Parque Nacional Torres del Paine

  Torres del Paine, Chile
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine 18 al 22

El bus nos dejó en la Administración del parque, nuestro punto de inicio de la caminata. 5 horas de caminata más tarde llegamos al campamento Paine Grande, inicio de la famosa "W"; un trekking que tiene ese nombre por la forma que describe alrededor del macizo, y que sus puntas son incursiones a puntos de interés.

El segundo día hicimos la primera incursión (la punta izquierda de la W), hacia el Glaciar Grey. Espectacular glaciar que vimos desde un mirador al lado del Lago Grey, en el cual el glaciar vierte su hielo.

El Tercer día caminamos hasta el Campamento Italiano. Allí dejamos un morral y la mayoría de las cosas para subir por el Valle Frances hasta el mirador de un glaciar que baja de la montaña Paine Grande, en lo que sería la punta del medio de la W. Hasta allí 4 horas de caminata. Bajamos después de almorzar, recogimos el resto de los equipos y decidimos seguir hasta el campamento Los Cuernos, para restar horas de caminata al día siguiente, ya que nos tocaban 10 horas aproximadamente. En fin, llegamos al Camp. Los Cuernos como a las 5 pm por un sendero entre el masizo Los Cuernos a la izquierda y el Lago Nordenskjöld (pronuncien eso!) a la derecha. Las vistas durante las caminatas, indescriptibles.

Lago Nordenskjold

El cuarto día desayunamos en compañía de un pajarito y un ratón de montaña que se acercaban bastante para comer de las migas, sin importarles que le apuntaramos con la cámara de video y de fotos. Por fin salimos a la caminata más fuerte que nos tocaría. Una pertinaz subida hacia el Valle Acensio hasta el campamento Torres, incluyendo dos pasos de fuertes vientos, uno frente a una laguna donde las personas caminaban inclinadas para compensar el empuje del viento, y el otro, un paso estrecho en una pared del valle con barranco y todo, donde conseguimos algunas personas recostadas de la pared esperando a que el viento amainara. Al entrar al valle fue más suave el viento pero igual de fuerte la subida hasta el campamento que nos acogería esa noche. Ya estábamos en la punta derecha de la W.

El 5to día subimos de madrugada al mirador de las Torres del Paine a ver cuando el Sol ilumina las torres desde la cumbre hacia abajo. Sencillamente hermoso y ventoso!!!! Después de muchas fotos y videos volvimos al camp, para recoger todo y bajar hasta la Hostería Las Torres. Fin de este trekking emocionante y agotador. De allí en transfer hasta Laguna Amarga y de allí en Bus hasta El Calafate. Aunque al llegar el bus nos llevamos un susto; a pesar que pagamos sobrepeso cuando compramos el boleto, las cajas de las bicicletas no cabían!!! Por fin el chofer accedió a llevarnos y las cajas en el pasillo del bus! Pena con el resto de los pasajeros, pero partimos.

Amanecer en el Paine

Edgard y Frances

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine
Thursday 17th Jan
It was 3 hours from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, and pretty much steppe vegetation all the way, although as usual I managed to sleep through most of it, whilst Edgard avidly took photos. We arrived in Puerto Natales at about 5pm and installed ourselves in the Erratic Rock Hostel which by pure chance was THE major backpacker hangout in the place with all the usual trimmings such as internet, equipment hire, use of kitchen, loads of foreigners etc. - but a great place for information. Puerto Natales itself is fully geared up for hikers and campers with outdoor clothing shops, and supermarkets with quick "just add water" meals. A very cool and hip place, and the launching point for trips to the Torres del Paine National Park - our next destination.

Friday 18th Jan - Tuesday 22nd Jan
We duly left early in the morning for the Torres del Paine National Park, again through the steppe - and then the Torres came into view, rising out of the grasslands like some giant cutout of snow covered mountains, against blue sky. We had carefully bought a full range of thermal clothing in order to cope with the freezing sub-zero temperatures, so were surprised and slightly disappointed to get out of the bus to temperatures in the early 20´s. These temperatures in fact kept on rising throughout our stay so the by the end of the hike we were sweating in shorts and teeshirts under a blazing 300C sun. We spent five days in the Torres del Paine - doing what is traditionally called the "W" route - a breathtaking, exhilarating and completely exhausting 5 day hike.
Basically the "W" involves walking around the southeast side of the Park, making camp at the lower ends of the "arms" of the W and doing sidewalks up the arms, the first arm to the lookout over Glacier Grey, the second "middle arm" up the Francés valley and finally, the third "right arm" up the Asencio Valley, to camp Las Torres and the viewpoint overlooking the Torres del Paine themselves.

Glaciar Grey

There are many things that make this such a splendid walk: the glorious views, glaciers, mountains, lakes and woods; the flowers - many of which are similar to English ones: dandelions and daisies, and coltsfoot, and vetch, and yellow celandines growing in the woods. There are also calafate berrys, like bilberrys, that turn your teeth pupple; the clouds which form many and varied shapes - especially some which are smooth and disc shaped, closely resembling flying saucers. We decided that they were in fact alien spacecraft disguised as clouds, monitoring tourists - although why they are doing this remains unclear - perhaps to zap walkers who fail to complete the W satisfactorily! The wildlife too was quite tame - one morning when I spilled porridge on the grass by mistake, a mouse appeared out of the hedge - at first hesitant, and then bolder, until soon he was sat in the middle of the spilt porridge stuffing his little face. A chaffinch also appeared, but far more wary - although more of the mouse then of us it seemed. We of course took photos, as you do.
On day four the wind hit us, first on the lowland, and then as we rounded a slope up into the Asencio valley, walking high up over dust and scree - not a little of which was blown into our faces. It was truly a battle - which the wind nearly won, until the path turned downhill again into the protection of the woods and along to camp Las Torres. On the fifth day we woke early and were out of the tent by 5:00am in order to do the classic dawn climb up from the camp and over boulders to the Torres del Paine viewpoint. We arrived promptly at 5:45am and sat down in the cold (at last it was cold) to wait for the sun to rise. When it finally did we were shivering - but it was worth it to see the Torres turn orange in the dawn light.

Las Torres del Paine

After the obligatory photos had been taken, our mission completed, we made our way downhill back to the camp, to pack and walk to the Hosteria Las Torres, the end point of the hike. Soon we were sweating once again, trudging down the dusty path under a blazing sun. We arrived at Hosteria Las Torres 3 hours later, completely shattered, but happy, for a celebratory cold beer, before taking the bus to Calafate in Argentina - our next destination.

Frances y Edgard