Torres del Paine

The W Circuit in Torres del Paine national park is one of those backpacker bucket list excursions. It is a 4-5 day trek of about 46 miles of moderate to strenuous trails through some seriously incredible scenery.

The trek can be done either east to west or west to east and is very popular this time of year (high season). Since we wanted to stay in refugios (shared rooms in cabins on the trail) as opposed to camping, we booked in late December and even then had to flex dates and the route a bit due to lack of availability. We went east to west for our trip.

Two days before we entered the park we attended the free and very informative talk about the trek (and the longer O Circuit) at Erratic Rock in Puerto Natales which helped with what to pack, distances and what to expect on the trail.

Torres del Paine (TDP) is known for its unpredictable weather (four seasons in a day) including torrential downpours and winds up to 70 mph. Travelers we met in hostels earlier in our trip talked of late season snow and sections of the trail being closed due to high winds a week before we went.

Wednesday morning we got up at 5:45 and stored our big backpacks in the hostel. We walked in the rain to the bus station in Puerto Natales and caught the 7:30 am bus to the park. We arrived at the park entrance and paid the entrance fee and watched a mandatory safety video. A few years ago a fire started by travelers burned 40% of the park- now any open fire will get you a hefty fine, jail time and lifetime banishment from Chile. We then took the shuttle to Refugio Torre Norte and set out on the trail just after 11.

Our destination for the first day was the Mirador Los Torres. This is the lookout over “the towers” – rock structures that the park is named for. The hike was 9 km each way. The first 5 km climbed about 400 meters (1200 feet) to Refugio Chileno which is where many people stay the day they climb to the Torres, but it was full when I booked. The next 3 km were flatter and took us through woods and across rivers. Speaking of rivers, the water in the rivers and streams of TDP are glacial runoff and safe to drink without treating. So we filled our water bottles from the rivers as we hiked and the water tasted fantastic!

The final 1 km to the Torres was a brutal climb over boulders straight up, but the views from the mirador made it all worth it. We saw a fox at the mirador and a condor on the hike up.

We hiked down the same way we came up and got back to Refugio Torre Norte at about 7 pm. We had decided to bring breakfast and lunch food (and snacks) with us from Puerto Natales but to buy dinners at the refugios each night after hiking. That first day we learned that to buy food from the refugios you need to reserve in advance and cutoff times vary by refugio (you can also reserve when you book the accommodations but we hadn’t done that). The cutoff at Refugio Torre is 5:45 pm. We missed that and were unable to get dinner. So we ate peanut butter and tortillas after 8 hours on the trail while watching others eat soup, meat, rice, veggies and dessert. We learned from this mistake. We did get hot showers though so the evening wasn’t a total loss. We were told they sold pizza and sanwiches at 9:30 after dinner but at 9:30 we were told the kitchen doesn’t start those until 10 and they were out of most ingredients. So we headed to bed.

Day 2 on the W was to be our short day- only 12 moderate km of hiking to Refugio Cuernos where we would spend the night. Checkout was not until 9:30 but sleeping in is difficult when you have four other people in your room who are not on your schedule.  So we were on the trail by 9. The scenery along the entire circuit is amazing so we enjoyed views of Los Cuernos (another rock formation) and Lago Nordskold as we walked.

We arrived early in the afternoon and reserved dinner when we checked in. Getting there early also kept us from having to get the top top bunk on one of the beds as this refugio has triple story bunk beds (we dubbed the top bunks “the penthouse”). The vibe in Cuernos was more social then Torre and we met travelers from the US, Canada, and Germany as we hung out in the common room with views of the lake  and had drinks before dinner.

Dinner was salad, fish, veggies, mashed potatoes,  and apple flan. We ate every bite! We then headed to the room and everyone in our 8 person room was in bed with lights out by 9:30. Such is life on the trail.

Day 3 we got out of bed at 7 and were the last ones up in our room. Our destination for this day was Refugio Paine Grande but on the way there was a detour we wanted to take to Valle Frances making the hike about 22 km. We hiked about 2.5 hours to Campamento Italiano and left our bags sitting outside the camp checkin (with about 100 other people’s bags) and hiked up the valley another hour to Mirador Frances with just an extra layer and some water (and cameras, of course). A couple from Montreal we talked to at dinner in Cuernos had toldvus they saw an avalanche from the lookout the day before so that was my hope. We’d heard them as we climbed the trail.

The lookout was gorgeous! White ice and snow on black rocks under a clear blue sky (we lucked out with the weather- so far only a light drizzle and some moderate wind, with day 3 clear and sunny) and some waterfalls thrown in just to make it a little more magical. We sat and enjoyed the scenery and taked to some of the people from our room the night before. Then, it happened. I heard a crash and looked up and a portion of the left side of the cliff started melting. The avalanche lasted for a good 2-3 minutes. The waterfall to the left in the photo below is actually snow falling down the rocks. It was awesome!

We could have hiked another 2 km up to another mirador but that would make getting to the refugio by 6 to reserve dinner iffy so we turned back and continued on. From Campamento Italiano it was another 7 km to Paine Grande. Our feet were completely sore by the time the lodge came into view and it was a good 30 minutes more walking to get there. But on the way we saw a couple of huge birds in the trees which made it easier to bear. We arrived at 4:55 and at Paine Grade we discovered dinner reservations needed to be made by 5 so we were really glad we hadn’t hiked to the second lookout.

Dinner at Paine Grande was carrot soup, roast chicken, salad, rice, and flan. Paine Grande is run by a different company than the others we stayed in and dinner was nearly $10 cheaper which was nice. They also had an upstairs bar with cushy seats which was a great place to have an Austral Pale Ale (Patagonian beer) and read or hang out. All of the refugios sell beer, wine, mixed drinks, snacks, sodas, etc.

Day 4 was our last on the circuit. We were doing an out and back hike so we left much of our gear in the storage room (for a fee, of course) and hiked light. It was 11 km to Refugio Grey and another 1 km to the lookout over the glacier. The forecast was for wind and rain this day, but we mostly just got wind- serious wind- 50 km per hour wind. But the worst of it hit us from the back on the return. Along the way to Grey, we saw icebergs floating in the lake- small ones at first and then a couple of huge ones that made a large catamaran look like an ant on the water. Then we hit the mirador and got our first glimpse of the glacier.

The Patagonian ice field, of which Glacier Grey is a part, is the third largest ice structure in the world- behind Antarctica and Greenland. We only got to see the tip of it, but it was impressive. There are tours that allow you to walk on Glacier Grey, but we are saving our ice walk for next week. We stopped for lunch at Refugio Grey and walked out to the mirador over the glacier. Then we started the long, windy walk back to Refugio Paine Grande.

The walk back took longer than the walk out. We were both feeling the four days of trekking on rocky terrain and I was limping due to a strained ankle. We made it back about 5 pm- it was our longest day on the trail with over 7 hours walking time. We hung out with our trail buddies in the lodge until 6:30 when we boarded the catamaran to Pehoe and a connection with the bus back to Puerto Natales.

It was 9:30 when we got back to the bus terminal in Puerto Natales and we splurged on a $2 taxi to our hostel. We had dinner at a restaurant a block from the hostel, took long, hot showers, and slept like the dead.

Today is a chill, recovery day. Aside from laundry and buying an ice pack for my ankle we are doing nothing but lounging in the hostel and eating. We’ve earned it! But the W Circuit in TDP was epic. Photos really don’t do it justice. The scenery was worth every step on the trail. I suggest you add it to your bucket list if it isn’t there already.