January 20 - Start of Torres del Paine

Well, you know the answer - I made it back.  It's late on the 26th now, but I 'll try to do this in sequence as I went through the park.  

First photo - Hotel Las Torres, at the start of the hike.  For the record - I did not stay in a hotel during this hike.

This is just after the start.  We walk across the main valley a bit, turn left and head uphill.  I
m, going past Refugio Chileno to Campamento Torres.  "Refugios" have camping, dorm rooms, hotel rooms, some food you can buy and a restaurant.  If you planned it properly you could hike this park with nothing but a credit card.

Note the line of people in the photo.  There were at least 4 full sized buses dumped off when I arrived (by bus, of course).

 Partway up to Chileno.  Good view across the valley.  There are no mountains on the other side.

    I'm at Chileno now, and got the answer to one of my questions - how would they get food and supplies here?  The answer - pack horses.  They are just starting back down now.  These must be very sure footed animals.  There were 3 riders (drovers?) each with 3 horses.

I didn't get a picture of the buildings - rustic.

 First glacier shot - there will be more!

The mountains above Chileno, on my right as I climb up the trail.

 Bruce, this one is for you.  Check out the hard ridge that hasn't eroded away.  

I've made it to Campamento Torres and set up the tent (white one in front).  There are little tent sites all through the trees.  Water is straight off the glacier and good to drink (watch out for the odd idiot who goes upstream to wash his dishes!).  There is a big shed to cook in - bring your own stove and food.  No cooking anywhere else.  The sites are very hard dirt.

I'll talk more about the hiking rules later.


The whole point of coming to C. Torres is to drag your (cold, sore) butt out of bed at 4 ayem the next morning, climb a 1000 feet further up and view the sunrise.  So, I did.  It was cold, cloudy but worth it in a self abuse sort of way.  Oh yeah, it snowed a bit.

Here's my best shot of the Torres (Towers) of Paine.  As you can see the clouds were about - you pays your money and you takes your chances.

This is one of my best shots of the trip.  The mountains to the right of the towers change colour for a few minutes just as the sunrise hits them.  They are grey otherwise.

Too bad for the people who had made the trek up here and left 15 minutes ago because they were cold.  

Since I got up at 0400, it's obviously January 21.  I'll continue in another post.

Here's a map so you can follow my track.  

I started at the bright green "X" midway up the picture and about 1/4 in from the right side.  Then follow that brown line up, past 'Refugio y Cp. Chileno' to Campamento Torres where I camped.  Then climb to the end of that trail.  The red symbol means its a viewpoint.  That's where I took the last two photos.



Back down to camp for some breakfast, pack up and head out.

(In reality I have to cut off this post, go get my laundry and have some dinner.  See you later.)