Crónicas Patagónicas, Torres del Paine

Monday, 11 am, Torres del Paine, the trekking starts. What we want to do during the next four days is what the circuit known as the W (see map below). We will do it in a inverse way as it is normally done since this fits better with the time we have. Therefore, we will start from the West, the park administration. First day we will go all the way up to glacier Grey (first edge of the W), second day to the French Valley (second edge) and third and fourth day will be to reach the Paine Towers (third edge).

In the end there is some people with us in the bus to the park: a bunch of belgiums and one chilean guy, Cristobal, with whom I quickly connect. I like chileans. In my experience they alwas were very friendly and sociable. Their way of speaking Spanish is similar to mine(they dont change the second person as the argentinians do) but with a very funny accent. I inmediately like it better to hang around with Cristobal than with the other two and he walk as fast as we do, so we are togheter this first part of the trekking.These first kms are definitely the easiest in the park. The terrain is very plane, going paralel to Sierra del Toro mountains, on the right. The view of the rocks from the path we are following is quite impressive and weather is good so we progress quickly. After a while the Pehoe lake shows up. Amazing view. The water has incredibily light blue water and the Paine mountain chain, central piece of the park, on the background. Unfortunately, a few years ago, this chezq guy wasnt too careful with a fire and many trees are burnt.

We arrived quite fresh to the first refugio / camping: the Pehoe. Cristobal decides to stay there and we continue. The goal is to stop further in the North, in refugio Grey. This place will be closed because of the low season so it will be free for us to set our tents there (in Pehoe the price is 45000 chilean pesos). Thats the reason for my travel mates to continue. In my case it rather is my desire of walking in a glacier (what I could not do in Perito Moreno). In this edge of the W, deppending on the weather, it might be possible to do it. If we spend the night in refugio Grey and walk even further North next day, we might reach the Grey glacier. It is not for sure but, once there, it might be possible to walk the ice.

However this part of the itinerary is harder, with multiples ups and downs, crossing the forests and the hills East of the Grey lake. Anyway, the great views along the way are a good reward for the effort. You get a great panoramic of the lake where white-blue icebergs can be seen from time to time. The weather is good, not really sunny but not totally clowdy either. Good temperature and low wind. Torres del Paine is famous due to its unpredicatable and variable weather (apparently you can get the four seasons in one day here) but, at least today, it has been good to us. We are half way to the refugio when, after reaching the top of one of those hills, we get an amazing view. The glacier Grey, main attraction of this part of the W, is there, still far away but already visible. It is not as huge (or at least it does not give the impression of been) as the Permito Moreno but is still very impressive. For some reasons I am fascinated by the glaciers and I cant have enough of them. So many kms of ice laying there, surrounded by mountains and enclosed by lakes. Quite a natural wonder…

Good that we can see the glacier already but thre is still a fucking long way to the refugio and legs are getting heavier and heavier. And not only legs are suffering but also shoulders, carrying that heavy backpack. We are getting close to our physical limit. The french, very thin guy, is the one in the best condition. I follow him more or less easily. The american is a bit slower but never stops.

By the time we reach the refugio we are all quite fucked up and we hardly made it before the sunset. It’s been almost 30 km walking with backpacks but the effort was reallly worth it. The refugio is located in an amazing place, in the lake shore, very close to the glacier. Plenty of ice cubes in beautiful crystal shapes float all over and you can even hear the ice crashes from the glacier. I cant help thinking how good this place would be in high season, less cold, with plenty of backpackers camping and daylight till 11.

But the story of that first day of trekking has not finished yet. As I said the refugio was closed and there was nobody around. The idea is to set up the two tents we have (one for them, one for me). However they have different plans… they start checking the building trying to find a way to get in. The american climbs to the roof and manage to open one of the top floor windows with his knife. One second later he is opening the main door. The refugio is ours…

Everything right till this point, I dont see we are harming anybody spending the night in the warm refugio instead of freezing our asses in the tents. The window is ok and we just need to shut it when we left. We have the whole place available, a room for each of us if we want. So this is probably something I would have done myself anyway if I had been alone. But they didnt stop there and started to check the place. The french makes his a winter hat he finds saying it was probably forgot by a tourist. The american gets wood and prepares a fire. Then they moved to the kitchen and they start to talk about the nice dinner we are gonna have with tunna, cookies etc which are NOT aours. I dont fancy this that much and I tell them that, if we are gonna take that stuff, we should leave some money when we leave. Suddently the cheap bastards totally loose the interest in anything we havent brought with us. It looks clear to me that, if I hadnt been there, they would have used everything.

As you can imagine, at this point of the story, the atmosphere between us is not the best. No problems so far but it is getting quite clear that we have a different way of travelling. Therefore that night happend to be bitter-sweet. It is great to be in that amazing place, warm next to the fire and sleeping under a roof but the company is not been remarkable. We ate pasta which, after the hard day, tastes great, we have a glass of rum…But there is no chemistry between us. In spite of this, the day has been amazing. Torres del Paine, right from the beginning has proved to be up to the expectations I had. An incredible place judging by what I have seen so far, and there is still a lot to explore. We got three matresses down to the fire and, very tired, went to bed around 9.

Itinerary Day One (29 km)

Tags: Glaciers, Patagonia, Torres del Paine, Trekking