Towers of Pain (Paine) & One Huge Chunk of Ice

Like a kid before Christmas, I was getting more and more excited as I caught my flight out of Ushuaia, heading to El Calafate.  The tourist center for Patagonia, El Calafate is the jumping off point for checking out the jewels of Patagonia’s national parks – the soaring granite spires of the Torres Del Paine and Mt. FitzRoy.  I was initially torn between which amazing place to see first, but following  the rave reviews from my kayaking companion back in Ushuaia, I figured I’d hike the Torres, then save Mt. FitzRoy to end my trip.

The only slight problem is that most of the tourists in town had the same idea, so the daily bus across the Chilean border was fully booked , and I was only able to get a spot two days later.

Right, so the good news was that El Calafate is more than just a transit stop.  It’s also the closest town to the mighty Puerto Moreno glacier – so I immediately booked a spot on a tour that promised an alternative to the standard “bus ‘em in, pick ‘em up” itinerary for most package tourists, and it didn’t disappoint. 

Leaving bright, yawn, and early @ 7am, we had a bonus early stop at Estancia Alice – one of the sprawling  ranches that eke out a living raising hardy sheep in Patagonia.

Isolated and miles from anywhere, I can only imagine what life must be like for the inhabitants in the winter.  Cold temperatures and howling winds that are only marginally slowed by the odd tree or goat, it would be brisk indeed.  Fortunately for us, we got a rare day of sun, and got to make friends with the local goats and guanacos – a local cousin to the llama.

Okay, so that was nice and all, but the ranch served as a mere appetizer for our actually seeing the glacier.  The tour promised to take us off the beaten path, and it lived up to its billing, as we stopped about 10 km away from the main tourist destination for a hike.  Winding down the hillsides and along the lake shore, we were treated to our first view of the distant glacier:

After the hike, we pulled into the main HQ, and I had a few hours to wander the labyrinth of wooden walkways facing the glacier across the water.  The perspective was daunting – there’s nothing like miles of ice looming above you to remind you of your tiny place in the world!

No matter how wide your lens is, it's never enough to capture the scale of the glacier... here's a panorama that does a bit better:  http://360.io/8r68fx

As glaciers go, Puerto Moreno is interesting for a number of reasons.  First, it’s big – really big.  It’s also one of the few glaciers that are actually still growing these days, and this growth leads to the coolest part.  The glacier moves along at a decidedly non-glacial pace for a looming hunk of compressed snow and ice - each day, it moves a blistering 2 meters, and this motion creates friction and stress at the front edge.

Yawn… so what does that mean for the tourist?  I was lucky enough to get to see this:

Returning to town, I stocked up on supplies for my upcoming backpacking trip.  Then, (cough) purely for, ah, health reasons to stock up on protein, I hit up a  restaurant with a genius concept - an all you can eat meat.  Genius – with lamb, chorizo, and lots of lomo (steak), and now fussing much with trivialities like bread or veggies, I waddled out two hours later and slowly ambled back to my hostel.

The next day, we rolled across the Chilean border after a surprisingly strict agricultural inspection – stiff fines were threatened if we had so much as an apple in our bags.  I stayed at Lili Patagonico's hostel – and got a world-class briefing of the hiking options for the park.

The main draw of the Torres Del Paine is hiking the “W” – a route that takes you up to the Torres Del Paine during the day, and then back around and up another valley, before finishing at a glacier.  I had to adjust it a bit due to time constraints – so could only do parts.

[Oh, and a quick word to Chile about your currency.  Just a modest proposal…  could y’all really take  off a few zeros?  With an exchange rate of 500 pesos to the dollar, your prices just sound absolutely ridiculous… ESPECIALLY as they also use the $ sign.  Talk about sticker shock to enter the park:

And ATM’s… every visit was a surprise math test, as I double and triple checked my conversion calculations – a misplaced decimal point could have meant severe pain to the bank account.]

At the trailhead, with tent, sleeping bag, and even a small flask of bourbon weighing me down, I started up the W.  A chance encounter with a nice couple from Seattle helped pass the time as we chatted, slogging up the consistently steep path before four hours brought me to my campsite at Camp Torres – complete with a bubbling alpine stream as a companion.

The Torres are tricky to see as a tourist – you’re often lucky to get even a glimpse of them without being hidden by clouds.  So, as the weather was still holding out for me - once my tent was up, I scrabbled up the steep paths leading up the final rocky slope.  Painful?  Sure.  But it turned out to be well worth it, when I got to see this:

My afternoon visit was good, but the overcast sky and constant wind-caused mini-avalanches made the summit a dusty and cold place to be.

The next morning was much, much better.  I followed some very good advice – I woke up at 4:45am and had a brief internal argument about the merits of sleeping in.  Fortunately, sleeping in lost – and coming out of the treeline, I got to see a beautiful sunrise.

The Torres were even better this time around.  I found a good spot down right by the water’s edge, and just enjoyed the slowly brightening view.  Once again, when it counted, Patagonia blessed me  with stunningly clear weather.

When the light finally broke across the Torres – it was stunning, as we few photographers sharing the view were treated to golden reflections reaching across the water, until finally the entire valley was bathed in golden sunlight.

Here’s a link to a panoramic view I took – just click and scroll to see the whole vista: http://360.io/NEvnES

Tempting as it was, I couldn’t stay there forever, so packed up and hit the trail back down.  I was looking at a 10 hour day altogether, and was happy indeed to see this sign announcing an "atajo" (shortcut) which promised to lop off an hour:

This part of the hike was a nice change – with none of the constant steam of day hikers, I had the trail mostly to myself.

Still, I was pretty happy to finally wind my way to the refugio (basic trail hostel).  Taking off my boots, indulging in a hot shower, and drinking first a beer, then several tasty pisco sours – life was good. 

Now, the idea was to leave early, and head up the valley at the middle part of the ‘W’ in the morning, in time to catch the 6pm ferry/bus combination to head back to Puerto Natales.  And truly, I did have that in mind setting off.  It wasn’t long though before I realized that my legs were still feeling the efforts of the last two days.  That, coupled with the arrival of rapidly worsening weather, and it wasn’t much of a struggle to change plans – and just find somewhere warm and dry.  So, from a “W”, I ended up doing a much easier “L”.

Four hours of trudging with intense wind-blown rain in my face, and I was more than happy to find myself changing clothes with a series of hot cappuccinos in hand.  True, I was a bit disappointed not to see the views of the other granite peaks in the park called the Cerros – but the valley was completely socked in by clouds, so at least I wouldn’t have seen much anyways.

I celebrated the end of the hike with a surprisingly tasty pizza at the traditional post-trail restaurant La Mesita Grande town, and the next morning, it was time to head back to El Calafate.  Getting off the bus, I took stock with a delicious local porter at my favourite stop - Borges y Alvarez Libro-Bar, before heading off to a lamb feast at the town’s famous parrilla called La Tablita.

Torres Del Paine – painful sure, but an amazing hiking destination.  Great weather and views meant I was a happy camper indeed.  Little did I know that my last stop of El Chalten would soon prove to be even better!