W Trek, Torres Del Paine 11/26 - 11/30

Finishing the W trek through Torres Del Paine park in Chile is one of the best things I´ve ever done: a four day trek through the vast and everchanging Patagonian landscape of glaciers and lakes, streams and waterfalls, granite peaks and frozen valleys, and lots of desert scrub; through intense colors and contending emotionally as well as physically at times with wind, snow, rain and sun. It was beautiful and it was tough and when I finished it I was never more tired or more high on so much beauty and the accomplishment of what I´d done (my biggest big deal of a hike so far in life). Below is a day by day replay of the incredible experience we had:

Thursday, 11/26: We´ve spent the whole day busing back from El Chalten so Staci Jon and I are kind of tired and cranky when we finally arrive back in Puerto Natales at 9:30 pm. It is also very cold and windy as we make our way from the bus stop in the growing darkness via the supermercado to stock up on some snacks for the trek. Then over to the Patagonian Adventure Hostel, run by the lovely Marissa and Jorge who´ve helped arrange everything: our bus to the park the next day, reservations at the refugios, the prepared meals we said we wanted. We barely have enough energy to repack our bags for the 4 day trip ahead, send some check-in emails back home and roll into our bunks for sleep. Everyone at the hostel is backpacking too and are either returning from or heading out to TDP the next morning as well. Our ¨big day¨ is finally here. Lying in bed, I am a small bundle of excitement and nerves and fall asleep at last to the sound of the wind blowing loudly outside the window.

Friday, 11/27: The bus picks us up promptly at 7:30 am - fortunately it is ¨door to door¨ service so we are still finishing our toast with butter and jam for breakfast at about 7:25. We arrive at the Laguna Amarga entrance to the park by about 9, at Refugio Las Torres shortly thereafter and are off on our very first trek in TDP by 11. Today is a long day, about 19 km roundtrìp and we are off to see the so called ¨crown jewels¨ of the park, Los Torres: the three gigantic pilars of granite created by glacial forces and towering at 2900 m/ 9400 ft. We are clearly energized and excited about our very first day, but what I don´t anticìpate - even though I´ve tasted and heard plenty of it - is the crazy wind. Going at 70+ kph. A guide on his way down warns about it, tells us it is dangerous and to be careful, and that a woman was knocked down just the other day and broke her arm. When we get to Passiage de Veinte we see what he means. It is a narrow path of a passage across the side of the mountain, where you can easily lose your footing if the wind is determined enough about it. I make it through a few panic attacks, a challenging final 1 hour climb over rocks and boulders, to arrive at last with one final step in front of the Torres. For a perfect view. On what has turned out to be a crystal clear day. We are lucky it seems and what lies before us erases all of the frustration and near tears that came before. It is like a movie set. We don´t stay very long because it is so cold up there too, so we turn soon thereafter to begin our descent back through the Ascencio Valley.

Saturday, 11/28: Today is an easy day. Only a 11k one way stretch along Lake Nordenskjald. The sun is out and at some point it becomes warm enough to wear shorts. We have our full packs with us today but compared to yesterday this feels like a stroll. The wind is kinder too. The views are beautiful, serene and pastoral by Day 1 standards with its scrub and harsh deserty mountains and rocks. We arrive at our next ¨home¨, Refugio Los Cuernos, by 4:30 pm and manage also to score bunkbeds even though we were told they were ¨sold out¨ and we´d need to camp. So our mood are high as we settle in. The evening comes to a pleasant end over a few card games (ie ¨Ässhole¨) with our fellow bunkmates, Alex and Carly, pisco sour(s) prepared by Emiliano, and a nice hot dinner of steak with vegetables and rice.

Sunday, 11/29: We are mentally prepared for Day 3 through the high valley to be our longest day (23k) and we eat appropriately at breakfast: some nice porridge, a bowl of scrambled eggs, toast with lots of butter and jam. The trek consists of a steep trail into and out of Valle Francés into the heart of the Paine Massif via Campamento Italiano (where we get to leave our backpacks hidden in the wood shed!); and a final, relatively easy 2 hour stretch along Lago Skottsberg. Snow flurries see us off and last for most of our visit in the valley itself. It makes for fairly poor visibility but we do get to see a roaring river, three avalanches (!) and the valley´s famous peak formation with fancy names like Mascara, Espada, Hoja, Catedrál... I find myself walking alone for much of the hike along Lago Skottsberg as SJ, Cary and Alex are all at assorted paces up ahead, and at one point too, I see a pair of condors soaring up above. They are beautiful to watch, with their ginormous wing spans and graceful arcs around each other. When we do all finally convene at Refugio Paine Grande, SJ, Carly, Alex and I celebrate our final night with more pisco sours - which I have offically decided taste better here in Chile.

Monday, 11/30: We do a relatively easy 12k today to see Glacier Grey. SJ and I are feeling pretty spent on this, our last day, so it is a bit of an effort to set off - especially after we hit a minor snowstorm about 15 minutes into the trek. We have decided to go only as far as the first mirador vs all the way to Glacier Grey itself and we arrive admidst very strong cold winds. It´s fairly overcast too but we do get some pretty impressive if a bit cloudy and appropriately grey views - all very ethereal, surreal-seeming. We turn back knowing we have offically completed the ¨W¨ of which Glacier Grey trail is the last little arm (per the shape on the trail map). At 6:30, our catamaran sets off across Lago Pehoé to take us to Gaurderia Pudeto for us bus back to Puerto Natales. We arrive tired but hungry and arrange to meet our new posse of trekking friends for a dinner of woodfire pizza, after depositing our backpacks at our respective hostels near the Plaza des Armas. We agree noone can shower before dinner so we all arrive glamorously dirty and smelly and noone cares.

And there you have it. Good to finally get this out, and I´m sorry for the delay. There are so many details not captured here, so many images emblazoned on my brain that I hope I remember forever. Along with the high that being here in Patagonia has inspired in me for the first time, making me fully feel how truly majestic and beautiful life can be and how anything at all that we might want is possible, if only we can imagine it.