The 'O' Trek - Torres del Paine NP
Updated: Apr 7, 2022
(Scroll to the end of the post for a tl;dr of the trek.)
We departed the border crossing deeply relieved that we had it made it back into Chile. We had decided to drive all the way over to Puerto Natales today so we could visit Torres del Paine National Park in the morning. We were a little worried about our tickets for the 8 day trek ($98) because I had changed the entry date on them to tomorrow instead of in three days when we'd officially start the trek, thinking we could use the same ticket to enter twice. I was concerned about the ticket being invalidated for three days from now if we used it today so we bought another single day ticket for tomorrow (another $70) instead. Our reasoning was we wanted to see the park and the famed massif from a different view than what we'd see on the trail.
We had discussed visiting Tierra del Fuego but we decided with the time we had left it'd be too rushed to enjoy. We drove the four hours to Natales and when we pulled in to town we looked for someplace to camp.
We found a campground on ioverlander but when we got there the sign said 'campground full'. I went inside to investigate and the guy told me that someone probably wasn't coming so there was indeed space!
We pulled in and parked in the designated area and made dinner while the sun set, scarfing it down so we could go to sleep early for tomorrow. I wanted to watch the sun rise over the massif but unfortunately the park did not open until 8. I surmised that we might be able to see something from the road though, so we endeavored to wake up early and drive up.
The next morning we headed north along an intermittently paved and ripio road to the Mirador Condor trailhead. With our single morning available to sightsee we picked the highest impact trail we could find.
As we approached the park entrance we got our first views, just as the sun was rising.
And then pretty quickly we were in the lake country that surrounded the massif, replete with more stunning overlooks.
What a unique range! Just like at Fitz Roy, a huge variety of colors, textures, and types of rock in a very small area. Despite now being in Chile, Torres del Paine is only 120 miles away from El Chalten and Mount Fitz Roy.
Finally we made it to the ranger station where we had to show our ticket.
We entered the park and drove along the dirt road, missed a turn, turned around in the middle of the road, and had an exchange with a Chileno tour driver who shook his fist angrily at us. I shook my fist back and I'm pretty sure he almost started laughing at the absurdity of my expression.
We passed a campground that I had hoped to stay at, but was simply too far of a drive from the border crossing. Across from the campground was the trailhead.
It was a quick and steep hike, with very slippery gravel near the top. We arrived at the summit and looked out to the view, with Lago Pehoé in the foreground. It was extremely windy at the top. I struggled to stand in one place while holding the camera still, even at 1/1000th of a second shutter speed. Vitali stood next to me to create a wind shadow and I managed to take some photographs.
Cerro Paine Grande on the left, and Monte Almirante Nieto on the right. Torres del Paine means towers of blue (paine in the indigenous Tehuelche).
The most notable formation from this view is of Los Cuernos, the horns. These black tipped granite mountains are capped with metamorphic rock! An ancient volcanic eruption filled the area underground with magma (but did not break the surface). Over the millennia the surface dirt eroded, leaving the plutonic rock exposed, and the Paine Grande massif we see today.
We couldn't enjoy the view for long because of the wind and headed back down.
We drove a few kilometers north to see one more thing -- the Salto Grande. We passed an interesting sign regarding the wind. Being on the leeward side of the mountains, this area is basically the same geography as in Argentina -- complete with unbelievable winds.
The waterfall was decent.
We went and checked out a trail marker to see if we could continue to a mirador of Los Cuernos but it was an additional 5km each way, and we had other things we had to do today.
And so we headed back to Natales -- but not before being stopped by the carabineros at the park entrance who crowded around our car and threateningly asked for our licenses! We handed them over and they seemed disappointed but let us leave.
When we got back to town we decided to treat ourselves and order some real food at a restaurant (we had guanaco -- delicious -- and lamb -- extremely gamey). Neither dish looked like what we had ordered (they messed up our order) and at first we thought the lamb was the guanaco! We both commented on the lamb -- "this smells like camel, tastes like camel." And then we looked at the menu again and realized it was lamb. 😂
The guanaco had a very mild flavor, with a texture similar to pork. The lamb was the entrecôte cut (basically the spine with a few inches on either side). After eating we wandered around looking for souvenirs, trekking food, and getting our laundry done. We managed to buy everything we needed with one major exception -- 50% of our calories for the trek would come from packaged nuts, and the only brand that was fully gluten-free was mysteriously missing from the market shelves.
Once our laundry was ready we headed back towards Punta Arenas, where we would return Tiny the next morning. It was about a two hour drive and we had found a free campground to spend the night at just north of town.
There were two groups at the campground -- some high school kids having a party and what looked like a drunken family reunion.
We transformed Tiny for the last time and went to sleep.
In the morning we were all alone in the campground. We drove in to town and to Lider to try and find the missing nuts. Fortunately, they had them in stock and we bought 15 bags.
After that we headed to the address we were given for drop off. Even though we had started cleaning the car we decided to just pay the $35 fee to save any headache of inadequate cleaning. We waited for the guy to show up and when he did we dropped Tiny off and said goodbye! I was a little sad.
We got an uber (after three drivers cancelling on us, probably because we were outside of town...) to the bus station where we had a ticket to get back to Puerto Natales. We waited inside the bus station until about 5 minutes before departure and still there was no bus! So I looked closely at the ticket and saw that the departure was Punta Arenas Bus Terminal (where we were) - Buses Fernandes (?). Hmm... I looked at google maps and fortunately there was a listing a 2 minute walk away. We power walked over and found our bus and jumped on! Phew! The bus had wi-fi which was nice.
We passed by the town sign and a statue of the extinct giant sloth, which inhabited the area. On the other side of the giant sloth was a hand sculpture, matching the hand of the desert. This one was sunk into the ground up to the fingers. We thought it was fitting.
