We caught the bus out to the park on the 19th of Jan with our hired tent, lots of energy and our minds full of warnings about sudden changes in the weather, pumas and bushfires. The park welcomed us with brilliant blue skies and amazing views of the highlights as we arrived - the twin-coloured double peaks of the Cuernos, and the Torres themselves, huge towers of pale granite, making us itch to start our hike immediately.
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| The view of the three famous Torres upon our arrival |
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| Our first sighting of the twin peaks of Los Cuernos (the Horns) |
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| Brilliantly blue glacial Lake Pehoé and the Cuernos from the south |
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| Glacial refrigeration |
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| Here's to conquering the mountains!! |
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| My personal sherpa walking up Grey Valley ;) |
Compared to day one, our second day of hiking was a walk in the park - 11km up the Grey Valley, following the shoreline of Largo Grey, crossing several improvised, (and rather toe-curling) bridges, catching frequent glimpses of the massive wall of ice blocking the northern end of the narrow valley - Glaciar Grey. After setting up our tent in the sheltered campsite at Refugio Grey (our favourite campsite on the track), we spent most of the afternoon braving the battering winds on the peninsular in front of the glacier face, watching icebergs break off the wall, be slowly but surely shaped into beautiful sculptures by the wind, and float serenely past us - hypnotic.
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Majestic iceberg ships sailing past
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We also noticed a fascinating phenomenon - the glacier was reflecting so much sunlight back up into the sky that the slipstreams created by planes passing by were casting shadows on the clouds above them!! No wonder we found it difficult to look directly at the glaringly bright ice sheet!
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Reverse shadows on the cloud
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Lulled by the serenity of Grey Valley, we
decided to have another quiet day on the third day, only walking the 11km back
to Paine Grande and taking the time on the way to observe the flora and fauna
of the park. Although on constant look out for a condor, Mic had to be
satisfied with numerous smaller birds of prey, including a rufous-tailed hawk.
On the fauna front, along with the omnipresent Chilean firebush (which we
somehow forgot to take a picture of) we also spotted some beautiful foxgloves
(Fingerhut). Unfortunately, due to some amazingly idiotic tourist's thoughtless
actions, a large portion of the park suffered bad fire damage in 2011 -
heartbreaking to see whole swathes of alpine forest decimated...many of the
trees still seem to be bleeding.
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Rufous-tailed hawk
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Foxglove
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A bleeding tree in the fire-damaged forest
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Where the French Valley should be....
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After three wonderfully sunny days, the
park decided to take its revenge on the fourth day - the morning dawned grey,
cold, windy and wet. We packed up our soaking tent and trudged off towards the
start of the Valle del Francés with heavy hearts - the clouds were so low that
we were sure we would not be able to climb up to the famous viewpoint at the
head of the valley as planned. Our worst fears were confirmed when, upon
arriving at the base of the valley in the pouring rain, it was to find the
clouds obliterating any view whatsoever, and hikers who had attempted the climb
hoping to break through the clouds and find sunny panoramas above reported hours
of climbing in a foggy, wet soup. Dejected and very damp, we walked on to
Refugio Los Cuernos, set up our still-soggy tent and settled in to wait out the
weather. Meeting a group of hilarious homosexuals on a 'gay tour' of Patagonia
(their words) and a couple of shared casks of wine cheered us up no end, and
the next day we unzipped the tent to find that mother-nature had had a partial
change of heart - the wind was howling, but the racing clouds were interspersed
with patches of blue sky. We set of hopefully back toward the French Valley and
were overjoyed to find that the glacial basin that had the day before been
completely obliterated by clouds was once again visible.
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There it is!!
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We set of to climb up, up, up - our map
said it would take 3 hours for the 6km, and not without reason - the track was
not only steep, the terrain was also an ankle-twisting mixture of enormous
boulders, sliding shale and slippery gravel. And the wind!! The wind was
treacherous, roaring down through the narrow valley one minute, trying its
hardest to push you back down the slope, then it was suddenly gone completely,
leaving behind a echoing stillness which could last anything from 5 seconds to
15 minutes before the gale would return with a vengeance, hurling a gust at you
from which ever direction you least expected. It made the hike twice as hard as
it normally would have been, and at least 3 times as exhilarating :D
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Upward, ever upward, where the wild winds
held their way...
