W Trek: Part One

Preparation – Puerto Natales

4.15am. The time our flight to Punta Arenas departs Santiago airport. From there we take a 2h bus to our two night stopover in Puerto Natales. It’s a nice little town with some Alpine flavours. We spend our time here stocking up on food and equipment for the trek ahead. Alex rents a warm jacket fearing the cold of Patagonia as well as buying waterproof trousers. We both acquire a new walking pole each. In our downtime we enjoy our first hot baths of the trip, eat at some nice restaurants and go for our first run in a while, along the stunning lake-front with the snow-capped mountains looking on.

From San Pedro to here, we’re at opposite ends of the country, in opposite climates. San Pedro, a town plonked in the sand, overlooked by dry, brown volcanoes. Puerto Natales plonked in the green, overlooked by snow-capped mountains. Both based largely around tourism, with bungalows blocked out in grid systems, with stray dogs basking in the sun/wind.

Day One – Good things come to those who wait

5.40am. The alarm bell rings, it never gets any easier waking up at this time of day. We need to be quick though as in the next hour we need to finish packing, eat breakfast, store our luggage, check-out and get to the bus stop 20 minutes walk away. We hop to it and inhale a hearty breakfast, kindly put on by the hostel one hour earlier than stated to cater to tourists doing the same as we are. We scramble our final bits together, brush our teeth and we’re out by 6:25. In our haste and panic we make it to the bus stop within 12 minutes, our bus arrives just after we do. The next couple of hours are spent gazing out of the window at lovely views of lakes and snowy mountains, occasionally nodding off into a doze to top up sleep reserves along the way.

Around 9, we arrive at the check-in center where we casually scan a QR code and are officially allowed into the park. There is an amusing sign indicating what to do should we cross paths with a puma, we need to make ourselves big, make lots of noise and if that doesn’t work, hit it in the face! The only advice for meeting a mountain lion is to ‘stay calm’, I assume this is the best etiquette to meet your maker. A short shuttle bus later and we’re at the welcome center, finally ready to begin our hike. A lot of people have arrived at the same time, heading in the same direction up the East side of the ‘W trek’ to see the Torres.

At first the trail is busy, with hikers walking in both directions along the path. But we get used to it and settle into our groove of walking between the groups, some with tour guides, most self-guided like us. The trail is a fair challenge with difficult footing and some steep inclines. To make it more of a challenge, Alex and I have put on too many layers for the day’s conditions, this combined with heavy day bags means we’re soon sweating and shedding layers within the first half hour. The morning part of the trek is a 6.8km hike to the first refugio we’ll be staying at, Chileno. It takes us around 2 hours to get there and we’re relieved to be able to leave one of our bags here and shed some weight. Although it’s only just gone 11am we take the opportunity to have an early lunch, reducing some more weight and giving us some energy for the next section. We’ve brought our own supplies for this lunch and make some questionable tuna and cheese wraps with a side of crisps and trail mix. It does the job.

This afternoon we’ll climb up for 2h to the base of the Torres themselves, the first hour in a dense forest and for the second, we’ll be exposed to the elements scaling a steep rocky path.

As we set off, the sky fills in a dense grey colour. There are a few spots of rain but the incredibly packed forest provides good shelter and we barely feel a drop. A few more hikers race past us and we wonder why they are rushing to the top. We talk about how close we’re getting to Christmas and discuss our favourite Xmas songs and movies that would get us in the mood.

Emerging from the forest we see signs advising it is a 1.5h round trip to the Torres and back here, with the caveat of ‘DIFFICULT CLIMB’. Unphased, we march on and begin the ascent. The way up follows a cold mountain stream, occasionally crossing above or through the water. A great opportunity to use nature’s tap, we fill our water bottles with the refreshing stream water. There are packs of people descending as we try to find a suitable path up through the boulders. Hikers climbing up should have right of way but it’s a bit of a free-for-all. In an unexpected twist, after a particularly steep section is a crunchy patch of snow we have to pass through. It has been well trodden but it was still fun to traverse a section of the white stuff.

It seems we are nearing the top but visibility is poor by this point and we can barely make out the shape of the Torres through the clouds. Surprised to see the vast lake in front of the Torres mostly frozen over, we consider our options. Alex is disappointed by the weather, ruining one of the most picturesque views we’ll see in our five day excursion. We set up camp under the shelter of a large rock shelf and consume a few sugary snacks as a reward. Alex suggests the weather should clear up in around 90 minutes but I’m reluctant to wait in the wind and the rain for that long, worried we’ll catch a cold. We wait for half an hour and if anything the weather has got worse, we can’t see the Torres at all through the thick cloud that isn’t going anywhere. We decide to call it and take whatever photos we can. There is an option to return here in the morning when we hope the weather will be better.