We arrived at the Natales bus station and walked 10 minutes to our hostel, Puma House, a very cute accommodation with two private rooms and two dorms. We talked to some people in the kitchen as we made dinner and then burned hot dogs so bad it filled the house with smoke....
More importantly -- we had to pack our bags for our upcoming journey. We separated out all of the things we would not need and put it into a spare duffel I had brought with us just for the occasion. The hostel had free luggage storage so we wanted to take advantage.
What journey would this be you might ask? The O Trek. This was to be our first long distance backpacking trip. 7 nights, 8 days, 130km (80 miles), ~20,000' of gain. We had booked the campsites (run by three different companies) back in November. It was a huge hassle to coordinate, as the campsites are mixed up between companies non-consecutively. You can also pay the hotel there for a complete package -- starting at $2,000 per person! No thanks.
It was our final hurrah in South America. Below, the O trek in green, and the W trek outlined in beige. You can see the shape of the 'W', which can be started at Grey or the Welcome Center. The O trek can only be completed counterclockwise from the Welcome Center. The camps we stayed at have orange symbols. There is no cell reception anywhere along the trek!
I had read a guide on a blog that deemed themselves the experts on all things outdoors and had it saved for offline use. The blog matched the official mileages so I assumed that it must be accurate. The blog nor the official source had elevation gain though, only estimated time -- This was a huge oversight and I had to look at a different blog to ascertain daily gain. It should have tipped me off then that mileage and gain was contentious and all of the numbers I was seeing should have been taken with a huge grain of salt.
Th elevation graph below was found on a sign on the last day of the trek. This was also the only source that had both the correct mileage and gain. Thanks Conaf!
Our packing list:
Alps Mountaineering 2 person tent, with footprint
Klymit insulated static V sleeping pads (x2)
Nemo 15 degree down bag
Marmot 0 degree down bag
Sea to Summit silk traveller liner (x2)
Osprey 55 liter packs (x2) -- note, these are actually only 52 liters each
16 oz fuel
4 oz fuel*
pot with pot scraper, a fork, spork, and spatula*
backpacking stove
silicone 3.4 oz soap container
Sawyer Squeeze water filter*
3L bladders (x2)
first aid kid
toothbrush (x2) and toothpaste
face cream
bottle of medicine
glasses, contact case, contact solution
camera, harness, and ND filter*
extra camera battery and charger*
cell phones and charging cables (x2)
power bank
gloves (x2)
buff (x2
*Starred items are items we ended up not using!
For clothes, I packed:
one pants, t-shirt, and socks for hiking (yes, for 8 days!)
one leggings, t-shirt, and socks for sleeping
long sleeve t-shirt
fleece
waterproof jacket
underwear (x5)
flip flops
Vitali packed:
one pants, t-shirt, and socks for hiking
one leggings, thermal long sleeve, and socks for sleeping
extra t-shirts (x2)
fleece
waterproof jacket
underwear (x1)
I would carry the sleeping bags, sleeping pads, liners, water filter, small fuel, and tent. In addition, I also carried my camera and harness, and trekking poles. My outfit (including my boots) weighed 26 lbs. Vitali would carry everything else, including 27 lbs of food, for a total of 50 lbs! In addition, we averaged 6 lbs of water each. Supposedly most of the water along the trek was drinkable without filtering but we didn't want to take any chances and brought a filter. Turns out we didn't even need the filter because there was water at every camp. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This is what 27 pounds of food looks like, 50,000 calories. We know our energy expenditure pretty exactly after hiking all the time for most of the last year. We calculated 4,000 calories per day for Vitali, and 3,000 for me. We knew it'd likely be a little higher with the additional weight we were carrying but we also know at what point we'd hit the glycogen wall. It was a fine line.
With my limited diet we had brought a bunch of dehydrated meals from the US and bought the few calorie dense things that were safe for me in Chile -- rice, nuts, m&ms, and peanut butter.
Our packs packed, last supper consumed, and our bodies coiled in anticipation... we went to sleep. We had a 6:40am bus to catch the next morning into the park.
We left the hostel in the dark and carried our heavy packs the half mile to the bus station and waited, along with a throng of other hikers. We were surprised to see that some of them were day-hikers, devoid of heavy packs, light as a feather... But about half of them had big packs, most of them much larger than ours. As we saw in El Chalten -- the Chilenos and Argentinos sure don't mind carrying extra weight for comfort!
We told our loved ones they may not hear from us for a week and put our phones into airplane mode. This bus did not have wi-fi so we sat and eagerly awaited our arrival, the unknown clouding our future. We did know however, that we were sitting next to someone likely with covid -- some girl with a dry hacking cough that would bark out every few minutes. We were pretty mad that this person felt they had to be on this bus and designated her 'covid bitch'.
Eventually we made it to the entrance to the park where everyone unloaded, showed their QR codes to the park ranger, and then paid another 6000 pesos to ride the hotel shuttle that picks up hikers from the entrance to the welcome center. 15 minutes later we were second in line to sign the register and start our walk. But first, coffee! (Even though we thought we'd then have to carry the cup for 80 miles, Vitali could not resist.)
Coffee in hand we departed -- following the crowd -- seeing someone execute a spectacular 15 second long stumble, trip, trip, trip, (for sure we thought he would impale himself on a trekking pole) and recovery -- but then seeing a sign pointing to the Central campsite... hmmm... we walked back to the visitor center to ask which way was Serón.
Day 1 - Central to Serón
Straight and to the right the lady told me -- and away we went, peeling off from the crowd, and continuing past some park offices towards the trail. Compared to the mob headed towards Central, we were totally alone.
