Torres del Paine – W trek during 5 days
The W trek is a must do in the Chilean Patagonia. The name comes from the trails that form the letter W. In total it is a little over 40 miles long and is usually done in 4 or 5 days. This trek is known for its diversity : in the weather, that can go from one extreme to the other, and of its landscapes that are breathtaking, from glaciers, turquoise blue lakes, snow capped summits, to green prairies. A true paradise for any nature lover.
Accommodation wise it is possible to stay in luxury hotels near the park, or refuges with camping sites inside the park.
As we were preparing for our trip around the world, we read a few blogs from people who had done this trek. And we read a lot of different things about the weather especially, but the landscapes seemed so beautiful that we had to do it!
And God knows we could have changed our minds, when we realized that a lot of things had changed in little time in the park. Especially when it comes to accommodation. A few years back there were still a few free campsites, where we could simply show up and put up our tent. Today that is impossible, there is only one free campsite left, you have to pay for the others, and they are not that cheap, and worst, you cannot enter the park without having made all your reservations in advance! Indeed, without a reservation they don’t let you get into the park. That is to avoid having over crowded campsites and refuges. Not really knowing when we would be in Torres del Paine, and especially with our last minute flight cancellation, we were able to make our reservations only 2 days before the beginning of our trek. We are lucky to be in the low season… otherwise we would never had availability. Despite the shitty reservation system, we were able to book our campsites for the 4 nights before leaving !
So after a short stay in El Calafate, to go see the Perito Moreno glacier, we leave for Puerto Natales in Chile, to then start our W trek in Torres del Paine.
The 5 hour bus ride transforms into a 6 hour one because of the snow on the road as we climb towards the boarder.
Indeed, we cross, for the third time now, the border between Argentina and Chile, and arrive safely in Puerto Natales.
During the afternoon we plan to go grocery shopping, to buy all the food we will need during the trek, and rent a sleeping bag. As we get to the rental agency, they are about to start their free talk, that goes over the basics that you need to know to hike the W. Perfect timing! The talk is led by one of the owner of the rental agency, who is an American guide that has been living in Puerto Natales for 15 years. For about an hour he gave us precious information and tips for how to best handle the 5 day trek. He really insists on the particular weather conditions in Patagonia. The weather can change in the blink of an eye. The very strong winds can bring along sunshine or heavy rain. He warns us that we will most likely spend the full 5 days soaking wet. And the backpack rain cover won’t work at all because it is most likely to fly away given the 125 mph winds. So he shows us how to perfectly waterproof our backpack, with plastic bags and ziplocs, good thing we made it to the talk because we would never have thought of all that. Finally we rent a sleeping bag with a 15°F comfort rating for Maider, and Matt will simply sleep in both our sleeping bags. The temperatures at this time of year can still be pretty cold, and Maider doesn’t want to live the same nightmare than during our first night of the Santa Cruz trek !
We spend the evening putting together our backpacks, and get a good night of sleep, in a warm bed.
Before going into the day by day, bellow you will find a map of the W trek with the different stages to help you understand better.
Day 1 – Puerto Natales – Laguna Amarga – Pudeto – Paine Grande – Camping Grey
Day 2 – Camping Grey – Glacier Grey – Paine Grande
Day 3 – Paine Grande – Camping Italiano Valle del Frances – Camping Los Cuernos
Day 4 – Camping Los Cuernos – Camping Chileno – Las Torres
Day 5 – Camping Chileno – Hotel Las Torres – Laguna Amarga – Puerto Natales
Day 1 – Puerto Natales to Grey campsite (7 miles)
We wake up early at 5:45 am. Our hostel had setup an awesome breakfast, and off we go to take the 7 am bus that gets us to the entrance of the Torres del Paine national park, where we buy our entrance tickets. We don’t see the 1.5 hour bus ride go by, as we sleep the entire way. We wake up just in time to see the incredible landscape as we arrive.
Since the sky is clear we can even get a glimpse of the famous Torres. At least if we don’t see them because of the bad weather in 4 days, we would have seen a part of them today!
We hop back into the bus after having bought our entrance tickets and drive another hour to Pudeto, where we have to take a boat to get to the other side of the Pehoe lake. On the way, the driver stops to let us take pictures (even though I am pretty sure he used that as an excuse because he needed to pee), the weather is clear and we have an amazing view on the mountains.
