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DAY 1
Walk to Lago Pehoe
We got up at 6:30 all ready for our big Torres del Paine adventure, the bus drove for about 3 hours and then once entering the park we stayed on until the guarderia at Lago Pehoe. There were lots of guanacos (relative of the llama) and the huge mountains we were to walk around loomed beyond some mineral lakes of aquamarine blue. There was just enough time to go and see the Salto Grande waterfall and make it back before the boat left to take us up to the Lago Pehoe refugio. Linn started feeling sick on the boat and well I wasnīt entirely sure whether we would even see the park at all. But by the end of the trip she was okay and set about walking the supposed 4 hours to Lago Grey Refugio.
SO there we are the four of us, Tom, Frances, Linn and myself, heading off to begin our trek, Linn and I are obviously amateurs. One step, this is ok, two steps, umm is the pack meant to dig into my hips like that, three steps, oww are we there yet?, four steps, hey guys wait up!! We walked and walked up a ravine, saw a condor fly really close but could only get it with my camera and so looks really small! We had huge mountains on our right, with snow and ice swirling around the peaks and then on our right we had Lago Grey with huge chunks of ice floating in it, and beyond that another mountain range which is part of the huge southern ice cap.
The views were amazing and although we were still having trouble with our packs the scenery washed away the obvious discomfort. As the path began to descend towards the lake edge the scenery became like something out of Lord of the Rings. If there was a place you imagined Lord of the Rings this was it. The path would be penned in by wind blown nothofagus pines and occasionally would open into a small clearing with one big tree dominating the clearing, fantastic. Our packs which weighed like lead, still baffle us, could it be the bottle of pisco sour, or was it the potatoes, hmm couldnīt have been the white wine, onions?, capsicums?, well I canīt figure it out! The 4 hr walk became 5 hours and we were exhausted when we arrived at the campsite, we set up the tents with views of the lake and a collection of icebergs which had recently calved off the glacier.
The shoreline was littered with ice and we even went and got some for the pisco sour. Set up the trangias and cooked potatoes, spaghetti, tomato and onion, not bad for our first night. Organised to the ice hike the next day in the glacier and then to bed. It was cold that night, the wind off the lake was freezing, hmm three season sleeping bag is not enough!
DAY 2
Ice Hike!!!
Marcelo the head guy of the ice hike group BIGFOOT described the walk to glacier as an easy one and a half hour walk (with small ups and downs) then spend three hours on the glacier. There are lagoons, caverns, streams, waterfalls, crevasses and small canyons plus an ice climb! Sounds good doesnīt it!!
Well after the bloody one and half hour walk which in parts involved very tricky manouvering over rocks and a little dangerous I would say, we got to the top of a cliff. Before we left we were given a daypack with crampons and a harness. I thought the harness was for the ice climb. Well we put it on and 2 of our three guides (Christine-Canadian & Luis-Chilean boyfriend of Christine) disappeared down a rope over the cliff. It seemed that we would have to ABSEIL!! down the cliff onto the glacier. Blair went first, I was a tad nervous and waited a bit. I only looked down once, which was scary enough. Made it down to the glacier and put the crampons on - separated into two groups of 7 and headed off.
The crevasses were very deep and the small lagoons were so blue. Luis, our head guy (we were all attached to a rope in a line) explained some bits about how a scientific team, had recently done a survey of the glacier and discovered the first known animal to exist in the caverns below the ice, a small fish or microorganism (couldnīt quite work out which) anyway a word first.
The highlight was the ice climb. A rope was attached to a harness and we had a helmet on and 2 ice picks. The wall of ice was about 10m high and the idea was to use the front part of your crampons to stand parallel to the ice wall and the ice picks to steady you on the way up. The ice was soft (not crystallised) so it crumbled easily into bits. I didnīt quite make it over the top the first time so I went up again. I think everyone had two goes. I made it up the second time. Luis thought I was hilarious (a princess he called me) in my black leather gloves from Macyīs NY. After all the excitement of ice climbing we headed back to the cliff and had to rock climb up the same way we came down. Then another hour and half walk back. I was exhausted. Everyday seems like and achievement at the moment!