Today was meant to be an easy day -- the guide I read said '8 miles, mostly flat'. Both comments would turn out to be incorrect.
We quickly caught up with a group of 4 that were already struggling... passed them, and continued out into the great unknown! Up and down rolling hills, through forests and along grassy knolls.
Things were going great! We were walking, the weight on our backs was manageable, and the sun was shining.
But after about 4 miles... reality began to set in. My shoulders started to ache, and before long -- were absolutely killing me -- and my left arm was also intermittently going numb. I gave the tent to Vitali and that helped some.
This was not a good portent to the rest of the week. Sweat began to bead on our brows and what we were thinking was understood between us without speaking -- the huge echoing warning of "WTF are we doing?"
We continued along the river for a ways and descended into the valley, and then it began to rain.
Spirits were low. We had to stop and rest. Exceedingly slowly the miles ticked down. Once in awhile we'd see a sign saying mileage -- 9km?? 5km?? 1km!!!
We followed a road for a ways and the clouds started to break up, just as we arrived at camp. We had probably never been so relieved to get to our destination.
We took off our shoes (no shoes allowed inside!) and signed in at the register, and plugged our cell phones into the wall. We went and set up our tent in the field for campers and got our first look at the domos and permanent tents that apparently many people rent. You can pay for just the tent, the tent and sleeping bags, even up to two meals a day! The obvious advantage is that you save carrying weight. But I do not do things by half measures! Besides that, we were saving money by carrying our own stuff. I think just the tent is $120/night here. Who knows how much the domo was. We paid a whopping $42 for the campsite.
The campsite unexpectedly had trash cans (the guide we read said you had to pack out all your trash, the first sign their info was amiss), and a single toilet and shower for men and women each. We were surprised about the toilets -- there were probably over 100 people at camp! The park only issues 80 permits per day for the O trek, but we think this campsite allowed more because you could walk in for one night here from Central. The water in the shower was lukewarm, and we showered right after we set up our tent to avoid the crush later.
We made lunch in the mess tent and talked to an American girl from Illinois with her French husband who were doing the same thing we were -- they quit their jobs to travel for a year. They had just spent 6 weeks in Argentina and they were going to spend 6 weeks in Chile. We also met more Israelis, a group of 6 Californians, and a Dutch couple. We realized this was as much a social thing as a trek!
We laid down after lunch and took a nap. We were not expecting this but it seemed like a reasonable course of action to pass the time, and we were sleepy. We awoke 90 minutes later, puttered around for a bit, and made dinner. People had been filtering in all afternoon and now the campsite looked pretty full.
We went to sleep and dreamed of what awaited tomorrow. Would our shoulders and backs be sore?
Day 2 - Serón to Dickson
We woke up early to avoid the inevitable line for the two bathrooms, ate some m&ms for breakfast, and set out. We saw a few people leaving before us, and the sun rose just after we started walking. Our bodies were not sore at all, and we took that as a good sign.
The first sign to Dickson told us 19km. We would not see another sign like this for 60 miles... Looking back, the inconsistency was not inconsistent at all -- all of our experiences at Conaf parks would have predicted this.
We made sure to always look behind us as we were only trekking in one direction.
Vitali was already grumpy upon waking up and realizing he was 9 miles in to an 80 mile walk. It began to drizzle and Vitali's grumpiness increased. I asked him where the trash bags were so I could cover my camera. Later he told me he had muttered "why don't you take the trash bag and put it around my head."
I tried to reassure him that this was character building and at the end it'd be worth it. He merely scowled and walked away. We did see a rainbow though!
The trail was mostly flat until it wasn't. It began to gain elevation rather quickly as we passed a small lake. I achieved 2nd overall for women for a segment here!
The trail turned to the left, hugging the slope of the mountain, and we had our first big views over Lago Paine and the first big mountains we'd seen. It was beautiful, if cold, wet, and windy.
We stayed maybe a hundred feet above the lake for awhile, passing by the fence of no return (you needed a permit to proceed any further), and a section of the trail that was quite windy.
Above, Vitali beginning to unravel.
Then the trail began to climb again, and continued over some rolling hills. Shoulder wise, today was much better. I loosened up my shoulder straps and that seemed to solve all the pain I was experiencing and Vitali had adopted the tent forever. This made my overall outlook much brighter, although Vitali was still struggling. He lamented that 'he could not see the end of this walk'.
After some time we reached the Guarderia Coirón (about the halfway point for today), where it was required to check in with the ranger. This was the first checkpoint -- if you did not reach here by a certain time you would not be allowed to proceed further that day. Amazingly -- we were the first people there! The ranger congratulated us. The people we saw leaving Serón must have walked back out this morning.
We talked to the ranger for a bit, ate a large amount of nuts for lunch, and prepared to continue. Two Chilenos came up just as we were leaving -- we'd jockey with them for the rest of the trip!
We continued through a low lying area with short trees and bushes and admired the views that were starting to clear up. The trail was actually mostly flat at this point and quite enjoyable.
We think the back of the Torres are visible here, beneath the clouds and to the left of the cream granite.
We came upon one of the first wooden signs of this style that had mileages and (we'd later learn) greatly exaggerated elevation. We saw that hump before Dickson and felt a little dread. It could only be 10m or so but it looked steep!
We walked through a small wetland over a constructed boardwalk, where the two Chilenos passed us while we were eating, but we passed them again a short while later!
The clouds began to gather again and by the time we went up that little hump (that turned out to be nothing to worry about at all), and along a little ridge -- it was fully clouded over, and some wicked winds were whipping up. We sprinted across the ridge and down a steep and rocky portion to the level area and towards camp Dickson, situated on Lago Dickson. This campsite cost $18. It looked like they were building new refugios in a fancy modern style.