The bus drops us off at 9:45 am, but the boat only leaves at 11. We don’t want to stand here waiting and freezing our asses off. The guide yesterday talked about a tiny hike we can do that brings us to a waterfall. So we decide to go have a look and start the 15 minute hike up. The wind is already blowing pretty hard. The guide had warned us, the winds in Patagonia are crazy, they regularly reach over 60 mph with records above 125 mph. It is already tough to walk uphill with the wind blowing, we can’t imagine how it will be with our backpacks on! The waterfall isn’t huge, but the color of the water is incredible.
And we can see from afar the back of the Torres towers. Again, not knowing how the weather will be over the next few days we have to stop to take a pic.
The little hike is nice, and we head back down to take the boat. And off we go on the Catamaran to Paine Grande at 11 sharp.
On the way we have amazing views of the park.
And the water is turquoise blue. Magnificent !
It is here, in Paine Grande, that our trek starts. For our first day we need to reach the campsite of Grey, 7 miles further. The hike is really nice. We walk along lake Grey, and from a few viewpoints we can see a few icebergs.
After 2 hours, we finally see the Grey glacier!
We didn’t think we would be able to see it so clearly. It is beautiful. The last couple of hours are then pretty much done inside the forest.
We see plenty of burnt trees. Indeed, a few years ago, there were major fires in the park, that did a lot of damage. And we can still see the affects today.
We finish our first day after hiking a total of 3.5 hours. We are super pleased because we didn’t get wet at all. We didn’t have a single drop of rain, and feel very lucky because that is supposed to be pretty rare in the region.
We check in at the camping, and find a great spot at the bottom of the mountain, to put up our tent.
We spend the rest of the afternoon inside their refuge to stay warm. The refuge is also a hostel, where you can stay in a dormitory for $90 per night, per person. And yes those are American dollars. So you can understand why we decided to camp. And we get back to our awesome camping dinner : instant soup with instant pasta, before going to sleep !
Day 2 – Camping Grey to Glacier Grey to Camping Paine Grande (12 miles)
The first night in the tent was perfect. We weren’t cold at all despite the strong winds during the night.
This morning we don’t pack up right away. We only pack a day pack to hike up towards the Grey glacier to see it better. We will pack up on our way back later during the day. After less than an hour it starts snowing pretty heavily.
But it doesn’t matter, we continue, hoping it will clear up. After a while we pass a first hanging bridge. Pretty fun. But maybe not very solid, since no more than 4 people at a time are aloud on the bridge. The snow finally stops falling, and the weather clears out just as we arrive at a first viewpoint on the Glacier. From there we have a spectacular view on the glacier.
We take the time to take a little break, with some hot tea!
Just bellow, there is a second hanging bridge, this one is longer and higher than the first one. Maider isn’t really thrilled, but we continue anyway.
From the bridge we have another amazing view on the glacier.
We continue hiking about 5 minutes after the bridge to reach a second mirador. And boy it was worth it. The view at the second mirador is incredible.
We are really close to the glacier, and have a great view on the lake.
We stay here a while taking in the beauty of the place.
And for our biggest delight, we are all alone !
We head back to the campsite a bit before lunch, to pack up everything and put down the tent. We grab a quick bite for lunch and head back the way we came the previous day, to go spend the night in Paine Grande. The first hour goes by pretty easily, still inside the forest. But once we climbed out of the forest, the wind started to pick up. And those were the strongest winds we had ever experienced. It was pushing us from one side of the trail to the other. Making us have to stop to keep our balance at times. Thankfully we had our trekking poles, without them we would have certainly fell face first in the mud.
A little bit before getting to the Paine Grande campsite, the rain starts falling down. That makes it official, we have had all types of weather today : snow, sun shine, rain and of course heavy winds. We were lucky that the wind was mostly in our back, we have no idea how we would have made it if we had to face that heavy wind. Once at the campsite, we wonder how we are going to be able to put up the tent, with all the wind and rain. We don’t have much of a choice, so we find a spot that is more or less protected from the wind, and put up the tent as quickly as possible, and than ran into the kitchen area to get out of this mess. We apologize but we didn’t think about taking a picture of the tent this time 🙂 .
In these moments we are actually glad we are in a paying campsite. Indeed, we spent the evening at the bar having a beer with an American couple, and 2 guys, from Brazil and Australia, who are all doing the same trek we are. Before going back to the kitchen area to cook our delicious dinner. We go to bed, and the wind is still blowing heavily.
