Getting to Torres del Paine (TdP)
I organized a transfer to the airport through the hotel and compared to yesterday’s airport transfer debacle the trip was uneventful not to mention much less expensive. I arrived in the domestic departures lounge expecting to see Anne but it was very empty. Almost an hour later she came walking through security looking even more haggard from the journey than I had expected. She had survived cancelled flights and lugging her pack through foreign airports but it was the customs officials at Santiago airport which finally broke her. Chileans take threats to their produce and livestock very seriously and customs checks at Santiago airport are extremely thorough. With all the beef jerky, dried fruit, nuts and other tasty treats she’d brought for our hike she was pulled aside to spend some quality time with the customs officials. Just as I was unsuccessful in pleading with the TSA officials to keep my stove she ended up surrendering a significant portion of our supplies before being allowed to enter the country.
Anne and I caught up while waiting for our flight to Punta Arenas. As lunchtime approached I searched the airport and found a small take-away restaurant advertising a chicken baguette sandwich and beer combo which looked delicious on the poster. After what seemed to be a successful exchange in Spanish I handed over my pesos and the clerk gave me a cold bottle of beer and a vacuum packed sandwich, which if you squinted through the plastic approximated the picture on the poster. I triumphantly returned to Anne with lunch and upon tearing into the vacuum seal discovered the US supermarkets must send all of their expired Steak-umms to Chile to be served in the Santiago airport. The rancid gray meat was far cry from the golden grilled chicken in the picture. It didn’t taste half-bad though and so after Anne turned down a third bite I finished it off lamenting how my Spanish was so miserable even “pollo” was misunderstood. Passing the time I read the ingredients to find I had eaten a “carne vacuna” or “vaccinated meat” sandwich. While the meat had been vaccinated, I’d learn over the next three days my trip to the International Travel Clinic had not vaccinated me against a “carne vacuna” encounter but luckily had at least armed me with Cipro.
When planning our trip to Nacional Park Torres del Paine back in November we had expected the rendezvous in Santiago to be the hard part. We neglected to consider the flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas and the subsequent three bus rides required to get to the park which consumed a full day and a half of travel time after we met.
Punta Arenas is the largest town in Southern Chile and capital of the Chilean Patagonia. It also seems to be a town forgotten by time where the builders have no materials available other than corrugated steel. After Anne’s 30+ hours of flight time the El Fin del Mundo in PA served just fine as a place to lay horizontal and catch some Z’s before grabbing a bus the next morning at 7am to Puerto Natales.
Most people know I am not a big fan of bus travel, even in my home town of Chicago. I’ve just had too many bad experiences. When I was in Nepal I had a 13 hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Jiri where had an assigned seat, although it was constructed out of plywood and angle iron making for a most uncomfortable ride. The real surprise was to see the cage of chickens assigned to the seat across the aisle and goats riding in the luggage rack on top. On another bus ride in Pokhara I found myself riding on the roof with my backpack. So I was pleasantly surprised by the ultra-modern Turismo buses I saw at the bus station. The seats reclined and seemed to be comfortable enough as long as the person in front of you didn’t recline too far not unlike coach class on an airplane. The bus had a bano on board and they even served coffee during the ride. It all seemed quite civilized until the driver started the engine and the TVs started playing Phil Collins concerts and bad American movies like Gone in 60 Seconds dubbed in Spanish. My opinion remains the same, even though bus travel in South America may seem more civilized at first it is no less tortuous than I’ve experienced elsewhere.
After successfully negotiating flights, taxis and buses to finally reach a shuttle which took us to Hosteria Los Torres we setup the tent and prepared to begin trekking the following morning.
Trekking in TdP
We had originally planned to hike the entire Paine Circuit but having miscalculated the time required to get to the park took a serious allotment out of our available time. We opted to tackle the shorter “W” trek which covers all of the highlights of the park and covers about half the distance and avoided long, arduous days of hiking in order to catch our return flight. This ended up being nice because it gave us flexibility to take rest days when the weather was bad and extra time to check out some of the interesting day hikes and side trips.
I have the waypoints of our trek recorded in the GPS and plan to post the details of the route and day hikes for people planning to tackle the same trek. The highlights of the hike included:
- Cooking dinner at the base of the Torres and watching the sunset. Enjoying some red beans and rice with tea and just taking in the view of the massive granite towers was a real experience. Traditionally people hike to the towers at sunrise which I planned to do the following morning but a hail storm and clouds made for a gray skies where I would not have seen anything so we packed up camp and moved on.
We arrived at the Los Cuenos refugio late in the evening just as a storm was blowing in. I set up my Mountain Hardware Annapurna mountaineering tent in winds gusting above 50mph which was a real challenge. It was so windy my sunglasses were blown off my face and so far up the mountainside I could not see where they landed. Even with the shelter of a tree and some rock walls I built the wind managed to snap several of the guylines as the storm gathered momentum during the night and we learned first hand about the legendary Patagonian winds. The winds died down the next day but were replaced by rain and sleet which made a perfect excuse to take a rest day alternating between sleeping in the tent and playing dominoes in the refugio.
