So this is Patagonia...

Torres del Paine National Park
February 25th thru March 4th 2007

Mark Twain supposedly said “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,” I guess he never visited Patagonia in the summer time, specifically Torres del Paine National Park. We were subjected to all types of weather during our trip through the park. This included snow, rain, sleet, and not to mention winds that literally knocked us off our feet on more than one occasion. We estimated the wind gusts were up to 50 mph, making me wonder how news reporters can actually stand, hold the microphone, and speak as they are standing in the eye of a hurricane with winds up to 100 mph and driving rain. I guess they don’t have 40 lb backpacks strapped to their torsos (acting as primitive sails), but that is completely different story.

The weather actually forced us to alter our route. We originally planned on doing what is know as the Circuit through the park (approx. 105km), but after waking up to sleet that quickly turned to snow after our first night we opted to do what is known as the “W” (approx. 85km) in reverse starting from our current location, Acampamento Torres. We were pleased with our decision after several others we met turned back due to snow that varied between mid-calf to mid-thigh depending on who you talked to. However, we still had our nights in the bitter cold snow.

The “W” is an excellent way of seeing the park. The fairly well-marked trails guided us to the beautiful sites in an appropriate order of good, better, and best. We scrambled up a ridge, as sleet ripped into our faces, over granite boulders ranging in the size of volleyballs to VW Bugs. Ultimately reaching the summit we were able to view the glorious Torres del Paine; three massive looming towers of Andean batholith rock standing over 2500m. The sun broke through the clouds and gave us perfect views for at least thirty minutes before the clouds moved back together; almost instantly hiding the towers, as if they were just a dream. The sleet followed our descent, making the boulder scramble not just technical, but dangerous and forced others to retreat without seeing the towering site—we felt fortunate.

The trails between camp sites were spectacular, whether it was a stunning waterfall, a rainbow falling into the lake, or a path through a forest that almost made you forget where you were. We would pop-out on the other side and see a snow capped mountain, or as we experienced going through Valle de Frances, our first sighting of a glacier, Glacier Frances. As we continued up the path to get a better view of Glacier Frances, we were able to catch a quick glimpse of the Cerro Paine Grande on the opposite side from Glacier Frances. As the wind ripped over the ridge we hiked up, it knocked us off our feet. Marc was literally caught mid-stride and tossed into a bush a meter off the trail. He could only laugh; we knew who was in charge at this point… the Weather and the Elements, it was now our job to follow their orders. In awe of the sites we pushed forward and continued snapping pictures while we had a rare break in the weather. The trek back down from Camp Britanico in the morning, after we camped in the snow, didn’t provide us with the same views as on our way up the day before, but we were still stunned at the beauty (even with snow hitting our faces like little bullets!).

We finished the trek with what we believe to be the most impressive natural sight we have ever witnessed, Glacier Grey. We reached the first lookout point over Lago Grey and immediately thought we were looking out into a white capped lake, but what we were really seeing was our first sighting of Glacier Grey.

From far away it was breathtaking, but we really couldn’t put a size perspective to the mountain of ice. We reached Acampamento Grey in the early afternoon and it was actually sunny! We set up our tent and immediately headed to the mirador, or lookout, for a better view of the glacier—we were not disappointed. Words cannot begin to describe the beauty we saw at the lookout, the view was 360 degrees, and we didn’t know which way to look. We had views of the glacier with monstrous snowcapped mountains in the backdrop and from the other directions we watched dozens of icebergs skirt across Lago Grey.

The lake water, gray in color, was speckled with icebergs that broke free from the glacier and were now free-floating, lost, like missing puzzle pieces. Others melted to almost nothing, translucent, hovering like pieces of ice in an evening cocktail, each unique in color, texture and shape. One had holes in it, resembling a piece of Swiss cheese; another looked like shaved ice that had been formed into a snow cone. As we sat and watched, the waves of Lago Grey steadily pummel the sculptures, melting them, constantly changing and destroying the art forms at the same moment. The colors varied from brilliant white against the grey waters of the lake to brilliant shades of blue depending on the angle, and strength of the sun, which continued to struggle and do its best to peak through the clouds.

