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Not George W.
We just finished an amazing 6 day trek referred to as “The W” in Torres Del Paine, Chile. We went with a fabulous couple from Denmark–Malene and Martin.

Before we actually went, we had a couple days of preparation. We figured out 6 days worth of food, and shopped for tents, rain gear, guy lines,etc. We heard it was possible to experience 4 seasons in a day, that several people turned back because of weather, and that there is no such thing as bad weather just poor preparation. We even went to a planning lecture, and stayed up until 2:00am packing and re-packing the day before.

Day 1: We took a 2 hour bus to get to the starting point. The weather looked decent so we made a somewhat spontaneous decision to add another day to our trek and take the long way to start the W. I am so glad we did! It was a beautiful hike in. The entire way we were looking at and inspired by the jagged mountains in front of us. The hike was a relatively flat 18km, but we were walking into 30+mph wind the entire way! We were definitely tired by the time we reached camp. Steve and Martin set up camp, securing the tents from the harsh winds while Malene and I made pasta with pesto sauce. Then we consumed 2 chocolate bars and realized we definitely did not bring enough chocolate–a very important food group when trekking!

Day 2: We got a leisurely start after a warm oatmeal breakfast and officially started “The W.” We headed up to Glacier Grey, about a 15km hike. It was a beautiful day, and the views of the glacier were incredible. The last hour up to the glacier was really difficult. Of course the most unrelenting, steepest part of the hike was at the end of the day. It was definitely worth it. This is one of the things I was looking forward to most about coming to South America–seeing glaciers and blue ice. And I got to camp right next to one! After an tasty dinner of cheesy rice plus buttery garlic, Malene and I took a short hike to see the glacier at night. Seeing the glacier lit only by star and moonlight seemed to amplify this powerful force that carves valleys and mountains.

Day 3: Another beautiful day with of course more wind and sprinkles of rain which made for beautiful rainbows. Our long hike to Compartamento Italiano was sped up with games of Name that Tune and attempting to sing the themes to Superman, Star Wars and Indiana Jones all at the same time. We stopped off at the first camp to pick up more chocolate and beer for the boys. We set up camp next to a raging river which eventually lulled us to sleep after a fabulous dinner of pasta with garlic rosa sauce. Guf! (Danish for yummy).

Day 4: We woke up to pouring rain. The plan was to hike up Valle Frances for more mountain views. It was hard to get motivated given the weather. I really didn’t want to leave my cozy sleeping bag. We finally bundled up (which entailed Steve engineering rain pants out of plastic bags and duct tape) and finally hit the road at 1pm. We hiked through the pouring rain, rough wind, and mud for over an hour. I love the rain, so it was fun for awhile, but I realized that I love the rain when I have a warm house, a cozy blanket and hot chocolate to come back to. It is a different story when you are camping. We reached the saddle, about halfway to our goal, when we encountered sleet and winds that almost knocked us over. We did catch a few impressive views of mountains (when we could spare a glance without falling over), and decided to head back. We were soaked through and through which made us very cold during lunch. We could have packed up and went to the next camp (about 2 hours away) where they had a building we could dry out in, but we decided against it. Instead, we stripped out of our wet clothes, put on PJs and crawled in our sleeping bags. Everything in our tent seemed to be wet, and we were worried about keeping warm because our sleeping bags don’t work if they are wet. After about 3 hours of trying to keep warm, Malene came knocking on our tent door. She said that the rain had stopped and the wind was really warm and nice. She motivated us to actually get out of our tent. She was right; it was really pleasant out! We hung our clothes outside, and by the time we got back from dinner, they were dry! We went to sleep, once again, cozy and warm.

