Puerto Natales, Chile for the 'W' Trek

From the most southernly city in the world, the only way is north, which is the direction we headed after leaving Ushuaia. We hopped on our first Argentinian bus (which was pretty average after all the platitudes Argentinian buses were getting from most people we met in Colombia), its destination Puerto Natales in Chile for us to do the ‘W’ trek. Our bus journey involved a border crossing, a mild panic about tomatoes (no fruit or veg, or cattle semen for that matter, allowed into Chile) and most importantly our first meeting with Lene and Jakob from Denmark. We discovered that we were staying at the same hostel and so when we arrived in Puerto Natales and it was getting dark we headed there together. Sam and I had planned to give ourselves a day to rest and get stuff sorted and figured out for our five day hike through the National Park Torres del Paine. Lene and Jakob set off the next afternoon and we waved them goodbye. We planned to get the 7am bus the day after and spent nearly all of the rest of that day packing our bags (which weighed the same as a small human), complete with sleeping bags, gas stove, cooking implements, all our food, the tent and our waterproofs. No shower equipment or change of clothes were packed, we were going ferrel/going to immerse ourselves in nature.

The W Trek – 25^th – 29^th November

Day 1

We boarded the bus feeling doubtful at 7am due to the threatening grey clouds and fairly strong wind in Puerto Natales. We arrived at the lake to board the catamaran and I realised the full extent of the task ahead of me. I was fully dressed from head to toe in warm and wet weather clothing but the wind kept knocking me sideways, whipping my wet weather clothes in fits and starts around my body. We made it onto the catamaran and waited for it to begin its journey across to the other side of the lake in order for us to start the ‘W’ trek from West to East. As we sat inside in the relative warmth, we felt the wind shaking the boat as it shivered passed it, blowing up lake water so high that it splashed on the windows that I was looking out of. This lake water was the fantastic colour of turquoise, and an unbelievably Disney version of the colour as well. Then we set off. The wind lifted the catamaran clean out of the water as we travelled over the lake at speed. I loved the feeling in my tummy but felt sure that even though the water looked like a friendly Disney style version of turquoise, if the catamaran flipped and we began to sink I certainly wouldn’t particularly feel Disney style as I was dying an icy death!! We finally got there and left the boat only to be greeted with the strongest wind I think I can remember experiencing. We battled our way through it to get to the communal kitchen at the first Refugio. Despite being only a few metres from where the catamaran docked, it took us a fair while to battle there at a 45 degree angle. As we squeezed ourselves inside the Refugio we bumped into Lene and Jakob who had been stuck there from the previous night due to the wind and the rain. We pulled our socks up and decided that whatever the weather we were going to make the camp at Refugio Grey at the top of the first vertical line of the W by close to the allotted time of three hours marked on the map. Off we set. Blown this way and that, the strength of the wind was magnified by the sheer weight of my backpack and it took all the ounces of energy I had to climb up and up and up. The ascent did not seem to want to stop! I had to resign myself to the fact that this was going to be the complete personality of the road ahead. On we battled. After about two hours the wind seemed to die down and the rain ceased lashing my face and as my eyes focussed at the first mirador and I caught sight of my first ICEBERG!! I was so shocked and excited! I knew we were heading towards the Grey glacier but it hadn’t sunk in that I might be actually experiencing icebergs. I could not believe how blue they were, it was as if part of a crisp winter’s blue sky had been caught inside a crystal, totally mystifying and utterly beguiling. I could not stop searching for them from then on as we followed the coast of the lake up to the glacier itself. As we rounded the peninsula I had seen icebergs of all different shapes and sizes and taken so many photos. Then came the glacier itself. It was a phenomenal sight. This glacier was part of the most southernly edge of the third largest ice field in the world (after Antarctica and Greenland). It was incredible to follow its shape as it undulated over the mountains and finally emptied its form into the huge turquoise lake before our eyes. We trekked for a while all the time in sight of the glacier and getting closer to it. Finally we arrived at our first campsite and set up our tent. It was a glorious site, on the edge of the glacier’s lake, in which icebergs would float past. I got so excited that I would be sleeping next to icebergs!! We cooked up to tasty dinner on our stove and then walked a few minutes more to the mirador to look at the glacier more closely. It was at this place that we saw the most incredible and huge iceberg. It was as if we were looking at an alien spaceship. I spent a long time staring at the curves and marvelling at the blue emanating from it. 