Day 3 – Paine Grande camping to Valle del Frances to Los Cuernos camping (13 miles)
After an agitated night, with the wind blowing pretty hard, the alarm clock rings at 6:30 am. We fold back the tent as fast as we can, under the rain and wind. And after a warm breakfast we head out on the trail to the Italiano campsite at 8 am sharp. We can finally take pictures of the place we slept at, since the weather starts getting a little better. Impossible to get the camera out the day before because of the wind and the rain.
We hike along the Pehoe lake and its turquoise blue water, before getting to the Sköttsberg lake.
We finally see a little bit of sun come out, and since it is still raining, the colors on the lake are amazing.
The hike is really nice. Up until the Italiano campsite, that we reach a little over 2 hours after leaving. Just before arriving there is another suspended bridge, but this one can only hold one person at a time… Not very reassuring, but at least we aren’t too high above the ground.
It is at this campsite, the only free campsite left in the park, that we wanted to sleep at. But when we tried to make our reservations, the system was down. Welcome to Chile! We drop off our heavy bags here, and will hike up the Valle Frances with our day pack. In this valley there are two miradors, but we learn that the second one is closed because of the bad weather conditions. So up we go to the first mirador. The valley is absolutely beautiful. And the view on the Nordernskjöld lake is unbelievable. Again we have this amazing turquoise blue water.
Simply stunning. From this first mirador we are supposed to have a nice view on the Cuernos del Paine, but the weather is a bit covered.
We get to the first mirador quicker than expected, and since we don’t see the trail closed, we decide to hike up to the second mirador. This part of the trail is completely on snow. The trail is pretty tricky, since there is a lot of ice and snow and all of it is uphill, but we still enjoy it. It changes from what we had before.
Unfortunately as we get up to the second mirador, the weather is even worse and we can barely see anything. Up there we can kind of guess the outlines of the mountains and we can imagine that it is just stunning with clear weather. We are only able to see the Cuernos del Paine as we are coming down, and the weather clears out a little bit, but only for a few seconds.
We head back down to the Italiano campsite and can admire amazing views on the lake and the Frances glacier.
We take a quick break at Italiano to grab a bite to eat and head back out, with our big backpacks, to the Los Cuernos campsite, where we will spend the night. The hike takes us a little less than 2 hours, and once again the landscape is absolutely stunning, and pretty different from what we have seen so far.
We walk along the Nordernskjöld lake during the entire time and it is amazing. We stop a lot to admire the color of the lake and the incredible landscape in front of us.
The weather has completely changed and it is now very sunny. The granite pic mountains are impressive.
The hike takes us to the shore of the Nordernskjöld lake. And we saw one of the hikers go for a quick swim. He must be completely nuts! Maider barely managed to take off her gloves for the first time in 3 days, and he is in his underwear going for a swim.
We arrive at the camping late afternoon, with a nice view on the lake.
We once again spend the evening with our American buddies, met the day before. And we treated ourselves to a beer and a burger! This is almost starting to look like a luxury trek (we say almost because we aren’t at the level of people who booked the full board for $140 a night…).
Day 4 – Los Cuernos campsite to Chileno campsite to Torres (12.5 miles)
Another early rise around 6:30 am. The sky is absolutely beautiful this morning. We secretly hope (we don’t want to jinx it) that the entire day will be sunny.
This morning we reach a milestone. Indeed. the disgusting oatmeal mix we made back in Peru is finally finished!!!!! So we won’t tell on which blog we found the quantities for a 4 day trek, but those people either eat A LOT of oatmeal… or like us they ended up carrying it for 3 months !
At 8 o’clock we leave our campsite and head to the Chileno campsite where we will spend the night. During 2.5 hours, we hike along the same lake than the day before. And once again the scenery is incredible. With the sun out, the colors are simple unbelievable.
On the other side there is a snow capped mountain that we cannot stop staring at and multiply the picture stops.
Without forgetting our favorite : Cuernos del Paine.
After 2.5 hours, we get to an intersection : to the right you get to the Las Torres hotel that is near the entrance of the park, and on the left is a shortcut to get to the Chileno campsite. So we head to the left and take the shortcut and arrive in Chileno 2 hours later. From the trail, we are able to see the hotel Torres and all the cars parked, our first sight of civilization in a while.