Day 5: This was our longest day, so we woke up early and were happy to see the sun was shining! We packed up and hit the road. The 2 hour hike to the next camp was a beautiful one. We were hiking next to a gorgeous aqua lake with green hills on both sides and a rainbow crossing over the lake. It looked like something out of a fairy tale. Just as we were getting close to the camp, the weather turned ugly. The wind picked up and the rains came. We huddled inside, had an early lunch, and tried to decide what to do. We really wanted to get to the closest camp to the “torres,” so we could hike up and see them during sunrise. However, that meant hiking another 7 hours, uphill, in the pouring rain and wind, and potentially in the dark. At 1:30pm we finally left camp with the plan that Steve and I would try for the closest camp to the “torres” while Malene and Martin went to the closer camp (still 4 hours away). This time, instead of bundling up, we had the idea that less was better for hiking through the rain. Then we would have more dry clothes for sleeping. Steve and I set out. The views were spectacular. We hiked with impressive mountains to our left and the beautiful lakes and rainbows to our right. Meanwhile, the wind was so powerful that it knocked both of us over, and caused me to have to run several feet up the mountain side because I just couldn’t stop. At one point we came to a river crossing where the winds were particularly intense. There was a wire to hang onto but the water was so deep there your feet were bound to get wet. Steve went up a ways and was able to jump from rock to rock to get across. I agreed his way was best, but I was terrified. What if I didn’t make the jump? What if the wind picked up right as I was jumping and pushed me into the water? What if I slipped off the rock? What happened if I fell into the river and headed downstream? I sat there for what seemed a good 5 minutes until I decided in an instant that I just had to go for it and did it. My heart was pounding out of my chest and my body was shaking, but my feet were stable! Whew! We pressed on. Shortly after, the rain stopped, the warm wind dried us out completely, and the spectacular views continued. We hiked through rolling green hills that had hints of fall reds and yellows. The path then led us high up into a ravine with a river far below.
We made great time getting to the Refugio Chileno (about an hour from our destination). It was only 5:30 giving us at least an hour and a half of daylight. We filled up on water, dried out our socks and headed out again.
The last hour was a killer. I had it in my mind that it was relatively flat. This was not the case. Once again, the difficult part of the trail was at the end of the day, and by that point I was completely exhausted. We kept expecting the camp to be right around the corner, but the trail seemed to go forever. Every time the camp was not around the corner, my steps got slower and my feet seemed to get heavier. Right before the last light slid away, we made it to the camp.
We had an interesting dinner of tomato soup with butter, garlic and a basil/garlic boullion. Then we made a second soup by sautéing garlic and walnuts and then adding water and boullion. It was pretty good and certainly jam packed with calories (actually a good thing when trekking). While I did dishes Steve made powdered milk (which takes a surprising amount of powder to even come close to tasting like milk) which we enjoyed with cookies!

Day 6: We woke up at 4:30am, packed our day pack, and headed up to see the “torres.” The Torres Del Paine are rock towers that are supposedly 2000m high. The hike up in the dark was an adventure. It is much easier to lose the trail in the dark, especially when it is in a boulder field. But the stars were beautiful, and Orion is upside-down! We reached the Torres just as the light was coming up. Stars were still in the backdrop. It was beautiful. As the light came up, the torres became lighter, but there wasn’t a shadow moving down them, nor did they really turn a magnificent morning color. They were quite impressive, but we did wonder if the sunrise hike was necessary. Oh well, it was fun, and we definitely got to see them. Some afternoon hikers could not see the tops because they were covered in clouds.
Right before we were about to leave, we heard someone calling us. We turned around to see our Danish friends!! They made it all the way to the camp just before ours the night before and hiked the rest of the way that morning! We were so happy to see them!
We decided that we would try to catch the early bus back which we thought was at noon. This gave us very little time to pack up, and get down to the bus. So we hustled. Steve and I were practically running to the next camp where we met up with our friends again and rushed down together. We made it to the place we thought the bus was coming right at noon! Only to find out that the bus actually comes at 2, and we had to put our backpacks on and hike another 800m. Now, 800m is not a long way unless you just hiked 60+km and you think you are done, then 800m is a very long way. Nevertheless, we made it!! And enjoyed it very much.