Torrents of Pain in Torres del Paine

Next Stop: Torres del Paine National Park, Chile (April 9-15, 2011). We bused over to the Chilean town of Puerto Natales as a base to prepare for our 4 day/ 4 night W trek in Torres del Paine National Park. We spent  a day preparing: buying food, renting cookware, and breaking in my new trekking shoes purchased in El Calafate (dios mio!).

We were joined by Mike (who we had met in Uruguay) and Nancy (a new friend from the hostel) and formed a group of four to hike the W trek together. We set off on my birthday, not exactly how I imagined spending my 30th birthday, but really, when you think about it, how many people can say that they spent their birthday in one of the most beautiful national parks in the world? There was no birthday cake BUT the hostel was sweet enought to put a lighted match on my breakfast omelette before we set off for the park.

We hiked the trek from West to East and spent our nights in refugios (shelters). It was too bloody cold for us to want to camp, although others did. I can´t tell you how nice it was, after a long day of trekking, to be able to take a shower and have a mattress to sleep on. It wasn´t luxurious, but it was a heck of a lot warmer than sleeping on the cold ground.

An update on the sore feet situation: As mentioned earlier, I bought some new hiking shoes in El Calafate. It wasn´t an easy decision, given that 1) it´s not recommended to break in a new pair of shoes on a 4 day hike, 2) I wasn´t entirely sure what exactly the problem with my feet was or whether the new shoes would fix it and 3) maybe the new shoes would leave me worse off. Not to mention buying shoes in El Calafate cost a pretty penny. Well, my feet did get better with the new shoes, BUT, my knees decided that they wanted to join the pain party and hurt the entire time. Painkillers and walking poles became my new best friends. 

Saw:

Day 1: We were picked up at 7:30 am by a minibus which brought us to the park entrance to pay our park fees and then dropped us off at Lago Pehoe, where we took the catamaran across the lake to Refugio Paine Grande, the starting point of our trek. We hiked 3.5 hours up to Glacier Grey to spend the night at Refugio Grey.

The foursome at the start



Mmmm...cold pizza



Mate (Argentinian tea) break overlooking the glacier



¨Mike, I want that piece of glacier for my birthday.¨



Refugio Grey

Day 2: The second day we hiked up an hour or so more to get a better view of the glacier and then all the way back down to where we began the day before. It rained a lot of the way down and my knees were screaming (downhill hurt the most). We stayed at Refugio Paine Grande and met a group of 3 Brits and an American (Jo, Mike x2 and James) and enjoyed a carton of wine by the fire.

Day 3: The third day was about a 9 hour day, the longest yet, but also the most beautiful of all. We hiked through the Frances Valley, and it was like something out of a dream. The trees were weighted down with a fresh snow fall and the mountains rumbled as glacier ice broke off. It was like a winter wonderland. This night we stayed at the Refugio Los Cuernos and, again, treated ourselves to a carton of wine.

 

 

  

 

Refugio Los Cuernos

Day 4: This was the final push, a 10 hour hike up to the famous towers of Torres del Paine and then back down to our lodging for our final night in the park. The morning started out cold and icy and crossing the streams was treacherous. The rocks that we would normally use as stepping stones were coated in a thin film of ice, invisible to the naked eye. After another trekker ahead of us slipped and bashed his head on a rock, we decided to remove our shoes and cross the icy cold stream barefoot. The most strenous part of the day was the last 30 minute scramble up the steep mountainside, but the views at the end made it all worth it. We stayed the night at the Hosteria Las Torres, a very fancy hotel, but in the off-season the refugio is closed and the hotel allocates a few rooms at refugio rates (cheaper). Of course, having just completed the final leg of the trek, we enjoyed a few bottles of wine with the Brits and others we met along the way.

The fab four

Ta-da! We did it.

My "I´m-not -terribly-impressed-face." Mike got this one a lot.

Hosteria Las Torres

 

Day 5: The next morning we were able to sleep in a bit and head out of the park, back to Puerto Natales. In the evening we set out as a group of 13 fellow trekkers to celebrate our accomplishment over dinner and drinks. We were so unbelievably lucky with the amazing weather we had throughout the trek. Some people hike the whole trail and don´t see a single thing because of the clouds or rain or windy weather. It was a great experience and something I´ll never forget.

Ate: What can I say…when you are carrying 4 days worth of food on your back…it´s not really blog worthy, but it goes something like this: porridge, cold pizza, ham and cheese sandwiches, pasta….repeat x4.

Quotes:

¨JaJaJaJa.¨ ¨What are you doing?¨ ¨I´m laughing in Spanish.¨ - conversation between Erin and myself

¨If 10,000 Chilean pesos is about $25 CAD….then 10 pesos is like…minus 15 cents!¨ - my amazing math skills at work.

¨That can´t be human!!¨ - Nancy´s horrified response upon returning from the outhouse having just sighted a poo so large that it coiled the outhouse hole.