We checked in first with a national park ranger, and then with the refugio reception (first for the day, Leandra and Vitali take the stage!), and went to set up our tent. They said we could set up past the permanent tents or in the trees. The tent area looked crowded so we went up in to the trees. It was windy and setting up the tent was harder than usual.
We took an almost hot but not quite shower and made lunch before the bubble showed up. It was very cold here -- maybe 40 degrees. We sat in a sliver of sunlight under the shelter while we ate, absolutely freezing. I wore socks with my flip flops after that. We noticed on the register that some people here were staying for two nights -- taking their sweet time I suppose. Then we laid down for a nap.
When we awoke, we were quite alarmed to see it had snowed and the snow line was visibly near. We wondered if we would wake up to snow in the morning? And all the while, the climb and weather over John Gardner Pass on Day 4 floated in the backs of our minds...
We made dinner and went to sleep. Overnight -- the wind really picked up and we had unfortunately not oriented our tent poles perpendicular to the wind, causing the fly to act like a sail and some familiar flap flap flap. Apparently the tent walls were touching Vitali all night!
Day 3 - Dickson to Los Perros
It was freezing when we awoke and we very reluctantly got out and packed up our tent with frigid fingers. Peanut butter for breakfast, which was beyond disgusting. We had picked it up in Argentina and it was very liquid and oily. We had no other options though so I choked down a few tablespoons.
Spirits were low. We walked over to the shelter to stop by the bathroom before leaving, backpacks and bodies strewn about quite forlornly. Some of both were covered in trash bags. It was cold and raining pretty hard once we were leaving, ahead of the bubble once again.
The hike started with a climb up out of the campground area, through young forest. After awhile the rain slowed and the sun began to peek out.
We turned around for our last view of where we were and continued onward.
We came across another of the wooden signs. Ugh. At least the steepest part was done with.
We walked through a somewhat open area for awhile and came to the foot of some very large mountains.
The fresh snow was a sight to behold. And the view over Lago Dickson behind us was a little clearer than before.
We crossed a stream (taken without a tripod!!!).
And once again walked through a forested area with the sun intermittently peeking out.
Almost there...
And we popped out along the side of a small range, with serrated peaks piercing the gray clouds and blue sky. It was good mountain watching -- from the time we had first seen the range to near the end the clouds had almost fully cleared.
We caught up with the two Chilenos we were hiking with yesterday and took some photos of them and they of us with these mountains in the background before continuing onward.
Spirits were a little higher since the landscape had gotten so much more interesting. We were climbing over glacial moraine now, and we started to wonder how much farther the campground was. Surely it should have been by now? It goes without saying the last sign lied, and it was farther.
We crested the top of the moraine and had a beautiful view in one direction, towards camp and the John Gardner Pass.
And an absolutely incredible view of the Los Perros glacier and tarn. As was becoming a pattern, it was so extremely windy that we couldn't even enjoy the view. I had to drop down to avoid being pushed over by the wind.
We left that viewpoint and walked a bit more, over to a mirador that wasn't as high and a little more sheltered from the wind.
Wow. There was blowing snow coming off of the mountain to the left and the effect was magical.
We continued past the lake and up the valley, over and around a ton of glacial debris. We hoped the camp would be sheltered from the wind but were prepared for the worst. Finally, we saw a streak of yellow and the Los Perros campground. No one was at the ranger house so we went in and set up. This campsite cost $18 for the night.
I see why this camp is called The Dogs. This is the final camp before the pass, and it looked like it had barely dried out from the day before, was all dirt and puddles, and overcast. There was no hot water, and no trash cans. We both heard someone braving the frigid (literally, the water was from the glacier) showers. Why??? We found a ranger by the bathrooms who said check-in wasn't for another hour or two so to come back later.
We set up the tent and made lunch then checked back in with the ranger, who told us that tomorrow was looking to be good weather in the morning and to start at 5:00 or 5:30. He said tomorrow was about 21km -- the mileages on the signs did not take into account gain and thus were all shorter than the actual distance. Which was a surprise, considering what we had read was 15km. We knew it would not take us that long to get over the pass so we decided to start around 6:15 and bought a fanta and coke to lift our spirits. Vitali occupied himself by stitching some holes in our accoutrements from a kit he had borrowed from the Californians.
We took a nap and when we woke up the camp had filled. We even heard covid bitch coughing in the distance and some other woman who walked in while everyone was napping and felt the need to shout "OMG IS IT NAP TIME!?"
It was windy, even through the trees. The excitement and dread was palpable in camp. Tomorrow was The Big Day. Pass Day. Where we would all test our mettle and ascend over John Gardner Pass, the hardest portion of the trek. We weren't worried as it wasn't especially long or steep but it was the most we'd be challenged during the week. We photographed the map on the wall, the first map we had seen with specific mileage information, and referenced it for the rest of the trip (spoiler: it was not accurate) -- it was the only other source of mileage we had available besides the guide I had saved on my phone.
Day 4 - Los Perros to Grey
Our alarm clock went off at 5:30am and we awoke in the dark. We could already hear the rustling of people around us -- and when we went outside some of the tents nearby were already gone.
It was lightly snowing as we packed the tent with practiced precision, realizing that we were also rolling up a large amount of mud that had accumulated on the footprint and splashed up on to the fly overnight. Oh well.
I ate some peanut butter for breakfast and we set off.
First was a steep, muddy, and rooty ascent out of camp, dodging puddles and slippery logs. We passed several groups going up. Before long we were out into the exposed cirque. We took a look around and took in the comfortingly familiar stark alpine views around us. We were well practiced here.
When we came out of the trees we also noticed how windy it was. Extraordinarily. We shouted at a couple near us -- "this is supposed to be good weather?!" We worried about the wind up at the pass but there was essentially only one way to proceed -- up and over.
