Torres del Paine: The W Trek

Now, we understand why this is the most famous trek in Patagonia.

The second half of the famed O trek is the even more famous W trek. The trail hugs the southern edge of the National Park massif, with two in-and-out’s up some roaring stream valleys to lookouts. We completed the first half of the trek previously. You can check out our last blog to see that story. But for a quick recap, we hiked near 70km in four days through some beautiful pristine terrain.

Due to the complexity and near idiocy of the Torre del Paine camp booking system (two different companies run camps, poor software for multiple bookings, an absurd amount of demand), no two trekking parties W sections look the same. As would be the case for us as well, as we would stray behind our compatriots with 3 comparatively shorter and easier days, before a massive 30km day 8 finale.

Day 5: Grey to Paine Grande
Distance: 13.50km
Elevation: 388m
Time: 4:13

The first of three short days. But just because its short, doesn’t make it easy. We were not in the best mood to start the morning. My knee still wasn’t close to 100%, and Cam’s legs screamed at her every time there was a slight elevation change. Our spirits were also in a weird space. After four days in the wilderness, with no electronics or distractions, your minds begin to wander.

The O-Trek as a whole was a climax in our South American journey. Our last great hike. Our last great achievement. The combination of finality and time in our contemplation stew created some thoughts of change, and to a certain extent regret. Things we wish we could change from our journey through the continent. Different adventures we could have had. But you can only do some much in your day. As long as you enjoyed what you did that day, it was a good day. And that’s the only barometer we should measure with.

Much contemplation was had during a small morning excursion, at a beautiful Grey Glacier viewpoint. Here you could see the wall of ice as the glacier intruded on the river. A luxurious catamaran was showing people the behemoth up close. Some kayaks were on their way to check it out themselves. It was a nice and serene viewpoint, the last of the trek, before we headed south to Paine Grande.

Very quickly, the busyness of the W side compared to the O was apparent. There were many more hikers around. Due to the John Gibson pass, the O is only done in one direction, so you very rarely see other hikers, unless there is a major speed difference between parties. Here, there’s people going everywhere. Day hikers from Paine Grande who want to see the glacier. W trekkers. O trekkers. Half the tourists in Chile were here. There was also a noticeable difference in the experience of W trekkers versus O trekker’s. The W gang seemed to have more stuff, and were slower on their journey. Each to their own, we were just happy that everyone could experience the views, as commercialized as it is.

With such a busy trail, we met many more people on this side of the map. Small short conversations. They all asked about the O side, and oddly enough, everyone said something along the lines of “We would love to do it, but we ran out of time.” Day 4 is no joke guys. If your struggling here, that day would have taken you out.

This was our worst weather day as well. Not because of wind or rain, as normal. But heat. The sun was too strong, and the air too warm. We got fairly dehydrated, which did not help with our frantic and overthinking minds of the day.

Having seen the glacier already, the views for this day didn’t have too much else to offer. Lago Grey was a beautiful blue-grey colour, and stretched beyond the hills. The glacier, before we said goodbye to it, was a constant reminder of the day before. But we headed inland instead, and walked among the shrubs and in valleys towards camp.

This camp was the busiest of the trail Paine Grande is located along Lago Pehoe. A ferry will take day trippers here from Porto Natales, as a pit stop to Glacier Grey. Others use it as the start to their W-Trek, working east. It had a massive restaurant that a few of our friends indulged in. Some got food poisoning. Kasey and Karen didn’t finish their pizza, it was so bad. We had a package of noodles that just kept soaking up water and expanding. Our 2L pot was filled with noodles, then we would eat a bunch, and they would just keep rising. Great filling meal, as we were starting to ration food for the end.

The evening was spent in a stretching session with our friends, getting to know about each other lives. We lost John and Sarah this day, as they had a mega day to Camp Los Cuernos, over 20km away from Grey. The USA crew of 13 had their carted out member rejoin them, which was lovely. But the rest of the gang wasn’t in great shape. Our hot water bottle got passed around for all to rest their muscles. We also met two uni gals from Florida on their first day of the W, near distraught as they didn’t have Wi-Fi at the camp to call their boyfriends for moral support. It appeared that they had somewhat bit off more than they could chew, especially self supported on the first day.

