So I'm here in a little town in Argentina and it's pissing rain. I know right!? So it's a perfect time for just a tiny little blog about a big walk. It's The Torres Del Paine National Park and it's the famous "W Trek."
So I hear you saying "This is all very well Ben but what the hell are you talking about?" Well, I'll tell you. So the Torres Del Paine National Park is a very famous park right in the south of Chile which gets 200,000 visitors a year, most of them to hike the famous W Trek. This is a 75km hike which you've probably guessed is in the shape of a W on the map, cos you're smart like that..
Now a lot of people like to do things in half measures and stay in the various hostels along the trek, some even allow themselves the luxury of purchasing the food provided at these locations. Some, maybe not so fancy, will rent the tents that are already erected at these locations. Others (aka us) decide to be hardcore champions of the forest and carry our own tents, sleeping equipment, food and cooking equipment on our backs while we hike said W Trek weighing over 10kg.. Other folks like to say we'll do the trek in 4 days to make it easier on ourselves, not us, we're 3 day type of people.. and that's what we did.. Raaaagghh (that was me doing a manly noise)
Anyway, take a look at the map below and you'll get an idea of what I'm shite-ing on about..
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| 75km of pure pain... |
Day 1: Hotel Las Torres to Campamento Los Cuernos via Base de Las Torres, 30km, 12 Hours
The First day was a real Bruiser. We set off at 8.30 in the morning with our packs and immediately hit hills. The first 2 hours of the trek seemed vertical. It was a real shock to the system having been sitting on our arses on the truck for the last 3 weeks.. We managed to make it to Campamento Torres in about 3 hours which was an hour longer than what was on the map. We had serious trouble with Sam's backpack, the frame kept sticking out the top and was making her unbalanced. We got to the campsite and were able to drop our bags there whilst we went to the peak. I was sitting there thinking shit this is hard. After a quick rest we went up to Base de las Torres to see the towers. This was a very steep ascent but much much easier without our backpacks. But man, what a view. I sat and ate my sandwiches looking at this and was like "Yeah!! You can do it!" Eye of the Tiger played in the background and went back down the mountain. We picked our packs up from the campsite and then began the trek across country to where we were staying for the night. Luckily this journey didn't include too many hills and climbs but man it was long. It was one of those walks where you're like "Ah it'll just be around this corner" And then you come to a sign which says you've another 4.5km to go and you feel like crying. Anyway, spoiler alert, we made it to the campsite just after dark and set up camp on some rocks as we were the last to arrive and all the good spots had gone. Luckily they had a nice warm place to cook. We went to bed very tired little Hobbits. Some of the other guys in the group got mice in their tents that night, they chewed through the tent and were trying to get to the food. We were lucky they stayed away..
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| The view from the top |
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| If this picture had sond it would be X rated |
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| Me in no pain at all whatsoever |
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| The valley |
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| Just before it got dark |
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| Day One feeling good |
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| Carried this on my back! |
As we'd pushed on the day before we could have a slightly less stressful day on Day 2. We dragged our packs the 2.5 hours to Campamento Italiano. By this stage Sam's legs had seized up so she could barely bend them, the day before was still hurting us.. We set up camp here early so we didn't have to do it later that night and made our way up the the Britanico look out. This was a great walk, not too steep and no pack to drag you down. There was a look out in the Valle de Frances about half way up which was a great place to sit and watch Avalanches. On the way up we kept hearing these crashing noises and we were like "Shit! Thunder!" But when we got here we realised it was the noise of the Avalanches. Very cool to sit and watch them as they happened. I then went on up to the Britanico look out for some smashing views of the mountains. The worst part for me is the way back down it seems to go on for ages and you're not seeing anything new. Anyway, we got back to camp much earlier today and managed to cook our Tuna and Rice noodles in the light before hitting the hay at 9pm and sleeping like a baby.
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| Avalanches |
Day 3: Campamento Italiano to Campamento Paine Grande via Grey Glacier, 30something Km, 10 Hours
Big day today. We were up before dawn and set off early as we had a lot of K's to cover. We had quite a leisurely walk to the next campsite. By now, with it being the last day the adrenaline was kicking in and I was feeling good. We made good time to the next camp and set up the tent and Sam could barely move her legs (Notice we were at camp "Paine Grande.." Well the pain at this stage defintely was grande (Look up what Grande means in Spanish if you didn't get that)). I then raced off to see the Glacier. This was a 7 hour round trip but again was a fantastic walk with a few hills but no major climbs. About an hour and a half in you get a great view of lake Grey and the glacier in the distance and then if you want to go right up to the edge and complete the track there's a little sign saying it's another 6km on top of the 4.5km from the last camp and you're like "Shit, I've still got 16.5km to do today!" And there's a serious temptation to turn around and say you did it.. But again the adrenaline kicked in and I powered on and the views are definitely worth it.
I got back to the camp and was a bit disappointed there wasn't a band and fanfare there to greet me with banners saying "Well done Ben, you're our hero" written on them but that's life I suppose. I did consider making my own banners and paying some people to cheer me in but seemed like a lot of hassle. But man, nothing can beat that sense of achievement at having done it and the amazing views you see along the way. It was great that everyone on the trip did it too so we had that shared experience and could compare war wounds. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, just, maybe bring a sherpa..
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| The View halfway |
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| They like to fuck with your head... |
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| The view at the end!! |
Next week, on Ben's Blog: Northbound! We make our way north back towards the sun but not before we take in more Argentina and lots of Chile.
Chao for now, Ben.
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