01.01.-07.01.11

Puerto Natales/NP "Torres des Paine"/Chile

After a 12 hour bus ride from USHUAIA Monica (my friend from Uruguay) and I finally arrived in PUERTO NATALES at 10pm. Thank God we had a reservation for the nearby hostel "Kawaskhar" and after checking in we went straight to bed.

The next day was a beautiful sunny day and straight after breakfast we checked out the tiny town of approx. 19.000 inhabitants. As it was a Sunday most of the shops were closed so we went down to the lake from where we had some beautiful views to the snow-covered mountains.

As Puerto Natales is the "gateway" to the famous National Park "Torres del Paine "it is quite a touristy town where you can find plenty of outdoor shops, cafes and restaurants. On the way back to our hostel we went to the Supermarket to buy "camping food" (mostly pasta and dried fruit) for the planned four day trek through the National Park.

Omar, the owner of the hostel went through all the details of the most common trek, the "W-Trek" with us and recommended to start anti-clockwise. So we hired two sleeping mats, the cooking gear, a gas stove and rain trousers of him and started packing. Both of us decided not to carry a tent around as it was possible to rent them at the different campsites in the Park……unfortunately quite expensive!

After repacking my backpack several times I finally ended up with Puh….I have never hiked with that much stuff on my back and I wasn't sure if my back would cope with it! Monica carried all the food supplies and decided also to rent her sleeping back in the Park.

On Monday, 03.01.11 we were picked up by the bus at 7.30 am. The bus ride took 2 hours to the park. At the "Lago Pehoe" we took the catamaran at 12 pm and after a beautiful 30 Minute boat trip we arrived at the "Refugio Paine Grande".

We dropped of our heavy backs in our rented tents, had some lunch and finally started hiking at 1.30 pm. The trek was quite easy and mostly along the beautiful "Lago Grey". We were quite surprised when we saw the first big blocks of ice floating on the water!

As we were quite hungry we had a soup at the "Refugio Grey" and started returning to our camp at 6.30pm. Both of us were very tired when we arrived at the "Refugio Paine Grande" and went straight to sleep.

On Tuesday, 07.01.11 we got up at 6.30am and after a good breakfast with a healthy porridge we started hiking at around 8am. It was a quite easy 2.5 hour walk to the but as no one of us was used to the heavy backs we were delighted when we arrived at the camp. Monica decided not to hike up through the "Valle del Frances" and went straight on to the next "Refugio Los Cuernos" where we wanted to stay for the night.

I joined a group of young Israelis and hiked up the steep and very rocky valley to the "mirrador" from where you had a fantastic view to the "Galciar del Frances" and down to the huge lake "Lago Nordenskjoeld".We even saw a huuuggge avalanche which was absolutely amazing and I even managed to video a bit of it.

When I came back from the "Valle del Frances" I picked up my big pack back and continued hiking to the "Refugio Los Cuernos". The view on the turquoise lake was so incredible that I stopped every 15 Minutes to take a photo. I also bumped into a group of 12 Germans who did the hike with a tour guide. After 7.5 hours of walking I arrived quite tired at the camp where Monica was waiting for me. Later on I enjoyed a well-deserved but very expensive beer with a Canadian girl and we joined the German group.

The third day (05.01.11) we left the camp before 8am. It was a beautiful, warm day with no wind. The 4.5 hour trek was along the "Lago Nordenskjoeld" and we kept meeting the German group on our tough hike. The trek went up from 200 meters to 1.250 meters and at the end I was nearly giving up as my shoulders and back were very sore from my heavy backpack.

At around 1pm we arrived at the "Refugio and Campground Chileno". On our little cooking stove we cooked some 2 Minute noodles again had a little rest of 15 Minutes, left our stuff in the hired tent and hiked up toour final destination the famous "Torres del Paine". The first hour was through a shady forest but the last hour to the "mirrador" was incredible steep, rocky and windy. Puhhh…..I would have never made it with any luggage!

Even though the climb was very tough we definitely got rewarded for it on the top. What an absolutely amazing view across to the "three torres" and at the foot of the torres a beautiful turquoise simmering lake. Unfortunately the sun disappeared quite quickly so we only got a few good shots with a bit of blue sky in the background. As the hike was so tough Monica and I decided NOT to hike up at 4am the next day for the sunrise photos. So I shared a bottle of wine with the German group in the cosy and warm "refugio" before we went into our tents.

On the last day (06.01.11) we only had to hike back to the "Hotel Los Torres" (2 hours) from where we took the shuttle bus back to Puerto Natales. At the hotel we enjoyed a well-deserved and expensive "pisco sour" and coffee and said "Good Bye" to the German group.

Even though that it was a very tough four day trek with my 16 kilo backpack but it was absolutely worth it and definitely the highlight in Chile so far. Just check out the photos in my album "NP Torres des Paine" and you will understand why!