Linn
DAY 3
Refugio Grey to Campamineto Italiano
We made good time back to Refugio Pehoe, about 3.5 - 4 hrs. It was much easier with lighter packs since we have eaten most of the food already. Also Iīve been adjusting my pack to sit better on my back. The walk to Pehoe didnīt seem as hard as it seemed the first time. Maybe because Blair made us stop whip out the Trangia and make a cup of tea halfway. But we have eaten the 4 bags of rolls & all the dulce de leche so we stocked up at the store in Pehoe.
It was supposed to be an easy 2 hr walk to Campamiento Italiano, but it was Hell! I had to keep stopping because I was so tired and the walk was wearing everyone down. But finally we got to the bridge across the river (2 people at a time) over the Rio Frances. The campsite was right next to the Glacier Frances and the Cuernos (Horns) del Paine just behind the campsite. You can occasionally hear the roaring of ice falling from the mountain to the valley below. The whole valley must have been covered in ice once. Dinner was rice, tomato, capsicum and onion, not bad. The moon rose from behind cuernos and I tried photographing it but they didn`t come out anywhere near as good as the real thing! (Blair)
Linn
DAY 4
Walk up to Campamiento Britanico and the Mirador.
We got up early as we were told that we had to see the sunrise from the bridge. It was very beautiful, the mountain at the end of the valley (that was covered in ice) went pink as the sun rose. Tom and I waited until we could see the sun but since it was taking so long and it was cold, we moved to higher ground to speed it up. I didn`t go back to sleep and when we were ready we started the walk up to C. Britanico and the lookout (mirador) above that.
My legs were tired (from yesterdays epic walk) when we started and climbing up the rocks seemed impossible. We stopped about a third of the way for Frances to get her photo in front of Valle Frances when a huge piece of ice came crashing down from the top of the mountain. Tom managed to take a photo of it instead of her. I got two photos, I hope it looks as impressive in the photos as it did in reality. Probably a big ask, but the noise and the sheer volume of ice and rock tumbling down is amazing. It generated this huge cloud of ice as it fell maybe 200 metres. The distances were hard to tell from where we stood.
From there we kept going up and the landscape again turned into something out of Lord of the Rings, we were walking under a thin scraggly pine cover with little undergrowth and crossing little streams here and there. I was lagging behind because I was quite tired and I had some rather nasty blisters on my big toes plus my left knee was complaining. Anyway I wasnīt paying attention and suddenly I couldnīt see the others and then a little later on I couldnīt see the path. I ended up on this rock that became quite narrow above a very fast flowing stream, hmm not good. Bush bashing inland I eventually found Linn, but for a moment there it was like great Iīve lost everyone and myself, this is going to be interesting.
Tom and Frances were ahead as usual with Linn and I following. The path went up and down, mostly up as we continued to cross stream after stream, marsh after marsh, a flatish windy exposed bit and then the campsite. We sat and ate almost all our food, we were all very very hungry and tired. The mirador turned out to be not that further on and got a good view of the valley which was higher up and around the corner from where our tents were.
Two guys started hiking up the snow to the plateau a little higher up and Frances and I thought it would be good too, so we all started trudging up the snow. It was not such a good idea to begin with but when the snow became really steep and one wrong step meant sliding into an icy stream it was getting ridiculous. But going back was not really an option, Linn was not happy as she found it quite scary. Getting to the top turned out to be completely worth is as the view is amazing, the top of the valley is surrounded by a ring of icy peaks with the cuernos jutting out on one side and some equally impressive mountains on the other, the two guys we were following & whose footprints we used to get up were disappearing towards a saddle at the very top, you could see them still walking in the snow. Linn took a big 360 panorama photo shot (which turned out amazing, will attempt to scan later).