We attempted to compare the glacier to something tangible since it appeared mammoth from our vantage point. It was at least a mile wide, and extended endlessly — unable to see the termination point. Eventually a ferry, packed with tourists, cruised by the front of the glacier, providing us some perspective. We estimated the towers of the glacier to reach at least ten stories high with massive crevasses separating the towers.

As we sat on the rocks, mesmerized by the sites around us, we heard chunks from the glacier break off into the waiting lake below, more missing puzzle pieces. This was exciting, at first, until we thought about what it really meant—losing the Glacier forever as it continues to recede.

The sites in the Park definitely make it worth suffering through the weather and the arduous kilometers of accents and descents. However, you quickly realize the people that are out on the trails with you make the downtime and the entire adventure more bearable. Misery loves company, right?

As we sat in the campsites, we traded trail stories with some wonderful people from all over the world. Some people just came from where we were going, or vise versa, and we would provide each other tips on how to bear the weather, sites that shouldn’t be missed, or other little nuances that help make the trek better.

I do want to mention Roger, Ralph and Isabella by name. We started the trip on the first day with the same intention—doing the Circuit. After our first night we seemingly all lost contact, but assumed that everyone was headed off to conquer the entire Circuit. Roger and Isabella made it up to Camp Seron (the first stage of the Circuit) before they headed back and found us along the trail two days later. They assumed we powered through and were very concerned about us, as we were very concerned about them, and were all pleased to see each other safe at the campground.

We assumed Ralph, a nice gentleman from Tasmania (only the second Tazy we have ever met, the first one in Fiji in 2002), was the remaining sole that was still attempting to forge his was through the Circuit since no one had seen him in two days. However, we literally bumped into Ralph on our way down from our night in the snow at Camp Britanico, as he also smartly abandoned his hope for conquering the Circuit due to the weather. Ralph also thought we powered through, and was happy to see us safe and us to see him. We all departed from the parks at different times with promises to see each other sometime in the future—we hope so.

We carried all of our own gear on this trip, no cushy porters to alleviate our load—this included our food. We each had a bag of food that included soup (chicken & rice, lentil, and semolina), a large chocolate bar for breakfast, pasta and sauce, a kilo of rice, a salami, and a small bottle of hot-sauce that magically added flavor to everything we ate, a chunk of cheese, some trail mix, and about eight Clif bars. We mixed the rice and soup mix for dinner each night, ate a small chunk of chocolate for breakfast, and shared a Clif Bar. The soup was chocked full of sodium, slightly diluted by the rice, and caused us to wake up each morning with cotton mouth as if we had been out partying the night before. We would snack on the trail mix, salami and cheese in between “meals.” As Marc continually reinforced at each “meal”… It’s just fuel, don’t worry about taste, worry about getting enough carbohydrates in your tank so you can keep warm and trek another 15km tomorrow.

Needless to say, we were at a caloric deficit each day. Marc assured me we could run at a caloric deficit for at least eight days (possibly ten) without entering a severe ketonic state. We knew there was a trade-off, more food meant more weight to carry and thus more calories expended each day. Less food meant less weight to carry, but also meant fewer calories burned each day… it was a balancing act. I just dreamed of our return and the tasty pizza at Mesita Grande in Puerto Natales. We returned too late for pizza our first night back in Puerto Natales, but we will have it tonight—I can’t wait.

We were shocked by the number of people who seemed to be unprepared for the trek. We heard from Isabella that a group of young Israeli kids showed up at Camp Seron without a rain fly for their tent. It snowed that night and they slept in the showers after being denied access to the lodge by a Chilean ranger, who had a dislike for unprepared Israelis in particular.