They’re there somewhere I promise..

After a few photoshoots and helping other tourists with their shots, we admit defeat and begin the climb back down.

Around five minutes later, we pause to let some hikers pass and look back towards the Torres. The clouds are starting to disperse and the silhouettes of the Torres have returned. There is hope! Another hiker we’d spoken to earlier has the same thought as we do… maybe we can wait a bit longer. Waiting now means we won’t have to repeat this four hour round trip in the early morning, it’s worth a try. We wait in a more sheltered spot and stare up at the sky. Soon enough a big break appears and we can clearly see a patch of blue. We distract ourselves with games of noughts and crosses in the sand, convinced if we don’t look at them, the Torres will come out to play. After 3 games ending in stalemate, they do. We turn around and hike back up, keen to get a picture of them before the clouds roll back in.

Another round of photoshoots and we think we’ve done ok. As we agree we’ve done as well as we can do, we start to head back. A final look at the Torres on the way out… They’ve cleared up more , looking better than ever… back we go again. This time we make sure to simply sit and admire the majesty of these three towering and imposing rock formations. The weather is as warm and clear as it has been all day and we sit basking on the rocks, admiring pachamama’s glory. By this point we’ve been up here around three hours, we are some of the last people up here and admit it is finally time to leave for good.

As an added bonus of waiting so long at the top, the path back down is very quiet. We almost have it to ourselves, barely seeing a soul. The route up is now closed but the occasional cheeky tourist is sneaking up anyway, wanting to see the Torres now the skies have cleared. On the way down we play one of the games we’ve invented for passing the time on treks. One of us says lyrics to a song without any tune or rhythm, line by line, until the other person guesses it. Simply said aloud, song lyrics are hard to recognize and it’s an easy way to while away time, distracting us from our trek. The hike down takes longer than we think and we’re relieved to finally see the refugio, groups of tourists sit outside enjoying schop (beers) in the evening sun.

We check-in and Alex goes to inspect our accommodation for the evening. An empty tent. No sleeping bags, roll matts or pillows. After some slight bemusement that we’ve paid $120 each for just a tent for one night (!), we cave in and hire two sleeping bags for a further $24. With that sorted we buy a couple of schops and converse with a nice guy from San Francisco called Jordan while we kill time waiting for dinner. He and another O-trekker discuss the woes of the full cooking and self-camping experience, something we’re grateful to avoid even after one day of our light packs.

By dinner time, the air temperature has dropped and the sun has gone behind the peaks, shivering slightly we waddle inside and sit down for dinner. We sit with a couple of Brits and two chaps from Dallas who have been in Chile to watch their relative compete in the Panamerican games. We eat a basic but satisfying three course meal and we’re ready for bed. It’s freezing as we jog back to our tent and we get tucked into our sleeping bags as quickly as possible. Time to bunker down before doing it all again tomorrow!

Day Two – Rocky Road

7.00am. Our allocated breakfast time. We’ve warmed up overnight in the thick sleeping bags and we brave the cold light of morning to head into the main building. The fog has cleared and there’s a spectacular view of two of the towers from the Chileno grounds.

The breakfast hall is already swarming with people just after 7, some of whom have been up since 4am to see the sunrise hit the Torres around 6am and have already made it back down here, impressive. Breakfast is a bit chaotic and as we’re two of the last people at this sitting, we’re sat right by the door. Every few seconds someone is coming in or out, letting a freezing draft into the building each time. The food offering is modest to say the least, especially considering what we’ve paid but it does the job and a giant mug of coffee brings me out of my morning haze. We grab our packed lunches from reception and we’re on our way.

Today we’ll head West, along an 13km stretch just above the lake where we’ll stop for lunch at Refugio Cuernos. From there we’ll trek a further 2.5km (or 3.2km depending on which map you read) to our campsite for the night at Camp Frances. The first 30 minutes are retracing our steps back down the path we walked up yesterday but just as it gets busy we branch off onto a new pathway. Luckily, for the first hour we have the trail to ourselves. We take in the sights and our spirits are high, the weather is cool and calm, perfect conditions.