We finally arrived at the campsite at 12:30 pm, and contrary to the other campsites, in this one we had to reserve the fully equipped tent. Indeed, on the website, there was no availability if we wanted to bring our own tent. So if we wanted to stay at this campsite we had to book the full tent with mats and sleeping bags. We were very frustrated as the price was completely insane, but we won’t come back every day and we will simply eat plain pasta for the next few weeks to balance the budget! Since it is still early, and we don’t have to put up our tent (really the only positive point), AND the weather is absolutely beautiful, we decide to hike up to the famous Torres. So we leave our backpacks at our tent (that is at least twice as big as the one we own) and begin the 1.5 hours hike up.
The first 50 minutes to the Ranger Station are pretty easy. We walk in the woods the whole way. It does climb a little bit, but without our big backpacks it is so much easier. But the last 40 minutes are a totally different story.
The climb starts getting very steep, and towards the end we have to walk and climb on a foot of snow. We slip, we trip, we almost fall over several times, and there are many people at the top. But once up there we forget everything! The landscape is grandiose. The famous Torres are just in front of us.
And they are magnificent. We sit in a quiet area, protected from the wind and stay at least an hour just admiring what we have in front of us.
The weather is just perfect, the sun is shining and the sky pure blue. After 30 minutes the site gets empty. Most people only come for the day, hike up, take 2 pictures and have to hurry back down before it gets dark and before their bus leaves. We are glad we only have to hike back down to the campsite and take time to really enjoy the place. And we are really happy to simply be all alone for over 30 minutes. It is magical.
We continue taking pictures with the frozen lake and the 3 Torres in the background. We didn’t think the lake would be frozen and covered in snow, and realize we had only seen pictures in summer time. But it is still as beautiful.
In short, we spent an incredible time simply staying there and admiring this natural wonder. These 4 days of hiking are rewarded by this scenery. And we feel SO lucky with the weather. We could not have hoped for a better weather to come up here
We get back to the campsite late afternoon, exhausted but once again so happy with the day we just spent.
We thought about waking up the next day at 5 am to try to catch the sunrise on the Torres. But that meant having to hike up in the snow with the head lamp, and also risk all that for nothing much more than what we had seen today. Indeed, if the sunrise is perfect, the towers turn red and it is amazing, but that is so rare and we already saw the Torres in perfect conditions so we decided not to go the next day. Instead, we spent the night celebrating the end of the trek, drinking beers with Laura and Ian, our American friends, as well as Gui and Steve, who are Brazilian and Australian and live in Miami, Natasha and Dave from Australia and finally Emilie and Alex from France. All of whom were doing the same trek we did. We spent an amazing time, almost all alone in the refuge, since everybody had gone to bed. After an evening spent laughing and sharing our experiences, we went to bed pretty late for one last good night of sleep before our very last portion of the trek.
Day 5 – Chileno campsite to Las Torres hotel back to Puerto Natales (3 miles)
No need to wake up early this morning, since we forgot about going up to the Torres for sunrise. And we start hiking only around 9:30 am. Today it is all downhill to the Las Torres hotel.
We hike down pretty quickly and cross paths with all the day hikers that are going from the Las Torres hotel all the way up to the Torres, take a picture and have to hike back down to the hotel that same day. Knowing what they have ahead of them, we really wonder how some of them are going to make it to the top, when all they are wearing are jeans and sneakers, or ask us how long it is when they have only been hiking for 30 minutes…
At 1 pm the shuttle brings us to the park entrance where we catch our bus to Puerto Natales.
We will sleep the entire 1.5 hour ride. And after a nice hot shower at the hostel, we go back in town, to celebrate one last time, with our trekking buddies. We spent a great evening in a local pizzeria, and saying our goodbyes before leaving our separate ways.
This trek was a magical and unforgettable experience. We haven’t had the nerve to calculate how much it costed us, because we know it is way too much than what we were prepared to pay. In fact, before leaving we were afraid to not enjoy the trek knowing how much money we were going to spend. But in the end it was totally worth it. The landscapes were absolutely amazing, we had all 4 seasons during these 5 days with rain, snow, wind and sun. The highlight definitely being the Torres. Again we can’t express how lucky we are for having such an amazing weather. We heard about so many people who couldn’t even see the Torres because of the clouds and the fog.
We are also lucky to have been able to enjoy these 5 days with incredible people. We shared meals, beers and difficulties, like having to pitch a tent in the wind or on wooden platforms! All that makes for beautiful memories.
We leave Puerto Natales under the rain, which reminds us, once again, how lucky we were with the weather. And we go back towards El Calafate in Argentina, from where we will go up to El Chalten where we will continue hiking in Patagonia.