the Park), across black and white pebble stone beaches, scattered with driftwood. Up and down numerous valleys with rushing streams, across ridges of crumbly slate to reach a 300m high lookout above the lake for a lunch with wide views of the brown country away to the south, criss crossed by guanaco tracks and studded with blue lakes, with and a glimpse of the Seno Otway, a long fjord like arm of the sea.
That afternoon we cross a glacial stream
- Leaving the Lago Nordenskjold, and already some 18km into the day, we begin to climb into the Valle Ascensio, a slow muscle burning climb. The Rio Ascensio cuts deep into the land, and the trail clings to the gravelly southern side of the valley, while on the north side a cross section of shale strata, black and orange is exposed.
- 6.30pm we arrive at the Refugio Chileno, and resolve to push onto Campamento Las Torres. Dale´s foot is really sore, and our legs very tired, and we are repeating the mantra ¨One foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other... ¨ and cursing the Lonely Planet´s description of the trail as ´gradually rising´ as we encounter steep switchbacks and stairs.
- Arrive absolutely exhausted at 8.00pm. Set up tent, devour a five minute rice meal, and fall asleep. Wake half way in the night to the sound of scurrying and gnawing to find the mice had gnawed into Dale´s rucksack and half our food. Haul the bags inside the tent and fall back asleep. For further details refer to the Áttack of the Super-Mice´ post below.
Day 5 - Mirador Torres el Paine - 3km- 1.5 hours
- Wake at 6.45am. In the pre-dawn gloom, set off up the hill, with headlamps, first over re-vegetating glacial rubble, and then up a steep morraine bank, rock hopping and gravel scrambling. Arrive at the top to behold Las Torres del Paine in all their phallic glory, rising above the bleak melt lake, as the first rays of sun light their very tips. We are impossibly lucky to have a clear sky and it is freezing cold. We find a suitable flat rock, unpack our double sleeping bags, a thermos of hot tea and chocolate biscuits, and snuggle into to watch the show. A lot of places are promoted as sunrise spots, but this was truly spectacular. The Towers first turn a startling red, and then desaturate through oranges, yellows and then into greys. The surface of the granite spires looks as though a painter has applied thick oils with a palette knife, and the texture is varied and layered. The granite itself seems to magnify the colours of the sunrise, and their illumination was astounding. The glacial ampitheatre which they preside over was also full of interesting features, and we were held in awe for about an hour until the warming sun was out and Dale found a flat spot for a yoga routine, and I poked around the edge of the lake. We descended down the steep rubble filled valley by which the Laguna los Torres drains, and then found our way back to camp, resolved to rest the remainder of the day. Only when we began to prepare lunch did we discover the extent of the mice devastation; three days worth of food spoiled, including all our good scroggin. We wiped out all the bags, and settled down for an early night.
Las Torres del Paine Day 6 - Campamento Las Torres to Camping Las Torres - 8km/2 hours
- A short day, back down the Valle Ascensio in drizzling rain which cleared by the middle of the day. With our spirits somewhat sapped by the mice attacks, and feeling famished, we went to the Hosteria Las Torres restaurant to order the Tabla Criolla, a mash up of sliced chorizo, lamb chunks, boiled eggs, fresh tomato and french fries, washed down with half a litre of Austral Cerveza. Truly splendid after five days on instant food. Replenished mice destroyed supplies at the little store at outrageous prices. Camped at the paid camping ground for hot showers, and with a view of the sunset over the central and north towers whilst laying in our tent. During the night, birds perched on the poles of our tent hunting mice, which cheered us greatly.
Day 7 - Camping Las Torres to Campamento Lago Paine - 18km / 6 hours
- 9km walk under clear skies, much refreshed by two half rest days, through farmland adjacent to the national park, before descending to wide plains beside the Rio Paine through lovely grasslands to arrive at Puesto Seron for lunch and a snooze.
- With more to walk that afternoon than realised, we pushed on, first by the river, and then clmbing up 500m or so, above the beautiful horseshoe shaped Laguna Alejandra and the Lago Paine in a stiff wind. Arrived at the unofficial camp to be plagued by mosquitos, forcing us to eat dinner in the tent.
Day 8 - Campamento Lago Paine - Campamento Los Perros 17km/5.5 hours
- 8km / 2hrs to Refugio Dickson. Cloudy most of the day. Swarms of midges replaced the mosquitos in the morning, and we got moving pretty quickly for a gentle mornings walk across the river flats with progressively improving views of the Glaciar Dickson to the northwest to arrive at Refugio Dickson for morning tea. Glaciar Dickson descends directly from the Hielo Sur and is split into two by a rock outcrop (a nunatak) and is an awesome sight. The hut keeper in Spanish advises us that the previous night there was an avalanche on the track between Campamentos Paso and Lago Guardas, but that the Circuit had been reopened. Perturbed, but not discouraged, we pushed on.
- 9km / 2.5 hours. Climb high above the noisy Rio Los Perros, looking back for great views of the Glaciar Dickson, through beautiful lenga forest up a thickly wooded valley. Lunch at the Salto Los Perros, a two level waterfall, where the Rio Los Perros plunges into a chasm from an above ground and subterranean level.
- Into the upper valley, with the Glaciar Los Perros growing larger in view. We spot an enormous eagle soaring in circles above the valley. Climb the morraine wall to sight the impressive Glaciar Los Perros, which has a thick top, and a thin ice fall down into a greenish lake.
- Good camp at Campamento Los Perros, with wine bought from Refugio Dickson mulled, and a hot meal in the cosy shelter. Early night to rest our strength for loins for the assault on the pass on the morrow.
