Well, obviously we are back from our Torres Del Paine adventure and it was a doozy…
Firstly, there are lots of photos that I would love to be posting, but as I don’t speak very good spanish I can’t read the error messages that are been spat at me when I try to copy images from my memory card. I will try again in Buenos Aires which is a while away (i’ll get to that later) so hold tight if that is all you are checking this Blog for.
Now, back to the walk…
We headed off last Friday thinking that we would be away 10 days. When we arrived we got a good map for the first time and thought that it might take longer. We reevaluated and thought that we would try to combine a few days so we didn’t take longer than epected. We obviously succeeded in our task and our itinerary thanked us for it, but to say that our body’s didnt is a complete lie.
Day 1 - 9kms in 4 hours. Fairly easy start to the track, but 2 hours in we started to think that we had made a bad decision undertaking such a large trek as we had only done two real treks before, neither of which had been more than 4 days. Our packs were close to 20 kilos as we had 10 days worth of food as well as the clothes we would need, a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mats and various other knick knack that I probably didn’t need. I did use the iPod out of principle after lugging it arround. We got through the day and it was very rewarding to get to the first camp site. All in all the day was filled with great views of glacial rivers and mountian peaks.
Day 2 - 28 kms in 9 hours 45 minutes. This was the first of our self imposed long days. It really should have been 2 but we made it. The day included a mountain climb and an hour or so trying to stay on our feet as the torrential winds tried to take us down. They didn’t succeed and it was definetly good to get to the camp site and get off our feet.
Day 3 - 11 kms in 6 hours. This was by far one of the toughest days for us. It included a climb to around 1400 metres and then the same back down. The up wasn’t so bad but our legs definitly took the pounding on the way down. It was all worth it as the veiw of Glacier Grey was one of the most fantastic things i have ever seen. Its 5kms wide and 26kms long. Is some ways it was better than the Moreno which you may have read about.
Day 4 - 29kms in 8 hours 30 minutes - Not much to write about here other than the fact the the first half of the day followed the glacier. It started raining for the last 2 hours and we had to set up camp in the rain, but it was worth it as had we not done such a large day the following day would have been a waste as the weather closed in again but only after we finished our walk.
Day 5 - 10kms in 4 hours - This was up and down the French valley. This offered views of the Torres peak (day 7) from the other side. The look back down the valley after the walk was awesome as it was peaks, glaciers and rivers. Once again, the weather closed in towards the end so we made it just in time. A few freind we met on the track all missed out as they got there the day after us (we were tough enough the previous day… :) )
Day 6 - 25kms in 8 hours - This was a great day. Fairly easy as the packs had started to get lighter from all the food we had eaten. It included a river crossing which had we done the day earlier would have been knee deep. As it was, it was just a simple matter of rock hopping. The last part of the day was a uphill walk to the base of the main attraction in the park, the Torres look out. We had heard that the weather is not always kind and as we had a clear day, we decided to add it on even though we were to go up again at day break the next day. It was worth it as the morning was a bit of a let down. It was pretty cold, cold enough to start snowing even.
Day 7 - 15km in 6 hours. We got up at 5 and climbed back up to the look out. It was even colder and snowing more than the day before and when the sun finally broke through, it marginally missed the 3 peaks. We still managed to see some of the effect on the nearby mountain and were able to see what all the fuss was about. After that we headed back to conclude the circuit.
Now we are currently in Rio Gallegos (which we breifly visited before and hated) waiting for our next bus (this was part of the reason for us hating it last time). It seems that this place makes its’living off people who arrive only to find out that they can’t get a connecting bus till the next day. They also are way overpriced for what they offer. As i mentioned at the start of this (way too long post, i’m sure you all agree if you even made it this far…) we are headed to Buenos Aires next. We tried to get a flight which was only 30 dollars more, but we are stuck on the next bus out of here. Its only going to take a cool 40 hours. Add that to the time waiting, 3 days later we will be there.
Thats all for now. I will give you guys some supporting evidence for my wrap of Torres Del Paine as promised.
Cherio.
Glen and Robyn
By the way… sorry if there are dozens of spelling mistakes, but the spanish spell checker is not much help to me. :)
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40 hours on a bus?!?!?! Are you insane???
kris - Saturday, Feb 18, 2006 15:27:35