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After finally winning the battle with the slope
and the wind, we were rewarded by the amazing 360° view from mirador at the
head of the valley. Flattening ourselves on top of a slab of rock, holding on
tight and riding the wind, we took it all in - a ring of towering granite
mountains, clouds flying, racing, being torn on the ragged peaks, making us
feel tiny and exposed, but wildly alive and free at the same time.
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Riding the wind on top of the world in the
French Valley
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The exhilaration carried us back down the
mountain, lasting almost until we reached the valley floor....and then the
exhaustion hit - our knees and ankles ached and our faces smarted from the wind
and the sun. Our eyes were full of dust and our stomachs screamed for food. But
we still had more than two and a half hours of walking ahead of us after
finishing the descent to get back to Refugio Los Cuernos....the last 5
kilometers seemed like much further and when we finally arrived we felt like
the mountain had almost conquered us. 26km and almost 10 hours of hiking were
more than enough to make sure we didn't notice the hard ground through our
sleeping mats that night :)
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View from our tent on the 24th of January -
sunrise on the Cuernos
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The next morning the Cuernos greeted us in
blazing sunshine once more, and we set off to complete the third and final arm
of the 'W' - from Los Cuernos, along Largo Nordenskjöld (yes, we are still in
Chile - Otto Nordenskjöld was a Swedish geologist who did some exploring in the
area in 1890s) to the Valle Ascesino , then up the valley to Campamento Chileno
- 15km in total, and with quite a climb up the valley - our legs were still
feeling rubbery from the day before, and we were happy to arrive and set up our
tent in Chileno - although the camping site took a little getting used to! The
valley is so narrow that there is no space for flat tent sites, hence the
inventive people from Fantástico Sur (the company that runs the refugio) has
set up dizzying tent platforms on stilts
- meaning your tent is around 3m from the ground. This would not be too bad if
the platforms were a decent size, but as they are tiny, getting in and out of
your tent becomes a bit of a balancing act :P We decided to take it easy on the
wine that night, just to be on the safe side ;)
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Dizzying campsite in Chileno
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The next morning we had a lazy start,
sitting in the sun beside Rio Ascesino, drying our hand-washed socks and
watching the 'day trippers' being carried up the valley on horseback (we admit
we were feeling quite superior at this point, we couldn't help it). We made it
up to Campamento Torres, the last
campsite on the 'W', by lunchtime, set
up our tent and then headed up to see the park's namesake - Las Torres. The
path from the campamento up to the mirador is only about 3km long, but takes
about an hour, as it goes almost straight up, the last kilometer over lose
boulders and scree. But as people coming down kept telling us 'vale la pena'
(it is worth it). The massive granite towers do honour their name and literally
tower over you when you finally make it over the last pile of scree and enter
the glacial bowl at their base. We sat on the edge of the glacial laguna and
watched the afternoon light slowly turn the monoliths from pale grey to slate.
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The towers everyone comes to see
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We finally spotted him - the elusive condor
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Now we really felt we had seen almost
everything we had come to see in the park, only one thing was missing - the
legendarily spectacular sunrise over the Torres. And so we were up again at
3.30am on the 8th and final day of our hike, once more walking up the steep
track with our headlamps on, forming part of a chain of blinking lights carried
by stumbling, sleepy early-starters determined not to miss this one last
highlight. We got to the top before
five. snuggled up in our sleeping bags on a flat slab of rock and waited for
the show to begin. And we were not disappointed....the sun worked its magic on
the dark pillars, first tinging them ever so lightly with a soft coral pink,
then setting them on fire with every shade of crimson you can imagine.
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Sunrise on the Torres - first just a touch
of colour...
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A fitting firework finalle to a wonderful
week of walking - 8 days, 121km, countless wonderful views, and best of all -
no twisted ankles, no missing skin, no hobbling and ZERO BLISTERS! We conquored
the mountains!!! :D :D
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