Hiking the ‘W’ – Part 3

We finally finished the climb to the start of the Chileno valley. I’d tried to make the climb easier by giving Hoff a running countdown, likening the final 400m to a race at a school sports day. It wasn’t very funny but it did take our minds off the aching legs and burning lungs. As we came around the corner we were blown away by Windy Pass – not literally, but by the views. They were stunning. We were high above the valley below where a white glacial river snaked it’s way up (well, technically down) towards the mountains. Tall green trees surrounded the river and the valley cut a sharp winding V all the way up to finish below snow covered granite giants. It was quite magnificent. We flew along into the campsite, renewed by the view and a Hoff’s desire to catch and beat the two couples walking ahead of us (and she calls me competitive!). Our camp for the night was to be on a raised wooden platform cut into the valley hillside. This meant we had great views through the trees but also a very dry and warm spot. It was a novel but great way to pitch a tent, and once in place we went down and enjoyed a hot and powerful shower.

Feeling like new, with some clean clothes on too, we went inside to make supper. We weren’t allowed to use our cookers at this campsite so they provided free hot water with which we made a three course meal (eating some more baby food in the process) and ate it whilst listening to some very loud (and painfully stereotypical) Americans get drunk at the table next to us. Slowly our faces reddened – from the heat and not from embarrassment on behalf of the US lot – and we were soon very tired – the warmth, fresh air and full bellies all taking effect. We therefore went back to our tent, prepped our gear for the next day, and then put the lights out for the evening. By lights out i mean pulled our sleeping bags over our faces; it doesn’t get dark here until almost midnight at this time of year.

My head had literally just touched the pillow (for which i was using my rolled up jacket) and the alarm went off. It was 0145 and finally dark outside, and we were setting off at 0230 to climb the mountain for sunrise. Luckily we’d got most things ready the night before, so we put in our clothes again (mine smelling cleaner as I’d had a chance to give them a wash the night before)m made a thermos of hot chocolate for the top, and, with head touches showing us the way, struck out on the path to the top. It was rather unnerving walking along in the pitch black. Noises seem louder as all your other senses take over and are heightened. We were expecting to see others on the trail as well, but for a long time it was just us. We stopped every now and then to check we were going in the right direction, and as we got closer to the top and the dawn began to get light up the scene around us, we finally saw the first head touches following us up. We finally got to the top where it was windy and cold, so we pulled on all our warm gear and, being first at the top, took our pick of shelter behind a big rock and settled down with a hot chocolate to wait for sunrise.

To be honest, the sun didn’t really ever actually rise on the part of the mountain we were on and, apart from the view up onto the towering rocks above us (which was very cool) we were a bit puzzled as to what we were there to hike is very famous and lots of people recommended it, but after two hours, although it was light, there wasn’t exactly any kind of magical moment where the sun lit up the mountains. In fact, as we started the descent back to camp, we realised that the sun would have taken ages to even get to a height where it would hit the rocks above us so we thought they perhaps the ‘sunrise’ part of the walk was a bit of a miscommunication and you were only really there to witness ‘dawn’. Either way, it was still a really cool experience, and we were glad that we did it.

Once back at camp we got our heads down again for a couple of hours before breaking camp, scoffing breakfast and getting back on the trail towards Refugio Central and our bus back to Puerto Natales. It was a relatively easy 6km during which we walked against a lot of foot traffic. Most day hikers come to the park just to see Los Torres so we were going the opposite way to everyone else. We were most surprised by the lack of common sense in terms of clothing and gear people had. Some people were in city style shoes, with no warm clothing or food, and just carrying a small bottle of water. In a place where the weather can change in seconds, we thought it was both stupid and irresponsible. We also had to tell someone off for smoking in the park. They’ve had horrific wildfires in recent times, all caused by human stupidity (the worst one as a result of someone burning their loo roll which then set the nearby bushes on fire, and then spread to thousands of acres). He seemed not to care but we gave him a good telling off.

Finally the trail turned into a decent gravel road and before we knew it we were at the final Refugio, where we put our feet up and enjoyed our first beer in almost a week. We also scoffed down all our remaining snacks before jumping onto the bus back to PN. Almost immediately everyone was in the land of nod, us included, and we awoke as we were arriving back into the town. Los Torres had been an absolutely amazing experience, despite the weather throwing everything it had at us over the 5 days. Hoff even admitted that she’d consider a camping trip once we get back to the UK, so she must have enjoyed it too!

Up next – we take a day trip to a huge glacier and then head north to El Chalten, the hiking capital of Argentinian Patagonia!