Refugio Paine Grande - ilivetotravel's travel log

Trekking the W Circuit at the Torres del Paine: Day 3

29 June 2015 by Raul Leave a Comment

Day 3 started with me looking out the window from my room at Refugio Paine Grande to the tents that some slept in. It is incredibly hard to believe anyone could sleep in those with the high winds experienced. But, some did!

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The campsite at Refugio Paine Grande on a wet morning

It was a nice start to the day though it would not remain so for the entire hike that day.

Sun rising…

Looking towards the torres at Refugio Paine Grande

Looking at one wing of the refugio

Headed to the Campamento Italiano and the French Glacier

We left camp around 9:15 AM. Our next meal would happen about 3 hours later…

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Walking along Skottsberg Lake headed to Campamento Italiano

The main attraction for the day would be to see the valley of the Glaciar Francés (French Glacier). To get there, we would detour from the main route taking us from Refugio Paine Grande to our destination for the night: Refugio Los Cuernos. It would imply a very long day of hiking to the Campamento Británico (British Camp) and back out requiring a steep climb. I was not sure I would have the energy for the very long day that would result from the hike (a total of 15 miles in about 10 hrs) but was not going to miss it if the group went (always a good motivator!). But the weather made the decision for us. Visibility was going to be too low for the trek to the valley to be worth it. However, our leads suggested that we hit the “mirador” spot from which one could, at least, see the glacier. After a lunch stop at the Campamento Italiano (Italian Camp), we left for the mirador, despite slight rain, and it was a nice compromise worth the trouble (about an hour roundtrip – not bad!). We also saw the Paine Grande Glacier above the French Glacier.

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Arriving at the Campamento Italiano

Upon arrival at the Campamento Italiano

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The view of the French glacier

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Beautiful smooth rocks

On to Refugio Los Cuernos

The remainder of the hike went smoothly though the weather was not spectacular. It was very muddy at spots and there were a few places were boards had been placed to walk on since it got too muddy. On one of those, I lost my balance as the planks were not quite horizontal and I fell off. Luckily for me, I nailed the landing (2 ft down). Wish there were a video of it! Still we enjoyed the closer views of the torres as we headed to our resting place for the night (and a hot meal!).

And finally… at the Refugio Los Cuernos!

Towards the last part of the hike, we hit Lake Nordenskjold and by 4 PM, we made it to the refugio.

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Welcome to Refugio Los Cuernos!

We enjoyed white fish for dinner, wine and games. I was out like a light before 10:30 PM!

Typical room at the refugio

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Dinner was always a good time to chat!

Outdoors at the refugio – it was very windy!

We were one happy bunch, and not forgetting why we were doing this: for the kids!

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Trekkers and the supporting crew

——– Read more about the trek ———

Day 1 at Torres del Paine

Day 2 at Torres del Paine

On to day 4 at Torres del Paine!

Hiking around Fitz Roy in Argentina

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Filed Under: Chile, Hiking, Patagonia, South America, Travel Journal Tagged With: Chile, hiking, Olympus, Patagonia, photo, Refugio Paine Grande, Samsung Galaxy, torres del paine, travel, trekking, W circuit

Hiking the Torres del Paine W Circuit | Patagonia Day 2

18 May 2015 by Raul 13 Comments

After a successful day one in the Torres del Paine National Park, in southern Chile, we were ready to embark on day two. This day would have re-trace our route from day one in reverse to get us to Refugio Paine Grander where we would spend the night. It would be the only trail we would do a round-trip on. However, this day would start with a real treat. It would include a Grey Glacier hike!

Good morning from Refugio Grey

As the group was too big to go as one onto the glacier, the group was split into two groups. To my disappointment, I got assigned to the group that was leaving earlier that morning. I like my sleep when I can get it.

I woke up 30 minutes earlier than I needed to, not on purpose. Electricity had not yet been turned on at the refugio at that time in the morning, something I had not known (or stopped to think about) so it took me by surprise – and I had not been ready with my headlamp so I went out of the room in the dark. Off I went, fumbling my way to the restroom down the hall… Fun times!

Crossing the lake to get to Grey Glacier

After we all had breakfast, etc. we left the building to get going on the glacier hike. We broke up into our two groups and off we went to the shores of the glacier. The boat ride was uneventful, very short – around 20 minutes. Getting off the boat was tricky as there was a big gap. We had to jump to a narrow ledge on the rocks that was wet. Happy to report that we had no accidents in either group!

