2nd-3rd November: Preparations and Day 1 of Torres del Paine

Day 0: Preparations in Puerto Natales

We caught the first bus from El Calafate to Puerto Natales, arriving at around 1pm after a five-hour drive. That gave us just enough time to drop our bags at the welcoming Hospedaje Nancy and wander around town searching for camping gear. We eventually managed to find a tent, sleeping bags, mats, poles, and mess kit (gas stove, pot, bowls, cups, and cutlery). We'd stumbled across a free briefing at one of the rental places (Erratic Rock), where we were given some useful tips about which campsites to use and what type of food to take with us. Now slightly better informed, we headed off to the supermarket to stock up on exciting treats like dried soup, mashed potato flakes, and instant pasta. We also bought a large roast chicken that we devoured back at the hostel. It took us a while to pack our rucksacks - realising as we did so that we would be hauling an impressive load around the park - and we didn't get to bed until late. Setting the alarm for 6.30 was slightly disspiriting, but couldn't fully dampen our excitement.

Day 1: Puerto Natales to Campamento Los Guardas

After a filling breakfast at the hostel, we caught the bus from Puerto Natales to the park's entrance. We arrived there at around 10, greeted from a distance by a clear sight of the park's main attraction, the eponymous Torres del Paine. We hopped off to pay our entrance fee at the park rangers' cabin, and then (because we'd decided to do the "W" trek from west to east, saving the Torres for the end) climbed back on the same bus to head over to the eastern tip of Lago Pehoe. There we had a spare hour before the boat left for the western shore, so we walked the kilometre or so up to the waterfalls called Salto Grande.

First sight of Torres del Paine from the bus

May as well have this sign everywhere in the park, but this one was by Salto Grande

Salto Grande

We arrived back at the pier to catch the small catamaran across the lake. Clem spotted a girl who'd been at school with her when she was 16 - an impressive coincidence - so had a quick chat. I climbed up on top of the boat to take in the view, and just about managed to avoid being swept overboard by the vicious wind that was gusting across the lake's turquoise waters.

Violent gusts made it difficult to keep the camera level, sorry

The twenty-minute journey ended with our arrival at Refugio Paine Grande, where the pier was lined with 20-30 tired-looking (and mostly sunburnt) bodies, who'd completed their trek in the other direction. With that timely reminder of the hole in the ozone down here (especially in the spring, apparently), we lathered on the suncream and set off north towards Glacier Grey.

The catamaran, docked by Refugio Grande Paine

The well-marked path started in Patagonian steppe, with small bushes to either side, and climbed up through the valley into sparse woodland. The weather in Torres del Paine has a fearsome reputation, and we hadn't been walking for more than five minutes before we were being knocked off balance by the wind sweeping down through the valley. After an hour or so we emerged onto an exposed ridge overlooking Lago Grey, where the bitterly cold wind forced us to bundle up quickly. Off to our left was the expanse of Lago Grey (so-named for its grey-green colour, presumably), with huge icebergs drifting slowly south after being dislodged from the glacier. Andean condors somehow glided effortlessly through the blasting wind, on one occasion coming within 10-20 metres of us (perhaps thinking we looked a little tired). Occasionally the path ducked back into shelter, but there were several 15 minute stretches, offering great views of Glacier Grey ahead of us, where it took all our effort not to be blown backwards by the 50kph gusts. We were certainly glad that we'd rented poles to help us stay upright.

Lago Grey and its icebergs

Trying to strap up my bag while being knocked sideways and backwards

Glacier Grey

After around three hours' walk from Refugio Paine Grande we arrived at what we thought was Refugio Grey, but quickly realised was a new refugio under construction. Some wit had quite accurately observed that the sign promising an October arrival was overly optimistic. Another 10 minutes along the path we found the current Refugio Grey, a rather shabby building down by the lakeshore. We went down onto the pebble beach to take in the view of the glacier, before heading off for the final hour and a half's walk up to Campamento Los Guardas.

Excitement at spotting the refugio in the distance

Which turned out to be a work in (delayed) progress

Glacier Grey from the beach by Refugio Grey

By that time we were fairly exhausted, and were starting to drag our feet. We'd been assured, however, that going beyond the usual tip of the \ of the "W" would be well worth the extra walk, and so it was. The campsite was well-sheltered beneath the tightly-packed trees, and ours was one of only four tents. Just above the campsite was a mirador that looked down over the face of the glacier, which was rutted with even deeper crevasses than Perito Moreno. We just missed a large collapse (although nothing compared to what we'd seen at Perito Moreno), arriving just in time to see the chunks of ice bobbing back to the churning surface of the lake. We would have made it in time if a couple of guys (Swiss and German) hadn't come over to talk to us just as we were heading up to the mirador (thus validating my commitment to being anti-social).

The path seems to have collapsed

Just after the collapse

We set up the tent on a reasonably flat patch of earth, and while I set up the sleeping bags etc. inside the tent Clem fired up the gas stove to boil water for our exciting first dinner: pasta and tomato sauce. We'd obviously managed to work up quite an appetite, because we managed to get through a full half-kilogram of pasta and still had space for chocolate for dessert. We then went back up to the mirador to look down on the glacier in the twilight, as a curious owl swooped down to perch only a metre or two above our heads.