Deciding that going down the way we came up would be silly, we found a different route with rocks and gravel. Linnīs knees are hurting her and downhill is starting to be difficult. Making our way back to the campsite across all the streams which is becoming typical of Torres del Paine, our boots are proving really good keeping all the water and mud out when the time calls for a step into deeper water than we would like. Really enjoying the trek despite the parts of our body which is sore and the increasingly inventive meals. Itīs such a beautiful corner of the globe.
Weīve run out of coffee (& tea) & sugar which allowed us to meet Mike, a geologist from chicago who was doing the 'w' (īwī is the name of the circuit) by himself. Most of conversations ended up on the topic of food and we must have been moaning so much about the lack of sugar and the sheer desperation of Frances to add Melon and Piņa powder (cordial) to the powdered milk as a drink led Mike to take pity on us and he left us a chocolate bar in the morning before he left without allowing us to thank him, what a guy! We were impressed and slightly embarrassed but the chocolate was good.
DAY 5
Los Cuernos (Rest Day)
Packed our stuff up and walked the 2 hours to the Los Cuernos refugio another nice walk, watching the condors circle high in the sky in the air currents. We got to a pebbly beach and took our shoes off and relaxed. I went in up to my ankles but the water was so cold my feet were going numb! We set up at the Refugio and relaxed, I washed some clothes and draped them over the bushes to dry and chilled. Today was our rest day and I think we really needed it, my feet were really hurting and so were Linnīs knees. The showers were gloriously hot and was definitely a step up from the near freezing showers from Lago Grey, with the sun out everything was great.
Tom, Linn and I sat on the beach and through rocks at pebble towers we made, we are really bad shots so as you can imagine it kept us busy for a while. A nice slow day not wearing boots, letting my feet breathe. The refugio has a fantastic view over the lake and of the mountain where the condors had been circling at impossible heights, we did try to photograph some but my guess is that theyīll be really small. My next comment is a little scary but, Iīve drank so much powdered and UHT milk that I donīt mind it, then again I also donīt have a choice!
Blair
DAY 6
All the way to Campamiento Torres
The breakfast of champions was had at the refugio, scrambled eggs and ham, toast, cornflakes, jam, DDL, juice, coffee and tea. We ate and ate and ate, now we understand why the people staying at the refugios had so much energy, they were eating like kings! Well compared to us anyway. The staff at the refugio we really nice giving us a little sugar and 2 boxes of matches.
Since we were running low on food it was decided that Tom and Fran would go and get food at the Refugio Los Torres at the bottom of Valle Ascencio, and Linn and I would trudge our way to Refugio El Chileno and meet them there. We bought a big bar of chocolate and started walking at 9:30. The breakfast gave us heaps of energy and we scooted along the path making great time and enjoying the scenery of the lake and the mountains.
We had heard of a short cut to El Chileno but didnīt know where it was. Well we got to an intersection of paths and with some confusing signs and followed the path which went up the valley. Talking to an American he told us the path peters out but just follow up the valley. There were a couple of people coming down so we could head towards them.
The way turned out quite easy, we were in this beautiful grassy vale with lots of birdlife, geese, ibis, terns and more. Wandering up the valley looking at the birds, taking photos and just soaking it up was one of my favourite parts of the whole trek. The couple we were heading for had stopped and for a while we couldnīt figure out why and then a lone guanaco (type of llama) came running down the slope, looked at us, stopped, made a quick decision then went running off across a stream and was gone. Got some photos, the whole event was quite exciting. Had the obligitory chat with the couple about the guanaco. All of us gushing.
Well the way started going up, and well up and up and yep up! Rejoining the path from Los Torres we passed a demoralising sign which said we still had an hour to go, the path just went up and up and it was quite hard work, a ravine plunged away on our right and the lake we had walked past in the morning was getting smaller and smaller. The path just kept going up. When we finally saw the refugio it took another 20 minutes to get there and Tom and Fran had beaten us by 1/2 hour and had already set up the tent.