We arrived at the park with the proper gear, possibly saving our lives, but definitely making the adventure bearable. The most important pieces of gear for us were our waterproof tent (MSR HubbaHubba), zero degree down sleeping bag (Marmot-Never Summer), rain jacket (Patagonia & Eddie-Bauer), and well-worn water-proofed boots (Vasque). We had two sets of clothes—warm and dry—we put on the dry clothes at the end of each day, which reduced the energy to keep our bodies warm (again, it’s all about calorie conservation). We wore tights under our pants the entire trip which kept us nice and warm in the high winds, rain and snow. Our Nalgene bottles (only made in USA) proved invaluable too, not only did we drink out of them during the day, but we were able to fill them with boiling water at night and place them in our sleeping bags. This warmed up our bags before we got in them, reducing caloric output from our bodies to heat them up—calories our body really couldn’t spare.

Our hygiene, or lack-there-of, was another topic throughout our trek. As I said, we kept our tights on the entire trip, except for when we used our little anti-bacterial wipes to “bathe.” We tried to make our hygiene tolerable to those around us, but there is no denying, we reeked! The clothes we wore during the day, including our socks, went into the bottom of our sleeping bags at night to dry out, but this allowed our sock odor to permeate into the rest of our clothes. Not that our other clothes smelled of roses, no, those were filled with sweat during the day. We “bathed” regularly with the towels and applied fresh deodorant, which temporarily masked the sweaty, stinky smell. The showers at the campsites were tempting, but the water was “sometimes” hot, and a cold shower in the cold wind and rain wasn’t really inviting. As Marc would also continually say, “Never, ever, let yourself get cold and you won’t have to waste the energy to get yourself warm!” We did hit the shower as soon as we got into Puerto Natales and took our clothes to the Lavanderia with hopes that they will be defunked when we pick them up!

The bus ride in and out of the park was a little rough since the Chilean government is literally building a road to transport more visitors into Torres del Paine. The road into the park is gravel and dirt, with a few sections that are paved. The bus jumps on and off the paved sections throughout the journey as the construction workers monitor the traffic.

The expansion of the park was apparent in the Refugios, or cabins, along the trails. The Refugios that are easily accessible to tourists who couldn’t, or don’t want to hike, have more amenities, such as rooms with a bed, full meal service, and of course a hotel feel… similar, but not as swanky as the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. I am sure the Refugios will continue to grow in size and level of comfort, as the number of tourists who discover the beauty in the park increases.

As our trip progressed, we would occasionally sit in one of the lodges at the refugio, and hear different rumors that were passed amongst the travelers. I mentioned the varying levels of snow along the circuit, some people said calf-high; others claimed it was thigh high. The number of days Paso John Garner was closed also varied as did the weather reports. We also heard about, and might have even seen, a guy either training to run, or running, the entire Circuit in 17 hours. The goal is to break the all time record which is currently around 23 hours. As with the game of telephone, the stories changed as they were passed between different travelers, but it was all in good fun!

Now that we are back in Puerto Natales, we thought a little bit about what we would do different next time—when we come back to conquer the Circuit. We decided we would definitely come earlier in the season, such as December or January, for better weather, at least we think. We would also make sure we have knee high gators. We trekked in gators that are mid-calf that are more designed to keep debris out of our boots, but the knee high, Gortex gators would be better in the rain, snow and wind we encountered during our trek. In fact, we will pick these up in San Francisco before we head to New Zealand.

In summary, we were up against elements we have never experienced, specifically the wind, but we rallied, worked together and had a spectacular time in Torres del Paine National Park. We both grew up with Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada’s in our backyards, spending a lot of time there, but Torres del Paine is on an entirely different level of beauty. If you are at all thinking of heading south to see the Glaciers and the beauty in the park, do it soon! (Please wait until “summertime.”) When the paved road to the park is finished in the upcoming months, each day will bring more tourists to this beautiful park. At some point, the government will have to limit the number of daily visitors to preserve the parks trails and wildlife, similar to the Inca Trail in Peru’s Machu Pichu. Come… come, before it is too late!