On the moraine

At that point, we had to walk some along the moraine in order to get to the ice proper. It took about 2 hours under a constant drizzle. It made me nervous that the rocks were wet with the soft rain so I probably went slower than my normal. The rock was slate which was surprisingly not slippery but the “doubting Thomas” in me wouldn’t take risks 🙂 I did not get to appreciate how beautiful this part of the hike was was until the return hike back to the boat when I was more awake, it was not raining, and I was riding high after the time on the glacier!

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Our group after making it to the edge of the icefield

Give me my crampons and set me off

In any case, we got on the glacier proper and we were excited to get to the spot where we would enter the ice field. At that spot, the gear was waiting for us. A brief presentation showed us how to walk on ice and not die – or something like that. Then, we proceeded to put on the crampons (mine looked like Peary or Amundsen used them over 100 years ago in their epic hikes through ice…), learned to use the ice pick, and climbed onto the ice.

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My crampons – antiques!

Finally on the real Grey Glacier hike

It had stopped raining shortly before getting to the ice. The timing was great so we could enjoy being on the ice and not deal with water falling on us. It did not rain again during the rest of our glacier hike – at least my group which went first. But it rained at the end of the hike of the second group. A good reminder to always be prepared for rain! Fortunately, the sun was out most of the time which made for beautiful pictures.

We greatly enjoyed looking down crevices (I have to admit being a little gun-shy of getting too close to the edge) Also, it was neat to see pools of water on the ice that looked like mirrors. In total, we spent somewhere between an hour and hour-and-a-half on the glacier itself. The hike on Grey glacier was a really neat experience that I would recommend as part of the W Circuit hike. Or, actually, anywhere else in the world you can do a glacier hike!

My friends Mira and Kim – real explorers!

Beautiful colors!

Posing with all my Grey Glacier hike gear on

Trekking along the glacier – so cool!!!

Coming off the ice field onto the moraine under MUCH better weather!

Comparing the Grey glacier hike to my Franz Josef glacier hike in New Zealand

I couldn’t help but compare this glacier hike to my helicopter ride onto the Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand. On the one hand, flying the heli to the glacier saved time so we spent more time on the glacier. Plus just the thrill of flying in a helicopter and enjoying a magnificent approach to the glacier. On the other hand, climbing the moraine at Grey Glacier was a fun experience.

However, I have to say I’d prefer doing Franz Josef over this one as we got to crawl in ice caves and do things like that over there. But I enjoyed the Grey Glacier hike nevertheless because glaciers are amazing. And I was with good friends, out on a beautiful day walking on ice!

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Fun at the Franz Josef glacier

A brief stop at Refugio Grey

We made it back to the Refugio Grey after the glacier hike. There we enjoyed some lunch prior to getting going on part two of our day: hiking back to Refugio Paine Grande, where we had landed by boat the day before. The lunch was a delicious plate of spaghetti and meatballs as you can appreciate from the picture below!

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Delicious!

The main hike of day: headed to Refugio Paine Grande

We started off on our hike at 3 PM which felt late. It rained a good bit on the trail that day so I did not take as many pictures as I would usually do. The good news was that the rain was hitting us from behind vs. the front which is way more annoying. Not being able to take photos was not a big disappointment, though, because we were on the same trail we had walked the day before in the other direction to get to Refugio Grey. Things finally cleared up when we were getting to the end of the trail (around 7 PM) which was nice. I got a couple of pictures in anyway to remember the end of the day.

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Not ideal weather but it was not hard rain either…

The weather was beginning to clear up…

My hiking partner that afternoon was Mira. We were thrilled to see the refugio ahead and blue skies!

The end of a fun but long day in Patagonia

Day 2 on the W Circuit was almost one for the books. In spite of the rain, it was a pretty incredible day on good account due to the Grey Glacier hike! And after a great meal (meat with mashed potatoes, red wine and a brownie!), the time to rest came. I gladly climbed on my bed as the wind howled outside – nice to be dry and warm inside!!

My bed was the bottom one!