- Refugios exist in the park for people who prefer staying in a hostel environment as opposed to camping. We spent several evenings inside the dinner areas at the refugios and met many fascinating people from around the world. Sharing travel stories and hearing about the incredible trips other people have put together was truly inspiring.
- We had several days of bad weather with clouds shrouding the mountains. We were glad to have extra time to wait out the weather because when the skies cleared the landscape was simply spectacular. Patagonia and specifically Torres del Paine is a very special place which must be experienced in person to truly appreciate the beauty.
Ice Hike on Glaicer Grey
On the last day the plan was to take the Grey II ferry from Refugio Grey to Hosteria Lago Grey but there was a sign for an Ice Hike which seemed intriguing. The guides touted a tour of the 27km long Glacier Grey with the chance to peer into crevasses and learn about the glacier during the seven hour hike which required the use of crampons and ice axes. With little discussion we pushed back our departure a day and signed up. This turned out to be the best decision of our trip to TdP.
We met the guides the next morning expecting to be in a group of 14-16 people but they informed us the tour group we were scheduled to hike with had radioed and moved their trip back to the evening session. This meant there would only be four clients and two guides on the morning trip. With such a small group our guides Quito and Carlos informed us the hike would be “fun” for them because the group in the afternoon was going to be a lot of work. “Fun” translated into a very personal experience where we got to explore many parts of the glacier clients do not normally get to see where the guides play on their days off. We were able to walk through ice caves and rappel into a crevasse.
Anne captured my inaugural attempt at ice climbing on video and while I might not have the best form it did not matter because I was having the time of my life taking advantage of the opportunity to see a side of the glacier most people never will. I’ll post the video as soon as I have a higher speed connection.
All of the various shades of blue on and in the glacier were amazing. The weather was spectacular with the sun shining and the winds mysteriously absent. Hiking on Glacier Grey was the highlight of the TdP experience. We had such a great time and got along so well with the guides that they invited us to their cabin in the evening where we drank some great Chilean wines and ate pork straight from the grill in traditional Argentinean asado style.
The next morning we boarded the Grey II ferry where we saw the glacier from a distance. The sheer size and blue color could be seen from the boat but was not nearly as personal or satisfying as actually walking on the ice. We drank Pisco Sours chilled by ice pulled straight from the glacier knowing our hike had truly been a once in a lifetime experience.
Parting Thoughts on Torres del Paine
The park lives up to its reputation. The hours of driving to the park are reminiscent of eastern Montana. The landscape is very desolate and almost lunar in nature and there are a lot of cows. In Montana you find a lot of abandoned cars, miles away from roads or any sign of civilization. I don’t know if Montanans are out driving cross country when their vehicles suddenly break down and they just leave them behind or when a car is past its prime they literally decide to put it out to pasture. Either way, it was refreshing to see the land surrounding TdP to generally be clean and sheep grazing as opposed to a sea of man-made junk. As you near the park mountains begin to crop up and then the silhouettes of some of the most famous and recognizable peaks in the world come into view and it is simply awesome.
In retrospect, Anne felt had she known what she was in for to ahead of time she probably would not have come. (Did I forget to mention a few minor details? Ooops!) She had never trekked or carried a backpack in the backcountry before and found it to be physically challenging. However, she did a great job and really enjoyed the experience. She feels it is one of the most beautiful places she has ever seen and is glad she was blissfully unaware of the hard work ahead and made the journey to Patagonia.
I was impressed with the infrastructure built up inside the park to support trekkers. I’d like to visit again and attempt the full circuit but I’d strongly consider leaving the tent and stove behind and using the refugios. Die-hard backpackers might scoff at the idea but dropping the extra gear and focusing more on the landscape than the additional pounds in the pack is a favorable trade-off to me.
I’ve posted some pictures but they cannot begin to convey the sheer size and incredible colors. I had hoped to take photography classes before starting this trip but never found the time and now I really regret it. Some of the lighting conditions were very tricky and overall I’m disappointed in the quality of the images I did capture. I plan to enroll in photography classes to better learn the fundamentals and study landscape photography before I return.
of the Himalayas at 6,962m (22,841 ft). As the tallest peak in South America it is considered one of the the Seven Summits and thus a very popular mountain to climb. Most people climb the Ruta Normal or Normal Route. I chose to climb the Guanacos Valley route with Aventura Patagonicas because it leaves more time for acclimatization, is more scenic and far less crowded. Unfortunately, I found out just days before my expedition was to begin the Argentinean government had closed the Guanacos Valley route to climbers for the 2006/07 season and my expedition group was to climb a hybrid route combining the Ameghino Valley and Guanacos Valley routes.
While I was on the mountain some very brief updates were posted based on reports filed via the expedition satellite phone. I’ve decided to post a recap of the expedition, broken into several posts, so friends and family can read more about the details of my trip. I also hope sharing my experience will be useful to others who are considering a summit attempt on Aconcagua so they might better know what to expect and how to prepare.