We ducked in and out of clusters of trees until we were about half way up. The sun was rising behind us, providing a beautiful view down the valley.
But we could hardly appreciate it -- once we were out of the trees for good the wind really started to get fierce. It was coming over the pass and down -- giving us a mighty headwind. We were being blown around a bit and it took a large effort to walk forward in a reasonably straight line.
The trail got steeper as we approached the pass and we continued to pass the long line of hikers ascending.
We continued ever upwards, over shards of rock, small streams, snow, and ice.
The light flurry that had accompanied us all the way up was picking up now, to an actual snow. The wind was increasing, if you can believe it, as well.
At one point, probably within 500 vertical feet of the pass, after we had passed everyone we could see on the mountain, Vitali's duck back blew off and he had to chase it down, probably down 200 feet or so. I stood watching, feeling the wind rob my body of heat.
Thankfully it had gotten caught on a rock and he was able to retrieve it. As we headed back up conditions were deteriorating quickly. We looked to our right at a beautiful glacier -- except we could hardly make out any details because of the decreasing visibility.
The snow was being blown parallel to the ground -- straight into our faces. Ice pellets were hitting our exposed skin and stinging with every impact; Vitali had sunglasses to protect his eyes but I didn't think about wearing mine considering how dark it was outside. I pulled my buff up over my face and squinted.
We glanced back down the valley we had come up and the people struggling below. We knew we had to keep moving to keep our bodies warm -- sticking around to rest and risk frostbite was not an option. We pushed on through to the pass where the wind reached its peak intensity.
We have no pictures from up here because it was physically impossible -- the wind would have prevented me from holding my camera steady and holding my camera would have given my fingers frostbite (even through gloves, the wind just ripped right through them). I used my poles for balance and was basically using them as third and fourth legs to keep myself from blowing over. I had to drop down several times when gusts came through. There were moments where I had to turn my face to the side in order to breathe. We estimate the constant wind speed was near 70mph. Our thoughts were singularly focused -- keep walking and get over the pass! I will say this is probably the harshest conditions we've experienced on a mountain -- and knew that things could have gone sideways, fast.
Finally -- we made it to the saddle, across, and over the hump to the other side, where it was slightly less windy, but probably still blowing 60mph.
We had made it over the pass -- and was rewarded with a startling view of the Grey Glacier -- a huge mass of ice larger than I could ever imagine. Unfortunately, we could not stop to enjoy it as our fingers were chilled and the most important thing was to keep moving and getting out of the wind.
We stopped for one photo when we had descended below the saddle and the wind let up slightly.
Even though we had made it over the pass, and hiked just 5km, we still had a long walk ahead of us -- over 11km to go (although we didn't know exactly how far). The next checkpoint was camp Paso, which is a free campsite run by Conaf (although closed this season -- it looked like they were building a new refugio).
We descended very quickly -- the trail was primarily big tall steps, and we passed various hikers unhappily flung on to the sides of the trail like ragdolls, resting after the morning's exertions. We passed the two Chilenos we had been tagging with and we stopped to talk with them about how crazy it was going over the pass. We were all kind of in shock at the experience. They did compliment us though and called us walking machines!
We made it to camp Paso and were pleased to see we were number 10 and 11 to pass through for the day. We met the Californians from the first camp (they had started at 5am) and they were pretty banged up -- one lady had a huge gash in her shin dripping blood, and she said she had been blown over multiple times.
The ranger said it was another 4 hours of hiking to Grey. There were no maps here -- only a drawing on the side of the building that illustrated a long descent -- punctuated by three suspension bridges. In between the bridges was written the length of time it would take -- an hour, an hour 45 minutes, etc. We were a little annoyed at the lack of valuable information. We elected not to stop for lunch and forge down, ready to put today's walking behind us.
We did pass one sign, but as you can see -- and would be a pattern the rest of the trek -- the mileage had been removed! We later surmised this was because the mileage was not accurate.
And so we descended, very, very quickly. Our knees had been weathered to stone and leathery sinew by our hikes and they took the pounding with grace.
We made it to the first bridge, which was the biggest suspension bridge I've ever seen in real life. The boards were just far apart enough to be unnerving. It was strung across a huge gorge.
The view from the bridge was beautiful.
And had a fantastic view over Grey Glacier.
We had seen another climb on that illustration on the wall and we wondered when we would come upon it -- it was another 500' ascent and we were not looking forward to it.
The wind had picked up again and the trail was exposed in places. I tried to lean towards the mountain in case I was blown off my footing...
We knew camp Grey was at the level of the lake, so we were quite disappointed when the trail began to climb again, steeply. This must be the final ascent.
We traversed the side of the mountain, walking nimbly along it like mountain goats. It didn't last too long though and before we knew it we were descending again, and then through an older forest.
We came upon the second bridge -- and wondered, did we see two bridges on the wall, or three?
We felt as though the rainbows were consolation prize for our travails that morning.
Not long after the second bridge we came across the third and started to see the day hikers -- they can't have walked far, so we must be near! I went off to a little mirador that added an extra quarter mile and wasn't worth the effort. Meh.
We had our last expansive views of the lake before plunging back in to the forest.
After what seemed like an interminably long time, we finally saw a streak of yellow through the trees which meant tents -- we had made it to camp! We had descended over 6,000' total, the most we had ever descended. We were pretty tired and today we broke our tradition of taking a photo with the camp sign and simply went to the reception to check in. Of course, we were there way too early -- check-in wasn't until 2. So we paid for an hour of internet ($15), parked our butts in front of the showers and endeavored to be the first in.
