Day 3: Campamento Italiano to Refugio Los Cuernos, via Valle Frances
The lookout over the Valle Frances is at the end of a two-hour trek uphill, the first part of which involves some agile walking on the unstable stones of the moraine. After breakfast, we left our tent and backpacks at camp and started walking up the valley (a little after our fellow campers, thanks to a late start). After a one-hour climb, we had a close-up view over the Glaciar del Frances and gazed at small avalanches, which made an incredible noise as the snow was falling down.
 |
| Climbing up the moraine |
 |
| Avalanche! |
After another hour's walking on a path that rose and fell through the woods to the side of the valley, we reached Campamento Britanico (to John's pleasure). From there it was still about 20 minutes to the lookout. The view was worth the climb, as we could see all the surrounding mountains despite the cloudy weather. It was cold and very windy so we did not stay very long.
 |
| Atop the mirador |
On the way down, we noticed that the river to our right had increased, fed by melting snow and ice from the massif Paine Grande. We arrived back to the campsite, and treated ourselves to some salami (although unfortunately it was not quite as nice as expected). We packed up the tent and reluctantly hauled our rucksacks back on our shoulders.
 |
| Heading back down the moraine |
The map indicated that the next campsite was 2.5 hours away. We walked through the woods between los Cuernos and lake Nordenskjöld, past beaches covered with black and white pebbles. Our morning walk had left us pretty exhausted. Thankfully we reached the refugio quite quickly, where we indulged ourselves in what we would call a "semi-splurge", i.e., we camped but had access to hot showers and had dinner at the refugio. John was feeling quite envious at the idea of staying at the refugio, in particular since the night was cold, which prevented us from a restful sleep. He was however rather pleased to learn the next day that a bed in a refugio meant a bed in a noisy dorm (hardly worth US$ 40).
 |
| The Lago and pebble beach |
 |
| The other side of Los Cuernos |
Day 4: Refugio Los Cuernos to Campamento Torres
We slept through the alarm that we had set for 7:00 am, and woke up at 8 am instead (the benefit of sleeping in this tent and with these sleeping bags and mattresses was that it was neither comfortable nor warm enough to enjoy a lie-in). Breakfast was ready about 30 minutes later; boiling the refugio's hot water took much less time than the usual freezing water from the glacial springs. The usual dehydrated soup with pasta was very enjoyable as it was warm and provided us with a lot of energy for the upcoming walk.
At about 10 am, we were ready to go and we started walking towards Campamento Torres, about 45 minutes from the eponymous "Torres". Based on the indications of the map, the walk would last about 7 hours (even taking into account the shortcut via Refugio Chileno). The first hour was pretty uphill, but we soon reached a flat stretch. The walk was rather pleasant, as we strolled along Lake Nordenskjöld, with the view over los Cuernos to our back.
 |
| Snow on Los Cuernos in the morning; no wonder it felt cold at night |
 |
| A condor keeping an eye on us |
 |
| Horses on the path; the easy option |
 |
| View back west over the lake |
We had our first break an hour and a half after we left the camping site. About 45 minutes later, we reached the beginning of the shortcut to Refugio Chileno, which assured us that we were going at a reasonably fast pace. Soon we could see the moraine of valley Ascencio and looked down on Hosteria Las Torres (where we would have to go the next day to catch the bus back to Puerto Natales). We walked along the left side of the moraine on a tiny path (one wrong step could have led to an interesting swim in the cold river down below). The Chilean flag of Refugio Chileno was finally visible a bit further down in the valley.
 |
| Above the Rio Ascensio on the way to Refugio Chileno |
I was focusing on the path to the refugio when I heard and saw horses coming in the opposite direction (they transported what seemed to be empty wine bottles, and other bags), I just had time to jump to the side of the path to give them way and shout a warning to John. Safely arrived at the refugio, we allowed ourselves a decent break, slightly longer than usual, and even splurged by buying a chocolate bar.
 |
| View of the Torres del Paine from the refugio |
Refilled with energy (and chocolate), we began our walk to the camping site. This trek, although partly uphill, was very enjoyable, as we knew we didn't have too far to go. We arrived at the camping site after about an hour and were greeted by two park rangers. We dropped our bags and headed straight to the lookout over the Torres; the weather being unstable, sun was not guaranteed for the next day, so we thought we'd make the most of the relatively clear evening sky. This also enabled us to memorize the way for the next morning.
Driven by the excitement of seeing las Torres, we were almost running up what was a pretty steep climb. A lot of people were coming down (after doing the walk as a day trip) and only a few people were left when we arrived. The view was spectacular, there were only a few clouds in the backgrounds, and even these later dissipated to leave clear blue sky. We spent a very enjoyable evening at the foot of the Torres, putting our cameras to work.
 |
| Scrambling up the moraine towards the Torres |
 |
| Getting closer... |
 |
| Clear skies above the Torres |
 |
| The Torres in all their glory |
We eventually left this great spot to set up our tent and start preparing dinner (a broth with pasta and some salami). Once in the tent, we both set our alarm clocks for 4 am. We switched off the head torches early to leave us time to sleep before our early walk.
 |
| Preparing dinner |
No comments:
Post a Comment