Our Patagonian trekking begins today after a 3 hour bus ride from Puerto Natales to the Torres del Paine National Park. We have elected to trek the classic “W” route (so called because the shape of the letter mimics the path of the trail) from west to east. This direction of travel allows us to work up to the more demanding hikes and provides generally better forward facing views. In addition to the tent, sleeping bags/pads, clothing, food and cooking gear carried by most trekkers, we have an additional 15 pounds of photographic equipment in the form of two DSLRs and a tripod. Fortunately, I have with me a strong Sherpa who on all but one day will shoulder the lion’s share of the weight. With all side excursions included we will cover a distance of approximately 48 miles during our 5 days in the park.
The entry station at Laguna Amarga where we briefly disembark to pay our park entrance fee offers our first view of the mountains we will be hiking amidst and our first encounter with guanacos. The guanaco is a camelid native to South America that stands between 3 and 4 feet tall at the shoulder and weighs about 200 pounds. I took several close up photos but enjoy this one of a single male surveying the landscape from atop a rocky ridge.
We exit our bus at Pudeto and board a catamaran which shuttles us across Lago Pehoe where the first 11 Km leg of the trek begins at around 1PM. Our destination for the evening is the refugio at the base of the northern lobe of Grey Glacier. Our plan is to spend two nights in the tent and two in refugios which are rustic hostels offering fixed menu hot meals and sleeping accommodations (6-9 bunks per unheated room and communal bathrooms with hot showers). From the moment we set sail until we arrived at Grey, we experienced the intense katabatic winds for which the park is renowned. A katabatic wind is the technical name for a wind that carries high density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Such winds can reach hurricane speeds, but I would estimate the ones we experienced to be under 50 knots, invariably hitting us head on and making the hiking that much more difficult. Normally, I only use trekking poles to ease the burden on my knees while descending. On this day, I was happy to have them to provide additional stability when a sudden gust could easily knock you off the trail.
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We made good time and reached Refugio Grey in under four hours. After dropping our packs we did a short hike to a spectacular mirador where we paused for photography and to enjoy the magnificence of the Grey Glacier. This glacier, in the south end of the Southern Patagonia Ice Field, has a total area of 270 square Km and length of 28 Km. It terminates in three distinct lobes into Grey Lake as seen in this photo from space (courtesy of NASA).
