Onwards & naturally northwards, back into Chile and Torres del Paine National park. So named for the 3 impressive towers of rock that are at the end of leg 1 of the W.
Having missed high season the logistics of completing the trek in 3 days rather than the usual 4 or 5 were made a little more tricky by some of the refugios being closed and the ferry back only running once a day. Despite this our intrepid band of 3 sallied forth with a hire tent and large quantities of bread, ham and cheese.
Day 1 was a short one as we drove to the park and hiked up to our campsite at the base of the Torres. The final ascent took us through the snow of 2 days previous to a windy spot to see the impressive 3 towers.
Day 2 started in the dark back up to the towers for sunrise.
From there we walked through some fabulous vistas to refugio los cuernos for a hot meal and a glass or two of vino tinto.
Day 3 started walking along the lake at sunrise, we took on the middle leg of the W - Frances valley. The first view of glaciers and, as throughout the route, passing numerous streams and waterfalls from which to refill water bottles.
January this year the park was closed for some time after a fire started by campers got out of control, we started to see the impact of this with swathes of blackened trees but also shoots of rebirth. We forged onwards towards the originally planned stop of lago pehoe, still without heating & limited electricity. This point was the spanner in the plans since we'd found out the day before starting that the ferry only ran once a day, taking 6 hours out of our final day. So plan B sprung into action and we continued onwards up the final leg of the W rewarded with the sight of glacier grey as the light was fading. The final couple of k were completed in torchlight to end the day having covered 36km - a day dedicated to the route planning skills of Paul Baker.
Day 4 - the usual start in the dark, but finally our luck with the weather had turned and with rain and wind beating down we didn't hang around long to see the glacier and made it back soaking wet, in time for the boat
Total of 70km and 4000m of height gained over a fabulous few days.
Having missed high season the logistics of completing the trek in 3 days rather than the usual 4 or 5 were made a little more tricky by some of the refugios being closed and the ferry back only running once a day. Despite this our intrepid band of 3 sallied forth with a hire tent and large quantities of bread, ham and cheese.
Day 1 was a short one as we drove to the park and hiked up to our campsite at the base of the Torres. The final ascent took us through the snow of 2 days previous to a windy spot to see the impressive 3 towers.
Total of 70km and 4000m of height gained over a fabulous few days.
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| The intriped 3 · Steve, Nuala & me |
Looks amazing! Very mpressed with the dedication to cover those distances - looks like it was worth it though!
ReplyDeletewow, sounds amazing
ReplyDelete