We did check the weather for Saturday (sunrise day) and was surprised to see that the forecast from a week out was holding -- maybe a 25% chance of low level clouds, and a mostly clear mid and upper level. Could we be so lucky to see the sunrise over Las Torres?
It was freezing here now that we weren't moving and we sat and shivered outside the showers until around 2pm when someone showed up to unlock the doors where we enjoyed (no) a lukewarm shower.
After that, we checked in (campsite was $18 -- and also the first or last stop of the W trek, depending on the direction you went) and went to set up our tent. The mud had worked itself from our footprint to every surface of the fabric. Ugh -- just what we wanted to see after this morning!
It began to rain and we were glad to have beat it. People very slowly made their way to camp all afternoon and evening. We saw the broken survivors of the pass -- lots of moaning, groaning, and limping. Covid bitch even made it. We saw one girl have her ankle inspected by the ranger -- it looked like she had twisted it.
We made lunch, took a nap, woke up, made dinner, and went to sleep, all the while it continued to rain.
Overnight, some asshole girls were talking and laughing loudly at the shelter. A man -- a hero -- went up to them and told them "I know you guys are celebrating or whatever but can you please keep it down?" And these bitches were like "huhuhu we're not celebrating..." and this guy responds -- "I don't GIVE A FUCK WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!! People are trying to sleep!" He shouted that very loudly, but we and I'm sure everyone else in camp, were appreciative and silently applauding.
Day 5 - Grey to Paine Grande
Fortunately, today was an easy day. Only 7 miles, relatively flat, to the Paine Grande campsite, an area accessible by a ferry. Vitali only half jokingly asked to take the ferry out. Some people elected to continue on to camp Frances today, not only missing the side trip to two miradors but also making for something like a 14 mile hike the day after the pass. We felt very bad for those people. We decided to stop at Paine Grande so we could make the side trip the day after and have a recovery day before another 14 miles.
Unfortunately, when we woke up, it was raining. Our tent was muddy and soaked when we rolled it up. Vitali's mood was sour.
I had some peanut butter for breakfast and after choking that down jettisoned the second bottle which there was no way we'd be eating.
We took our time that morning and hit the trail around 9:40. It was foggy, and went through a recently burned area. This past year we had seen a headline of a group ejected from the park for cooking in a disallowed area -- there were major fires here due to wayward cookers and toilet paper burners in 2005 and 2011.
We walked along Grey Lake, over rolling hills. Because of the rain, the view sucked.
Also because of the rain, behold: Dejected Man. I'm pretty sure Vitali was questioning everything in his life that had led him to be here, in this moment.
For posterity:
I dragged this poor boy along the trail, past waterfalls, which he couldn't even bring himself to look at.
And gorges, with nary a glance.
The beautiful mountains elicited only a meh.
And the view across the lake was deemed unworthy of being photographed.
One of the Californians passed us, and we wondered if the other people in his group had given up, like apparently Vitali had.
Eventually we climbed up and away from the lake and through a forested area -- and passed by two small lakes which were beautifully reflecting the rocks within them.
It had drizzled on and off all morning and finally we came through a small valley and could hear a motor running -- the sound of a boat. Salvation was near!
The refugio looked of course, warm and dry. It even had a restaurant! The camping area was around back though, and quite wet. We looked at the sign in sheet at reception -- there was no one who had come from Grey there before us. Everyone had either come in for the night or were coming on the W trek from the other direction. This campsite cost $20.
The reception told us we could put our tent anywhere out back -- we set up first near a windscreen but the site had a huge lump -- and it was the least lumpiest of them all! Then these Chilenos came and set up our tent 4 feet away from ours?? So we listened to them chat for a bit before picking our tent and moving away to a non wind-screened area somewhat flatter. At least with all this rain, there was very little wind.
It did slow to a light drizzle eventually, so we were able to wipe our tent down with paper towels from the bathroom. We were so miserable we didn't even bother showering.
Above, Vitali waits for the sweet release of death.
We ate lunch, napped, and ate dinner. It rained the rest of the evening and overnight.
Day 6 - Paine Grande to Frances
It was still drizzling when we awoke, but we were treated to a stunning sunrise over Paine Grande.
We packed up when it seemed to be drizzling less and headed out. Today would be a longer day, with a visit up one of the legs of the W trek, to two miradors in the French Valley.
The trail orbited Paine Grande as we hiked over some scrubby rolling hills.
And past a blue lake.
We turned around to see a DOUBLE RAINBOW!
All the way across the sky! The rainbow cheered Vitali up a bit.
As we approached Los Cuernos and the French Valley below we had a few rogue wind gusts that nearly knocked us over! It was also intermittently spitting rain. Check out the water getting picked up by the wind on the lake.
Eventually the sky cleared, and we had beautiful sunny weather! We couldn't believe our luck -- days of rain and now we were going up to miradors and had clear skies!
We passed a few signs which, surprise, turned out to be incorrect.
But soon enough, we could actually see where we were going.
We approached the camp Italiano, the other free Conaf site that was closed this season. However, a ranger was there who showed us where we could leave our bags for this side trip.
Boy, were we glad to be rid of the extra weight. We unzipped our daypacks, had a snack, and sped off.
We felt so LIGHT and unencumbered that we raced up the first mile -- coming in second overall for women for the segment, traveling over rocky moraine, crossing over streams, by waterfalls, and even hiking up through the water!
All the while looming to our left was that incredible face of Paine Grande, and the French Glacier. After about half of the gain was behind us, the trail became more moderate. We walked through forest for awhile.
Until we got our first open view of the French Valley and the unique mountains within from Mirador Frances. We had a stunning full view of Paine Grande and all the glaciers and waterfalls cascading from the ice. We opted to continue to Mirador Britanico, which was only 3km further.
