Torres del Paine

From Puerto Natales I spent 4 days hiking the W trail in Torres del Paine National Park. After taking a bus and a catamaran I arrived at the first campsite late in the afternoon so just spent the evening there and started walking the next day. The campsite was quite civilised with toilets and showers and you could even get a beer. The backdrop to the campsite was superb with huge mountains and the lake. The mountains are two tone; pale granite up to a certain point and then topped off with dark rock.

The next day I started walking by about 8am to get away before it got too busy, as at this time of the year the park is packed. The hike went up through a valley to a viewpoint looking over the end of Glacier Grey. The glacier ends in a lake which had a lot of icebergs in it from chunks of ice falling off the end of the glacier. While I was sat at the viewpoint another chunk of ice fell off with a huge crash that echoed round the valley.After about 3 1/2 hours we reached the Refugio Grey and climbed to the top of a rocky outcrop for views of the glacier. Went back to the campsite where I spent another night before moving on the next day.

On Sunday the main part of the walk was along the Valle Frances. It was another good walk along rocky ridges, through woods, with views of the mountians and glaciers all the way along. At the head of the valley you could see the back of the Torres and lots of the other mountains. From the Valle Frances I continued walking to the next campsite at Los Cuernos, another nice site under the mountains beside a lake-

The next day I set off for the campsite below the Torres. After walking along the side of a lake, the track went up and over into the next valley. After putting up the tent it was a 40 minute scramble over bolders to the viewpoint at the base of the Torres. The view was amazing, huge towers of granite above a lake and glacier.

The final day I got up at 4am to climb up to the Torres again, in time for sunrise. I was one of the first people to get to the top and it was still dark but it was stunning sitting there in the silence with the moon and the stars and a red glow of the sun starting to rise in the distance. Sat there for a couple of hours watching the light change as the sun came up, then went back down to the campsite for beakfast and to finish the walk. It was only a couple of hours walk down to the bus stop to get the bus nack to Puerto Natales. Then we made our way down to the end of the trail where we waited for the bus back to the park entrance and our bus to Puerto Natales.
Spent a couple of nights in Puerto Natales before moving further south to Punta Arenas for a few days-