Day 6: Paine Grande to Frances
Distance: 9.75km
Elevation: 383m
Time: 3:10

This was our official “rest,” day due to scheduling. Of course, rest mean 10km or so. Cam’s legs were still somewhat shot, so this was a welcome time to chill. But ambitious as I am, I decided on a quick 1km hike to start the day down Lago Pehoe to see over the hill. More mountains, good excursion. Cam rested.

Finally our day started, and most of our crew would meet us at the end. Except they were going up to Mirador Britannica, a 13km in and out trail on their way to Frances. We were saving that for tomorrow. So we moseyed along and enjoyed the stellar views of both Lago Pehoe, Lago Skottsburg and Lago Nordenskjold. These lakes had a much different colour than that of Grey and the O lakes, as their drainage basins were entirely different. They didn’t meet until near the ocean. These lakes were a deep blue, clear of any sort of sediment or debris.

The mountains on the other side of the trail were brilliant as well. The larger multicolored rocky wall of Mount Almierente Nieto provided a wonderful view to march towards. Eventually we reached the tripoint for the turn to Britannica, and saw the feat that lay before us. A massive valley with a welcoming rocky and snowy wall with remnants of avalanches welcoming us. It would be a good day.

We got to Frances early, and explored the camp. This one was set along the hillside, and each tent had a flat wooden platform to be set upon. The little mini-food mart was half a km away from the tents, and had a beautiful lookout over the lake. We were exhausted though, and opted to stretch out on open tent pads, going to bed really early, with ambitions to get up early and enjoy the trail for ourselves tomorrow.

Day 7: Britannica viewpoint, Frances to Los Cuernos
Distance: 19.01km
Elevation: 823m
Time: 7:21

Alright, 7 days in and were finally experiencing one of the two in and outs. And cause of the double-back that we will have to do, we don’t have to carry our bags for most of the day! We got up early to the sounds of our alarms, heard that it was raining, gave each other the ‘we’re not doing this’ look and promptly went back to sleep.

We got up again much later to the sound of not rain, and decided to start the day. We learned quickly that the USA gang was hurting, and most of them did not make it all the way up to the Mirador yesterday. Some stopped at the viewpoint halfway up. Some just abandoned it entirely. But this is where we would leave them, as well as Kasey and Karen, as they were all off to Chileno, the camp needed for a sunrise Torres del Paine hike.

We had breakfast with a park ranger from Oregon. He was doing the O in 6 days, and like his American counterparts, had decided to opt out of the Britannica lookout, deciding he had already gotten out of this hike what he came for. The distance between Frances and Los Cuernos, where we would be spending the next night was only 4km, so we had nothing else to do but see what everyone else had missed.

We also met Martin and Maude, another couple who were doing the O in 6 days. They were doing every viewpoint as well, and were 4 days into their adventure. They had the exact same last two days as us, so we compared plans and ideas on how to finish the trek. Kudo’s to them too, as they looked to be in fantastic shape after 90km in 4 days.

The first thing we noticed this day was the small blanket of snow that now coated the the mountains. While we had got rain, the exposed rock of the mountaintops had a light dusting, bringing highlights to the contour of the rocks.

We started our in and out, and felt fantastic. Without our backpacks, Cam’ legs felt strong, and my knee felt stable. We had our poles, some jackets, a water bottle and snacks. We quickly learned that because all of the stream water is potable, it was easier to carry around the water bottle empty and just drink at the frequent streams, rather than carry around a litre of water.

The path darted within the trees, sometimes giving glimpses of the massive rock face that welcomes hikers to Britannica. At this point in the morning, everyone who wanted to do this trail was on it, so it was super busy. The trail isn’t especially wide, so there is a lot of waiting for people going the other way to pass. Lots of keeners had got up early to enjoy the quieter paths. Small rumblings could be heard every 5-10 minutes or so, an indicator that avalanches were afoot.