To our right was the Los Cuernos formation, looking quite different than the face we had seen before.
As we approached the mirador the clouds began to close in. The trail began to get annoying -- we had to traverse endless gulches that went up and over very steep sections of roots and rocks. We were also starting to feel some tiredness... perhaps we shouldn't have tackled that first mile so excitedly...
We came upon another open area that had a spectacular view of the various formations at the head of the valley, including one that kind of looked like a shark fin. The sky was almost completely overcast by this point.
We kept saying -- how much longer could it be?? And finally the trail became scrambly and a few hundred feet later we were sitting atop some boulders, admiring the 360 degree view.
By the time we had made it up the sky was fully overcast, and it began to snow.
We enjoyed the view and quickly returned whence we came. We did not want to be stuck up here when a snow squall blew through.
We stopped at what looked like an emergency shelter to have a snack out of the wind.
We sped down the trail, passing many more hikers on their way up. We even passed a ranger who was coming up to stop people from heading to the mirador we were just at.
We made it back down and saw another victim of the pass -- this girl was limping heavily, but was still carrying a giant pack! We retrieved our packs from the area that had sprouted probably 100 others -- and headed back towards the main trail. We saw a sign -- 2km to camp Frances. Then passed another that said 30 minutes. Our map said 1km. Well, which was it?? We grumbled loudly and continued. We hoped the sign was wrong.
Fortunately, Frances was only 1km away, although it was up a steep hill from the trail, with the bathrooms at the bottom, great. We checked in and were given platform 4, which we set up quickly before heading to make lunch. We met some nice Israelis who we talked with at length. Apparently they knew some other Israelis who had gotten STUCK on the pass, and someone had also gotten lost! We wondered how you could have gotten stuck -- if things went sideways you could always descend the way you came. I'm not sure how they heard -- but word spread fast. A group had spent 15 hours on the mountain (or overnight). The beginning of the storm we had experienced apparently increased in intensity and this group had had to set up their tents to rest, and when they woke up the next morning -- they were sitting in 18" of snow. We later heard this happened the day after we went over the pass, but how could we have heard with no internet? Who knows what really happened, but we were glad to have gotten over the pass as early as we did.
We later learned that the pass is closed by rangers occasionally in inclement weather. I later read several stories online about people getting lost in whiteout conditions, rescues, and unfortunately, even death.
We showered after lunch -- in spectacular new shower buildings. They were open air, with clear corrugated siding to allow in a tremendous amount of natural light. The finishes included beautiful large format greige tile to contrast with natural weathered planks, free-standing concrete sinks, beautiful fixtures, and all the scalding hot water you could ever dream of. It made the $42 cost well worth it, even with the long walk down the hill to get to them.
We bought a bunch of m&ms after our shower to supplement our dwindling simple carbohydrates.
Day 7 - Frances to Chileno
The final full day was upon us. I asked Vitali if he could see the end yet -- and he said no. I could tell he was beginning to see some hope though, because he was about 15% less grumpy.
We packed up and rolled out in high winds. Today was an easier day, only 10.5 miles, and mostly flat, at least until we headed up into the valley towards Base Las Torres, and our camp for the night, Chileno.
We walked along the Lago Nordenskjöld lake all. day. I was so sick of looking at it, especially since we had no idea how long of a walk we had. We went up and down... up and down... down and up... over and around. It was mind-numbing.
A little bit of rainbow action at least.
I think it finally dawned on Vitali that the end was near.
We walked down along the lake for awhile too.
We walked below Los Cuernos, but unfortunately they were mostly clouded in mist.
We hiked and chatted with an Israeli couple for a bit, but we lost them at the Los Cuernos camp, which by the way, had the most adorable little rentals. I'm sure they cost an arm and a leg.
The longer we walked... the more our energy reserves depleted.
The trail turned in to these annoyingly sized rocks. Somewhere between stupid gravel and mid-size bullshit.
We passed more pretty scenery, etc., etc.
And then we came up over a hill and saw the trail up ahead of us -- ughhhh!
We passed another bridge, this one a weird cable and wood hybrid.
Finally, we turned the corner and began to orbit the Monte Almirante Nieto, and headed north towards the valley of our destination.
It was about this time that we started to get really tired. We had felt really good the entire trek so far, no fatigue, no soreness. But we think flying up to the miradors yesterday used up our reserve energy because today we were dragging.
To quote Vitali: "I'm not doing so well."
The trail got pretty steep as it started to drizzle, and we went through some shrubbery until we met up with the trail that was coming from Central. The map had showed that distance -- the only distance reference we had, so we figured we must be close.
Finally we topped out at Windy Pass, and could see the camp way down in the valley below. I was a little annoyed at having to lose all that elevation to get to camp -- we'd have that much more to climb up to the mirador tomorrow -- and then back up this hill to get out!
We walked down and checked in. The tents were up a steep hill on platforms, and we were in number 19. I had paid $120 so we could stay at this campsite instead of Central, saving us 6 km, and ~1,100 feet of climbing for the sunrise hike in the morning.
We inspected our tent which had very thick walls and seemed adequate. It was nice not having to set up a tent for once! We bought a bunch of m&ms and a red bull here for tomorrow as we were running low on sugar and resolve.
We made lunch, took a light nap, made dinner, and prepared for our final assault the next morning. We couldn't find the showers so we said forget it.
Day 8 - Chileno to Base Las Torres to Central
Our alarm went off at 4:15 am and we gathered our things in the darkness. The hike to base Las Torres was meant to only be 4km and 1500' of gain or so. We met the Israelis we had talked to at the bathrooms -- they were not as lucky as us -- they had woken up at 2:00am and had to hike from Central! We didn't want to miss the sunrise so we left early just in case.