We convinced them to stay at Campamiento Torres, so after lunch we packed up and headed off. It was meant to be an hour and I suppose it didnīt take that much longer but we were more tired than we thought and it seemed like an eternity. Putting the packs on hurt and every hill felt really steep, the campsite was sheltered under a canopy of tall thin nothofagus pines.
The rain which had been falling all day got a little heavier with the wind and we all sat in Tom and Franīs tent cooking dinner outside the door. It was a lovely meal of tinned peas (brown) in instant mash (now also brown) then I tipped too much oregano in (greeny brown) which then made the whole thing taste very oregano, there was also a little spaghetti and beef soup mix. Fran, Linn and I just tried to eat it without thinking, but Tom thought it was actually quite nice, we just stared at him.
Ended the night playing 500 in a tent not designed for four, legs were going everywhere. That night the wind just howled above the tent, we must be getting used to camping because we slept ok.
Blair
DAY 7
Torres del Paine
We slept in a bit, it was drizzling outside and very cloudy. Tom was really cold and spent part of the morning running around the campsite. Quite amusing to watch him zipping around between the trees. Found a nice clear spot and did some Tai Chi and was really getting into it when I realised that everyone was waiting for me, oops.
Started the climb up to the Torres, it soon became a scramble up rocks. From the top we had a great view of the Torres and the lake just below them. The wind was blowing a gale, so Linn and I sheltered behind a big rock and sat and watched the Torres. Definitely worth the effort, they were spectacular, how people climb them I have no idea. They were a little obscured by cloud but the view was fantastic. Took the usual round of photos and then went back to the tents and began the walk down to El Chileno for lunch.
We sat outside as sheets of rain came drifting down the valley and huddled on our picnic table under the trees with our trangia not boiling, and when we decided to eat it got cold before we could get it to our mouths. Everyone in the refugio just sat and laughed at us. After our pitiful attempt to cook outside we went in and had a hot drink and defrosted.
The walk to the bottom was made worse with Linnīs knees really hurting and after not seeing Tom and Fran for ages we finally spied them waiting for us at the bottom. We had one last really steep bit to go, Tom gave a whistle and we turned to see an eagle about five metres away, hovering in the wind. It was so beautiful to see such a majestic bird that close. No photos unfortunately, he disappeared before we could even think about it. Yet another thing I donīt think Iīll forget.
The campsite at the bottom was nice and grassy and they gave us wood for a fire. The wind was so strong that Linn and I somehow managed to turn our tent into a kite and rolled around laughing at our rank amateur camping abilities. Went and had dinner in the Refugio and drank red wine and played cards till they kicked us out. Lit the fire, just because we could, stayed up late staring into the flames, really good stuff.
DAY 8
Goodbye Torres del Paine
In the morning I thought the tents were going to be run over by the horses grazing near by so I got up. Ok so they werenīt about to kill us but the sky was now clouded over such that the view we had of the Torres yesterday was gone. Enjoyed another breakfast in the refugio and when it seemed we werenīt able to stay in there any longer went back to the tents and slept.
We just had to wait for the bus to take us back to Pto. Natales. The bus ride was awful and we were all glad to get off. We organised for me to go and get us rooms at Casa Cecilia, so as soon as the bus stopped I got off and went sprinting across town, flying past other backpackers and secured the last of the beds. When all the other people from the bus arrived I kinda stood there grinning with my handful of keys. Umm there with me I said as I ushered Linn, Tom and Fran into the hostel. We all just flaked out after all the equipment had been returned and we dumped our washing on Cecilia.
The next few days we did nothing, organised the Navimag boat and waited. One day I barely left the house. There is not a lot to do in Pto. Natales.
Well, we definitely enjoyed Torres del Paine but when the time came to get on the boat, I think we were all relieved to be leaving. Bring on the sunny warm weather!!
From : Blair