Finally the halfway point lookout came into view. And what was originally the welcoming rock face was now in full view. A massive bowl of rock, covered in snow pockets and wearing a glacier as a hat was in front of us. Steaks of white indicating fresh avalanche trails were visible. We stayed at the viewpoint for half an hour or so, and saw close to five avalanches in front of us. The combination of the snow the night before and the sun on the mountain made the conditions especially potent. They always appear so small from so far away, but the face we were looking at was at least a kilometer tall, so we were watching snow crash hundreds of meters down the slopes. No wonder they are so loud.

The second half of the ascent was much quieter than the first. There are rumors at camps that the Britannica viewpoint isn’t that spectacular, and that the avalanche one is good enough. So we got to enjoy the serenity of the trees a lot more. It was hard to see anything for a few km, as we were well under the canopy of the surrounding trees. Finally, a break, and we could see the mountain bowl that we had ended up in. All sorts of fascinating peaks on every side of us, and a lone rock pointing out that would be our final destination.

It was a hard and fast ascent to the Britannica rock. The slope increased dramatically, and it was more akin to a scramble than anything. But at the top were 15 or so other hikers, two of which were some lovely middle aged women in the prime seat, just leaving. We swooped those up. We then looked around.

For 270 degrees around us, we could see all orts of fascinating peaks. The alternating visibility of the dark cretaceous sedimentary and the light granite intrusions made for a remarkably jagged and intimidating assortment of peaks. We could see the back of the Torres del Paine, and for some hikers this view of the towers would be good enough. The valley we had ascended was in view, and a distant blue patch of Lago Nordenskjold could be seen. We enjoyed the minimart snacks that we had purchased earlier.

You see, we were out of snacks now. We had carried in enough dinners and breakfast, but those midday hike snacks, not at all. So we decided to indulge in various bars, chocolate and cookies for the day, so we wouldn’t be miserable and hungry. We had way too much oatmeal in general, but due to the strict no-fire regulations of the park, we couldn’t boil water anywhere except for the camp, limiting lunch options greatly.

It is important that these no fire regulations are in place. The whole park in an absolute tinderbox, and it feels like one errant cigarette could set the whole thing ablaze. Dead dry wood is left piling up, and an effort to keep things pristine means that’s there is way more fuel than needed to create a disaster.

We got cold on the summit, and decided to head back down. The down felt okay on my knee, which was a much needed sense of encouragement. Our final day was going to be brutal any way you tried to explain it. Heading back down was more of the same sights, until we got back to Frances.

But on the way down, we had a bit of a scare. I (Graham) was powering ahead by a a fair margin and Cam was behind. Nature called, and given the business and penalties for an open woods pee, I was flying to where I knew outhouses were. Finally we arrived, and I darted off into the woods. Cam, lost in the thought of new culinary ideas, did not see where I went. She just assumed I had gone very far ahead. So, for the last 20 minutes of the hike we were separated and both stressed out because we did not discus where to meet if we got separated. We met back at a camp checkpoint, having the same idea for where to meet but it was a silly scenario.

Now it was time for the packs back on, and to head to Los Cuernos for the night.

Being somewhat late in the day, this part of the trail was a little quieter. Most on this stretch had already passed by. The trail was very different too, descending quickly to the lakeshore, and then following along side it to camp. The lake was quite cold as expected. But the change of terrain was welcome. A nice pebble beach is really easy to walk in.

This camp was quite pretty, but we didn’t have time to enjoy it. Lying ahead of us was a massive final day. It could go any one of many ways, and we spent the evening strategizing. We had near 30km left in the hike, and an estimated 1500m of elevation. One hiker had two muscle sore legs with a backpack on, and the other had one untrustworthy knee. There were two goals in mind for the day. Make it to the Torres del Paine viewpoint, which includes a 400m over 1km ascent. And more importantly, make it to Central campground in one piece. We didn’t know if both were possible. We were near out of food, somewhat hungry and tired. We had no idea what the weather was going to be. At some point it has to rain during the day. But if we had any shot at it, we had to be up early, just to have enough time. So we got ready for bed, and went to sleep around 7. And waited for 4AM to roll around, to begin our hardest day of trekking in our lives. That’s a story for another blog. See you there.