Lead up to big hike!!
Trip Start
Jan 08, 2008
1
8
17
Trip End
Jun 11, 2008
Puerto Natales,
Chile
Saturday, February 2, 2008
A very bad start to the day - one of our NZ ladies had a stroke and is now in hospital in Punta Arenas. Her friend had to stay behind with her at the hospital, along with our tour leader. The remaining two of us took the bus to Puerto Natales - a four-hour journey. This is a big sheep rearing area - we also saw guanacos (like small llamas) and nandues (small ostriches) on the way. This place is the starting point for trips to Torres del Paine Nat Park and the ´W´ trip we are about to embark on.Naturally, tourism is the mainstay of this town.
Having checked into the hotel we decided to have a wander around the town. We found a nice little cafe called El Living, with comfy easy chairs and had some great home-made soup for lunch. They also had some English newspapers - even though they were 6 weeks old!
A peek as the Grey comes into view
! I did Sudoku and the crossword over lunch - such a long time since I had done these - old habits die hard! The wind was pretty strong off the Last Hope Sound but it was warm and sunny. There are lots of outdoor gear shops and adventure companies here. If you have read "In Patagonia" by Bruce Chatwin, he was looking for the Cave of Milodon, a pre-historic ground-sloth - well, it is 25 km north of here - just thought I would throw in that useless piece of info!!We were not in much humour to do a lot this day, as we were worried about Jan. We have 2 nights here before going on a 5-day hike. Tomorrow - all 3 of us will do a three-hour hike in this area - Jo has arrived here to join us as the tour leader is staying in the hospital with Jan, who has to go back to NZ when the hospital agree to release her. Her holiday trip is over for now, but I am sure she will be back sometime in the future.
Mon 29th Jan.
We left Puerto Natales and were driven in a minibus for 2 hours to the start of the Torres del Paine (TDP) National Park, where we began our first day's hike - it was very hot, unusually so for this place. This is a four and a half day hike with 2 long days and 2 medium length - eg 8/9 hours and 6 hours
After lunch break Lago Nordenskjold
. We camped or stayed in Refugios along the way (these need to booked well ahead in high season, which Dec-Mar is classed as high season). We had fantastic weather for most of the time - in fact, days 1 and 2 were too hot for climbing. Day 1 was a long slog - quite grueling - especially the last half hour to the top - this part is very steep and is on only rocks. I was advised by the guide not to take the risk because of my knee, especially coming back down. I was a bit disappointed but, I made up for it on the other days - I managed all the rest of the hikes. Even though I thought I was relatively fit I had not done enough hill climbing in preparation. A good tip - do the hill climbs on a treadmill to build up stamina. In spite of that it was a fantastic experience - lots of glaciers, mountain lakes, waterfalls, wild flowers, birds and views to die for. For me it was a great personal achievement.On the second day we had a day hike along Lake Nordenskold to our camp at the base of the Horns of Paine. That was a relatively easy day!! Next day we had a full day hike through the French Valley up to the Horns and another glacial lake. We also saw some hanging glaciers there. We got up there in about 4 hours and had about 10 minutes there when the clouds rolled in and the rain started. It rained the whole way down to our next campsite. Jo and I decided that as we were soaked to the skin we would shell out for a comfortable bed in the Refugio - no tent for us!
Arrived ay Grey Glacier
! When we got there we had been allocated a private room - table laid for dinner - a roaring log fire - a glass of pisco sour and a hot shower made all that rain seem like a hazy dream! All our clothes dried in front of the fire. That night gale force winds made us glad we had opted for the comfort of a bedroom inside and not in a tent.Having seen the stunning scenery of the granite Three Towers, the Horns of Paine it culminated at Gray Glacier, where there are icebergs of deep blue in the lake. It was a memorable hike. Our final camp was by the edge of the lake at Grey Glacier - it was a wonderful peaceful place - wonderful cook who served us home-made soup at dinner.
The next day we went on a boat to the Glacier - I have never been so close to a Glacier before - it was an awe-inspiring sight. The boat took us to the end of the lake where we transferred to our mini bus to take us back to Puerto Natales and the end of that trek.