——– Read more about the trek ———

Day 1 at Torres del Paine

Day 3 at Torres del Paine

Hiking around Fitz Roy in Argentina

Filed Under: Chile, Hiking, Patagonia, South America, Travel Journal Tagged With: Chile, Grey glacier, grey glacier hike, hiking, Lake Pehoé, Patagonia, Refugio Paine Grande, torres del paine, trekking, W circuit

Hiking the Torres del Paine W Circuit | Patagonia Day 1

30 April 2015 by Raul 1 Comment

My first visit to Patagonia left me wanting to go hiking the Torres del Paine National Park. That was 2010. Luckily, the opportunity arose in 2015 to return to Patagonia to trek the W Circuit, the set of trails that goes around the Torres del Paine peaks in the park.

Back in 2010, I was not into hiking but I recall seeing people who had just finished the hike. I was left wondering what it would be like and wishing I got to do something like that. So, the wish became true when the opportunity arose with my friends from Trekking for Kids. And now here I was on day one of the five day trek!

Getting to the starting point at the Torres del Paine NP

We had made it to Puerto Natales, the gateway to the Torres del Paine, from Argentina where we had gone hiking around Fitz Roy. That was one long and mostly forgettable drive – hours and hours. At least the bus the group had was fairly comfortable. And the group was fun.

In any case, on day 1, we left Puerto Natales early in the morning. We had to cover the 2-hour+ route to get to the port where we would take a catamaran to cross Lake Pehoé. The boat ride took about 30 minutes. But, before getting on the boat, we got a preview of the majesty we would be getting ourselves into and explore during our hike.

The peaks or towers of the Torres del Paine stood before us in simple but great majesty. Do you agree??

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The Paine Grande on the left and the towers/peaks on the right. Awesome view!

This boat ride would take us to the Refugio Paine Grande, the starting point in our hike. Right at the departure “port,” we saw evidence of the fires that ravaged the area a few years ago. The trees were reminders of the fragility of the environment there (or anywhere, for that matter).The map below shows where we took the catamaran (A), where we landed at near Refugio Paine Grande (B), and where we were going to hike that day, Refugio Grey (C). The next day we would return to and stay at Refugio Paine Grande again.

But, before hiking the Torres del Paine, let’s have lunch

The ride was smooth and the views were awesome, especially because the day was so beautiful. By the time we got to the refugio, it was about lunch time so we had lunch at the refugio. The meal was simple but pretty tasty and, certainly, hefty enough to help us with the trek ahead. However, by the time I was done eating the lentils and rice dish, I was longing for a nap, not a hike 🙂

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My first lunch on the trail!

Off to Refugio Grey

We got on our way to Refugio Grey around 2 PM. The landscape started a little on the bland side and then we moved through forest of burnt trees before stepping back into the beauty of life with purple, pink and yellow flowers as we bordered lakes. Approaching a high point overlooking Laguna Los Patos, we got our first taste of strong winds – and our first long break. The route is not overly signed but I did like the signs located along the way.

At this point, we had covered 1/3 of the total hike for the day as the sign at Laguna Los Patos shows. We would encounter a couple more of these signs before reaching our destination.Soon after we could see the end of the lake facing the Grey glacier. In 2010 I had visited that edge of the lake and walked it, resigned to see the glacier from a distance. This time, I would get to walk on it!!

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Behind me, the grounds I walked on 2010!

One of our vantage points, the Mirador Lago Grey, was close to the highest point on this trail sitting at around 250m over sea level. By virtue of its location and altitude, it offered phenomenal view of the glacier straight ahead. And it was WINDY up there!!!

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About to have the best views of the glacier at this point

Our first full frontal view of the Grey Glacier

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The next day, we would be hiking on the glacier (the left corner in this pic)!

Fellow trekkers Jose and Kat fighting the wind to take photos of the glacier

At some point, one must pose for a photo with the glacier!

Among the beautiful scenes I saw was this marsh or bog (not sure what it was, technically) which sat, across the lake, the Grey glacier. Out of a movie!Another neat spot was when we crossed the small but quite powerful Rio Olguin. We were getting close to the destination!

Overnight at the Refugio Grey

And finally, we arrived, 4 hours and 15 minutes later! The Refugio Grey was very welcoming and a great place to rest and relax. The outdoor seating area hosted us as we sipped some wine after showering. Eventually we made it inside for a great meal (carne mechada and rice chased by chocolate mousse!) and camaraderie.

Soon thereafter, I crashed, ready to let my body recover before our fun-filled day 2. The sights from this day confirmed for me that hiking the Torres del Paine National Park was a great thing to have aimed for!