After a while we returned to our camp and I was asked by a couple to photo them taking a dip in the icy lake. I was stunned and asked them why on god’s green earth they would want to do such a thing. It turns out that Elis and Bron had made a list of things they have to do on their long trip before they came away and taking a dip in icy water was one of them. I laughed and took photos whilst they did a wobbly ice dance and then ran to a hot shower. Then Lene and Jakob turned up as the sun had come out they walked as fast as they could, making the camp before sun down. As the sun went down on our first day, we watched as the colours changed on the icebergs as it did in the sky. We all talked together for a while longer and then, exhausted, we all parted to curl up in our sleeping bags and hope that our supermarket purchased sleeping bags were in some way effective enough to keep us warm throughout the night.

Day 2

We awoke very early at about seven AM, packed up our things and got dressed. We ate a small breakfast, actually realising that we hadn’t planned well for breakfast at all as we watched the others eating strength inducing bowls of oatmeal. We all set off heading for the free Camp Italiano. Sam and I quickly fell behind as my hips were hurting under the weight of my bag which made climbing and descending the steep inclines and steps that lay on our path a challenge. He found us both a walking stick each which I relied heavily upon for the rest of the trip. My stick had obviously walked the ‘W’ a couple of times already as its handle part was worn smooth, I thought about its previous owners success at completing the trek and got strength from that knowledge a few times along the way. The wind had died down so much on this second day and we were able to look around at the environment so much more. It struck me that the countryside looked a lot like the countryside I had seen in the Lake District, very rocky and arid with sparse green shrubs. Apart from the intensely red succulent flowers that covered bushes and the, you know, icebergs I would have said it was a dead ringer. At one of the streams on the way down I had the experience I had been waiting for. I drank directly from one of the glacier streams. I have been wanting to have this experience for all of my life and finally being able to do this was such a joy. I feel it is such a privilege to be able to drink directly from a water source, and such a primal thing. It’s an almost lost human experience really, so I feel very lucky to have been able to do this and we continued to be able to drink from the glacier streams and rivers for the next two weeks. 

Once we reached the first Refugio, had lunch and set off again the landscape completely changed and we had to stop several times to marvel at the blend of colours. We began walking along one of the huge lakes in the area. The water appeared so different to the previous day as the wind had disappeared and left the surface of the lake utterly still and reflective. The blue sky and sunshine created a smudging of a variety of colours from the lake, the sky, the landscape and the various springtime flowers in colours of red, yellow, purple and blue. It was astounding and we had to make sure that we kept our pace up at times otherwise we would have been staring at the colours for so long that we would never have made it to the camp. We did however, over a rickety wooden bridge hung over a fast flowing river, another from which we drank several times as we marvelled at the mountains on the horizon and our ears were filled with the booming of some of the most fast flowing and freshest water on the planet. We all made our camp under the thin tall trees at the side of the river and after walking a long way we ate, chatted and fell soundly asleep.