As we were warned by a fellow hiker, at parts the terrain turns boggy and marsh-like. We have good waterproof footwear though and our hiking poles help us navigate the soggy ground as we hop, skip and jump from boggy lump to grassy knoll. A few challenging sections later we reach a stunning viewpoint over-looking the turquoise lake. By this point the lake is sprawling way into the distance and makes for a fantastic view. Alex is in awe, realising this is the part of the W she missed many years ago.

We take the chance for a sit down and take our heavy day bags off. With the added packed lunches we’re carrying a lot of food. We make a dent in it, eating handfuls of trail mix and drinking water to reduce the load. A few groups have caught us up, including the two guys from Dallas, we wish them luck and carry on with our journey.

Along the pathway we take note of the array of spring colours around us. There are yellow, orange and light brown plants, green shrubs with pink berries growing on them, tall mushrooms, and our favourite, an unusual red spore growing from the bushes. To our right are two huge jagged grey peaks, for a time we can see between them. There sits an enormous chunk of shiny blue ice supporting a massive amount of white snow above.

The following couple of hours are spent walking through streams, dense mud, gravel and rocks that often come loose and slide underfoot. We cross an impressive looking bridge and wonder how much further we have to go.

Another hour passes and we can just about spot the domes of Camp Frances in the far distance. Curious as to why we can’t see any sign of our lunch spot we carry on. We encourage each other as our energy levels peak and dip at opposite times. When one of us is flagging, the other takes the lead and drives us forward. An unusual sound rumbles in the distance, it sounds like a plane or boat engine but there are few vehicles here and we haven’t seen either of these since we set off.

Despairingly, every time we reach a corner or vantage point, the path just seems to go on and on… Sometimes steeply uphill. I’m really flagging by this point and my day pack is causing my shoulder muscles to burn, plus we’re both desperate for the loo! There’s no option but to push through. Mercifully, after around five hours of a gruelling walk Alex turns and points at something nearby. I can tell from the look of relief on her face that it’s the Refugio we’ll stop at for lunch! We find a spot outside in the warming sun and have a stunning view for lunch. Baulking at paying £4 for a can of coke we sit down at see what we’ve got for lunch.

Amusingly the packed lunch is a dense cheeseburger! Alex has heroically brought some ketchup on the journey and this is the perfect time to use it. The unusual sound rumbles again but this time we can see what is making it. In the distance chunks of snow are tumbling down the Frances glacier causing an avalanche!

A wooden signpost points the way to Frances, 2.5km it says. Refuelled on burgers, crisps, nuts, chocolate and water we’re ready to go again. The afternoon hike is much shorter and despite the occasional staircase made of boulders, it isn’t too challenging. The weather has changed drastically and the wind whips up something fierce, at times it almost blows us off our feet!

For a break, we walk along a pebble beach on the edge of the lake and Alex dips her hand into the water.

The wind is battering the water and forming white horses, making it look like a tide is coming from somewhere. The colours are breathtaking.

Curiously we’ve actually walked closer to 3.7km but after around 90 minutes we arrive at our final destination for the day, Camp Frances. We check-in and after some confusion about our booking details (again) we’re assigned another elevated tent with sleeping bags and pillows. We relax before dinner watching Netflix in our tent, we need to have subtitles on as the wind is battering the tent and it’s hard to hear anything else.

I have a short nap and we head to dinner just after 7pm. In the dinner hall, we spot the familiar faces of the guys from Dallas, bizarrely they’ve had to trek here from Cuernos as they were told it was full and the only rooms available are here! We take our seats and chat to a man from Hong Kong. Not long later, a couple that Alex was speaking to at breakfast join us, Brian and Sophia. Brian reveals he has been competing in karate at the Panamerican games and has won gold medals in previous competitions. I’m glad I refrained from telling him to keep his elbows in and give me some room during our breakfast!

Dinner is pumpkin and ginger soup, beef joint with palenta and vegetables followed by a coffee based desert. After dinner Alex tries the campsite showers she’s heard rave reviews about. Sure enough she returns to the tent waxing about the ‘amazing’ showers and encourages me to take one. Reluctantly I leave the shelter of the tent and admittedly it was worth it, especially after such a long and tiring day. On my way back to the tent I notice the giant fluffy clouds have changed colour. The sun is setting somewhere out of sight and it’s turning the marshmellow-like clouds a nice orangey pink hue. I beckon Alex to come and join me and we admire the colours switch to a pinkish purple and finally back to a bluey grey. We turn in around 10pm after a tough but brilliant day.

To be continued…