Day 9 - Campamento Los Perros - Campamento Paso - 12 km / 5.5 hours - 680m ascent, 800m descent.
- Started out in drizzling rain, accompanied by Gabe, an Alaskan back-country ranger, to take on el Paso John Gardner, which at 1241m is the highest point on the Circuit. Further up valley through really boggy sections, then a long steady climb to above the tree line, the ground first covered with thousands of tiny pink berries, then bare scree, rising above the Glaciar Condor, to reach the pass.
The first sight of Glaciar Grey in all its majesty will never be forgotten. It is a huge river of ice almost 2km wide, and over 28km long, its sheer size is belittling. Although the clouds hung low, it seemed to clear enough for a view back to the end of the glacier where it joins the Hielo Sur proper, to its snout. The wind eased enough to allow us to spend about 30 minutes on the pass (a rare privilege) before beginning the steep descent through patches of low wind blasted nirre whose leaves were a stunning red, yellow and green against the blue mass of ice. Our legs felt crumpled after the 800m descent, and we were the only people camped at Campamento Paso for a windy and rainy night, sleeping only 500m from the glacier.
Glaciar Grey
Day 10 - Campamento Paso to Refugio Lago Pehoe - 20km /6.5 hours
We began in drizzling rain, which dried up by midday, with the foreboding prospect of an avalanche on the trail ahead. We began climbing up fire scarred slopes above the glacier to reach the first ravine on this section that is being rapidly eroded by a a gushing torrent, making a very hairy crossing with the aid of a rope. We then reached the second ravine, and found it full of ice, as a result of the avalanche, which we expected to be of rock. The metal railings descending into the ravine had been twisted and buckled, and so with great care, we made our way down, and then across the ice to reach the other side safely, and the adrenalin surging. The ice was very compacted, the danger being slipping and sliding down the length of the ravine. On the other side, Dale took a chunk of broken ice, which was enjoyed with the last of our cognac, as we took in the view of the terminus of the Glaciar Grey, from which it calves huge icebergs into the lake. Though we watched and waited for half an hour, we were not treated to the sight of an icefall, so we pressed on southwards above the shores of the Lago Grey. Whilst we took lunch the clouds cleared above the high peaks of Cerro Paine Grande, showing their enigmatic heads for the first time on the trek. A last ascent high above Lago Grey, singing Mary Poppins and the rising thrill of finishing the circuit, a total of 141km so far, and then down down down to Lago Pehoe to finish the circuit with a cheer, a cold beer and a very heavy sleep.
Day 11 - Lago Pehoe
Rest day in the common area of the refugio, with poached eggs for breakfast, mulled wine in the afternoon, with Dale acting strangely by taking a 5km jog because she felt restless! After walking 141km over the past 10 days! Three carb dinner (lentils, rice and pasta) to finish off the half packets and a sound sleep.
Day 12 - Lago Peho - Administration Centre - 18km / 5 hours
Backtracking from Day 1 & 2, arriving at the Admin Centre at 5.30pm to notch up about 160km for the full ´Q´ Circuit, and to wait for the 6.30pm bus out of the Park. At 6.30pm, a park ranger informs there will be no bus tonight, so in squalling rain, once again we pitch our tent behind the Administration Centre for the twelfth night, and forage a meal of packet soup and chocolate.
The final leg
Day 10 - Campamento Paso to Refugio Lago Pehoe - 20km /6.5 hours
We began in drizzling rain, which dried up by midday, with the foreboding prospect of an avalanche on the trail ahead. We began climbing up fire scarred slopes above the glacier to reach the first ravine on this section that is being rapidly eroded by a a gushing torrent, making a very hairy crossing with the aid of a rope. We then reached the second ravine, and found it full of ice, as a result of the avalanche, which we expected to be of rock. The metal railings descending into the ravine had been twisted and buckled, and so with great care, we made our way down, and then across the ice to reach the other side safely, and the adrenalin surging. The ice was very compacted, the danger being slipping and sliding down the length of the ravine. On the other side, Dale took a chunk of broken ice, which was enjoyed with the last of our cognac, as we took in the view of the terminus of the Glaciar Grey, from which it calves huge icebergs into the lake. Though we watched and waited for half an hour, we were not treated to the sight of an icefall, so we pressed on southwards above the shores of the Lago Grey. Whilst we took lunch the clouds cleared above the high peaks of Cerro Paine Grande, showing their enigmatic heads for the first time on the trek. A last ascent high above Lago Grey, singing Mary Poppins and the rising thrill of finishing the circuit, a total of 141km so far, and then down down down to Lago Pehoe to finish the circuit with a cheer, a cold beer and a very heavy sleep.
Day 11 - Lago Pehoe
Rest day in the common area of the refugio, with poached eggs for breakfast, mulled wine in the afternoon, with Dale acting strangely by taking a 5km jog because she felt restless! After walking 141km over the past 10 days! Three carb dinner (lentils, rice and pasta) to finish off the half packets and a sound sleep.
Day 12 - Lago Peho - Administration Centre - 18km / 5 hours
Backtracking from Day 1 & 2, arriving at the Admin Centre at 5.30pm to notch up about 160km for the full ´Q´ Circuit, and to wait for the 6.30pm bus out of the Park. At 6.30pm, a park ranger informs there will be no bus tonight, so in squalling rain, once again we pitch our tent behind the Administration Centre for the twelfth night, and forage a meal of packet soup and chocolate.
The final legDay 13 - Administration Centre - Puerto Natales
We wake to a miserable wet morning, find an even more miserable omelette breakfast at the Posada Serrano Hotel, and wait out for the bus at 1.00pm. 3.5 hours later, we arrive at the hostel exhausted, but exhilirated.
No comments:
Post a Comment