Day 3

We left our large backpacks in the tent at the camp as we climbed up to the French Glacier in Valle de Frances, the middle vertical line of the ‘W’ shape. We had been told that we will be able to hear the thunderous cracking of the ice in the glacier and see small avalanches, which was a very exciting prospect. I was finding that my food hallucinations were getting stronger and in more detail as the days went on. I was dreaming about the food I’d like to eat and even the food we had was becoming a delicious incentive. I think the others were feeling the same as nearly all our conversations were turning to food! As we climbed up to the glacier over boulders and streams and along tiny paths we began to hear rumbles in the mountains around us. Then came a large rolling thunderous roar followed by a cracking sound and we knew an avalanche would be possible so we all scrambled to the edge of the path and craned to see the falling snow. Sure enough a long stream of snow streaming down the mountainside. It was one of those moments that you feel the enormity of nature and it makes you feel very small and covered in shivers. Then it makes me breathe fast and squeal with excitement at having witnessed such an awesome thing. We reached the mirador, quickly replacing all of our layers as the cold started to set into our bodies through our stillness. Hearing and watching a few more thunderous cracks and avalanches, we ate our strength inducing chocolate bars and prepared ourselves for the descent back to the camp. We made it back quickly, packed up the tent and gathered what strength we could from our lunchtime soup. We were fast realising that there is a lot of truth in the saying ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ as we were really missing ours. Our muscles screamed as we pulled on our getting lighter but still as heavy as a small elephant backpacks and set off along the second horizontal bottom line of the ‘W’. We aimed to reach a Refugio along the line and set up camp there so our long day’s walking tomorrow would be about 5.5 kms shorter. Again, the terrain and landscape completely changed becoming of a more springtime ilk with hazy, blurred colours, green bushes, grass and a tiny path leading through. Due to our tiredness however, this part of the journey seemed to take forever! I could see the headland round which I knew the Refugio was but it didn’t seem to want to get any closer! Suddenly the path led onto a beach so we laid down our loads and skimmed stones on the turquoise surface of the glacier lake for some time. After this break, it was on with the bags again and the final push to camp. We made it and found a spot to camp at the bottom of a little wood near the lake. It was a windy spot however making the trees whistle and moan as wind flew through them. But someone had helpfully made a woven wood wind fence and fashioned a low wood table and some stools out of logs. So we cooked our dinner in the most efficient time yet (we had had practice cooking the exact same meal for the last two nights and were fuelled by the worry that we were running out of gas!) then we went in search of the others. We found them and sat in their camp next to the snow capped sheer mountain faces and drank tea as we watched the condors circling the tops of the mountains peaks. Exhausted but happy we fell asleep as my mind’s eye traced the shapes the wind made in the tops of the trees as it whistled through them.

Day 4

Today was going to be a long old slog. Not only were my limbs aching with overuse but it was taking me a while to rid the cold in my bones. After failing from lack of breakfast for the last two mornings, Samly and I decided to make a breakfast of spaghetti cooked in onion, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil. So we packed up our things and walked up to the others’ camp to begin cooking. When everyone was ready we all set off to walk the rest of the horizontal bottom line and to walk almost all of the way up the last vertical line of the ‘W’ to Camp Torres. Our breakfast was delicious and it did the trick as we zoomed off, quickly warming up under our layers of clothes. For the whole of the morning we walked along a tiny path, coming across many streams which we all drank from, and through vast open hillsides on which grew thorny green bushes and cracked and curly half dead trees. Check out my pack. Freakin HUGE! I have grown muscles on my muscles.

It was so windy (the predominant weather feature of Patagonia so far) and we sought shelter behind a tree and some bushes to eat lunch. We spotted a Guanaco (a Llama like creature) curiously approaching us and watched as it gracefully galloped away. Then we set off again this time in search of the shortcut that would begin to take us up the valley again towards the famous Torres del Paine (or towers of pain). At this point, as the path began to ascend steadily but assuredly, I hit my own towers of pain called ‘The Wall’. Many people have been there too and I have heard about this place but here I was there myself. I received much encouragement, especially from Elis to ‘smash the wall’ and after a little time spent with a grimaced face, screaming and heavy muscles I found that ‘The Wall’ had disappeared and I was lighter and stepping more easily again. TAKE THAT WALL!! We rounded the corner onto the last vertical part of the ‘W’ and into the most beautiful valley. At the bottom a torrid turquoise river gushed and tumbled passed the rocks and boulders in its path and we felt the air temperature drop quite dramatically. (Is that a smile or a grimace?! I think it's a smilace or a grimile).

As I hunkered all my limbs (including my extra walking stick limb) up and up over paths through shale landslides and rocky outcrops the valley was becoming more and more dramatic and beautiful as we ascended higher and higher. 