We paced ourselves that morning since we knew we had plenty of time. We followed a group at one point and out of the corner of my eye I thought something looked off but I figured these people must know where they are going. My intuition was correct and before long we were scrambling over boulders, clearly not on the trail. Eventually, someone found the trail and we got back on. We made it up and over the talus field eventually and we perched ourselves with a good view of the towers, waiting for sunrise. We moved a few times, trying to find a better wind sheltered area that was also not below any large rocks that could tumble and crush us.
I wedged myself in between three boulders and Vitali did push-ups to stay warm while we awaited sunrise. We had unfortunately given ourselves way too much time and we had a long while to wait for the sun. So we shivered as the wind manically changed directions and it flurried. (Today was the 10 year anniversary of our first date.)
And then all of a sudden, the sun came. It wasn't a gradual illumination of the towers like at Fitz Roy -- it wasn't illuminated, and then pretty suddenly it was fully illuminated.
And what a view it was. We felt so fortunate that the sky was clear -- after seven days of rain!
We quickly left so we could warm our shivering bodies up and headed back down.
We saw the trail we had travelled in the dark was mostly nondescript forest -- and surprise surprise -- a wicked wind was picking up!
And saw the streams we had heard.
We made it back to Chileno where the first day hikers were just making their way up. We stopped to eat some nuts and then headed back up towards windy pass, now clear, and experienced why the pass was so named. I had to wedge my leg against a large boulder to steady myself to take this picture. I was legitimately worried about being blown over the cliff here.
We saw many people struggling over the pass and before long began to descend. We saw families pulling small children along and hoped they were prepared!
Throngs of day-hikers were making their way up to see the towers, and we triumphantly sped down past the huffing and puffing masses.
We could see our end destination -- the hotel las torres down in the valley below. It was so close! Yet so far.
Finally, the trail leveled out and we were back near where we had started -- except this time, we could see the view we missed on the first day!
We kept walking, unsure how far it was to the welcome center. Eventually we made it back, passing a couple who stopped us -- "Did you guys just finish the O trek?" And we answered yeah we did. They had seen us at the start and had just finished too. We congratulated each other and briefly discussed our experiences. They had skipped the side trip to the French Valley and were eating celebratory empanadas.
We bid them adieu and went to the welcome center, which looked the same but different.
We went inside and bought some snacks, which we quickly demolished. Vitali ate an empanada. I think we were one of the first people back because no one was there. After awhile a few groups started to come in.
I took the opportunity to photograph the beautiful building. The bathrooms at Frances were constructed similarly. Must of been constructed at the same time.
We sat down and I asked Vitali if it was all worth it. "It was worth it" he said with a smile. I told you!!!
We did it! We had completed the trek, a spectacular week of walking through rain, snow, and wind, the literal and psychological ups and downs that accompany this sort of endeavor. It was challenging -- not so much physically but mentally -- knowing every day you have to pack up, walk, unpack, and then keep doing that until you make your way out, whether there be rain or shine.
Here's a video with clips we took over the seven days. No clips from the first day though...
Vitali is not so eager to repeat something like this again soon but I'm working on him...
We disembarked at the bus station and walked back to the same hostel we had begun at, our packs 30 pounds lighter. It looked the same, but different. We waited around for someone to check us in, eventually were given the same room, took a wonderful hot shower, made dinner, and went to sleep. We were the same, but different. (and cleaner.)
The next morning was Sunday and of course no Chilenos were awake at 7am so we struggled to find an uber and eventually started walking to the bus stop to try and find a taxi to the airport. Fortunately, we did find one, who took us to a bank to get some cash and then to our destination.
We checked in -- and were given seats in the first row! It pays to be cheap. The airport had a single gate. Once we landed in Santiago we had to leave the airport to get a covid test and uber back, and then spent all afternoon hanging around the airport while we waited for the results.
We then had a long ordeal trying to check-in for a flight with the Avianca staff not showing up until an hour after check-in was supposed to start, fighting with french speaking people who kept trying to cut us, and then literally checking ourselves in and tagging our own luggage. We were pretty disgusted by our experience with Avianca by this point. Needless to say we will never be flying Avianca again.
We tried to go to a lounge but it was full, so we sat down by a McDonalds and Vitali ate a burger. That was something like his 5th sandwich in 24 hours.
At 1:00am we boarded the plane that would take us to Bogota, and promptly fell asleep. We headed to a lounge during our layover, which was right near the gate fortunately, where we loaded up on snacks. We hopped on the next flight and before long touched back down in JFK.
We had started traveling at 7am on Sunday and landed in the US at 1pm on Monday, tired, but glad to be back where we could talk to anyone and be guaranteed to be understood. We were out the door in about 15 minutes -- global entry had no line, we spoke to no one, and were legally back in no time at all. Now that was a good investment.
We rented a vehicle, drove 3 hours to AVP, got picked up by my Dad, and headed back to his house to grab some things. A wicked wind storm passed over the house while we packed... THEN we drove another hour and a half in the dark to a cabin we had rented to isolate after the flight. We got within a half mile of the cabin and...
We tried to take a secondary park service road but found that blocked by a downed tree too! We called the park and left them a voicemail about the situation then headed into town to stay in a motel I found online. We sat at a stop light in the dark as a police car drove by and a tornado siren wailed... We wondered if we would actually make it to our destination... Eventually we did indeed arrive, and found the power was out! They couldn't check our reservation but gave us a key anyway. We showered in the dark, exhausted, and went to sleep... the next day we drove over to the cabin and watched the crews remove the tree and fix the power line, and then finally we made it to the cabin. Phew.
Our first experience with South America was overwhelmingly positive. Beautiful landscapes, warm people, great seafood, and once in a lifetime experiences... the o trek crowning it all. We will be back!
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