Then we realised that it was actually snowing! Incredible. We reached the final Refugio and stopped for a break. Sam and I had found that we had more money than we thought (having got out of not paying at the unfriendly and extortionate last Refugio campsite) so we treated ourselves to a huge bar of chocolate. I think this was the most delicious chocolate I have ever tasted and the best reward. I felt like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. Not only that but my old friends chocolate and sugar gave me super zoom powers much to the amusement of the others and just after we started walking the last little bit to our free camp, I was off! Zoom zoom!! I wasn’t as zoomy as Elis however who had already zoomed off as Sam, Bron, Lene, Jakob and I stood around in the warmth of the Refugio comparing places on the world map on the wall. His natural pace was probably three times as fast as mine! The last part of our longest day’s walk was mostly uphill through small woods and over bridges, under the tall thin trees that seem to make up most of the small woods in these parts. We saw some Woody the Woodpeckers after first hearing them and then made our camp on a sloping campsite, our coldest one yet. We decided to eat our dinner before the final and very, very steep climb to the mirador to see the Torres del Paine. We had to keep our fingers crossed that the clouds would stay away so we could actually see them and it was a risk as we set out after our fourth (and most tastiest) meal of tomato spaghetti with garlic, onions and herbs. Sam sprang up the mountains like a mountain goat but I chuffed away as a steady steam train would, sweating under my waterproofs (mainly put on as it was SO cold). I ascended to the mirador by myself and had a proper ‘wow’ moment as the path led out onto the exposed mountainside and snowflakes were moving towards my face from all directions. It took my breath away, in all ways! Another time in which, as I looked about me at the snow capped mountains above me and the tiny trees and streams below me, I felt so small in the enormity of nature. We made it to the mirador and to our fortune there were hardly any clouds affording an almost unhampered view of the Torres del Paine. We had made it! 

I felt very happy with my achievement as I realised again that this was probably the hardest thing I have had to do in a very long time.

Day 5

By the last day we had all cemented as a group, having discovered an average pace, talked about so many things, cooked together, numbed our hands washing up in 0 degrees, held joint food hallucinations, used nature’s toilet (although not exactly together in this instance), gave each other support when we were feeling tired or achy, dealt with not washing and above all seen the most extraordinary things together; icebergs and glaciers, valleys and snow capped mountains, condors and the insides of Refugios (the first one very friendly, the second one not so, the third one had magic chocolate which cost the earth – or £6.50, but was worth every penny), snow and wind, glorious blue skies, purple, red, yellow and green hazy blurring over turquoise lakes, and finally the snow capped peaks of the Torres del Paine up close. It had been monumental. But wait! Our trek had not ended yet. After warming ourselves on cups of tea and shivering into our sleeping bags we knew we had to wake up, pack up camp and walk several more kilometres to the Refugio at the bottom of the mountain to catch to shuttle bus back to the bus which would take us all back to Puerto Natales. Elis and Bron were the most committed amongst us as they got up at four AM to climb the mountain again and see the towers in the sunrise as they are lit up orange. For Sam, Lene, Jakob and I, our bodies were saying a firm NO WAY to that as we had no intention f getting up before the sun. That last night’s sleep was the coldest yet, with our sleeping bags barely keeping us warm enough to keep sleeping, so we were up early but slow to breakfast, the cold and sleep still clinging to our bodies. We gathered our sticks, lugged on our backpacks (with were a lot lighter now) for the last time and left our camp at the top of the hill, immediately talking about which restaurant, what food and drink we will have to celebrate that evening. The way back was mostly downhill with spectacular views continuing throughout the descent until we crossed another suspended wooden bridge to come to a stop on a grassy verge to wait for the shuttle bus. Now we really had made it! So we celebrated by each buying some chocolate biscuits from the little kiosk there. The shuttle bus came and took us, affording us five star views of the Torres del Paine all the way until we stopped for the big bus to take us back to town. What a crazy few days. Some I will never forget.

Back in Puerto Natales

We came back a day earlier than we reserved a room for so our hostel found us another room for half price in their sister hostel. I took a shower for about an hour, completely washing myself about three times and so ended up feeling like new human being, then we headed out for a monster meal all together to celebrate. They all had huge lumps of (what they termed) as tasty meat and I had a monster palta, cheese and salad sandwich, choclo soup, patas fritas and another salad and some tasty Chilean red wine Cabernet Sauvignon, yum. The red wine in Argetina and Chile have been amazing, so delicious, I don’t think I have ever tasted such tasty wine. We chatted, were merry and then all fell into our beds. 

I don’t think I even dreamed that night! But we were up the next day to move into our hostel and to gather things we needed for our bus trip back across the Chile/Argentinian border to El Calafate, where we planned to see the huge glacier, Perito Moreno, which was at the other end of the ice field we had seen on the ‘W’ trek. The others were also heading there so we would be together a while longer! So we visited the supermarket, the dried fruit guy (delicious dried fruit!), had a long café visit and lounged around in our hostel room, watching football and films and repacking our monsters of back packs. Off we head on our next adventure!