Chile's Torres Del Paine ("Towers of Paine!?")

April 28th - May 1st 2008

I really lucked out with sunshine and blue skies during my first day. I managed to clamber up and down the mountainsides to Campaneto Torres in a remarkable 2:45, shaving off 75 minutes of the posted hiking times.

I was so happy to be in such a beautiful national park and with the upcoming soccer season on my mind, broke out into short jogs while other trekkers stepped aside (there were very few because the mountain is closing down services for winter).

At mid-mountain there is Campaneto Torres, where everybody camps to wake up at 6AM and hike the remaining 45 minutes up hill along a glacier stream and then over big boulders to finally reach the precipus, and alas, the 3 Torres.


After I set up my tent at base camp, I decided to check out Campaneto Japones a little further down the valley (1 hour each way). When I arrived there was not a soul around this mountain climbers camp. I took a 5 minute snack session before I broke out into a jog with a new plan in mind.


I was going to hike up to the Torres tonight for sunset but I was losing sun fast. Noticing my Dutch friends were not at their tent, I kept up the pace before slowing down due to the nature of the ascent. 10 minutes later I bumped into my friends who were on their way down. They remarked the Torres were "outstanding", which put a little more hustle into my step.


Panting and sweating, I finally reached the top for a view of the 3 Torres with a little glacial lake at their foot. I snapped a few photos but there was a heavy fog partially obstructing the 3rd Torres everyone hikes up to see (Torres Sur). The wind picked up as the sun dropped and I made my way down.


When I got to my tent, I ate, then with nothing to do, went to sleep at 9:30. The temperature dropped down to about zero degrees and I soon found out what all the mouse-hysteria was about.


These little creatures would run face first into your tent, then sniff in a circle the entire perimeter of your tent searching for a hole or food. My rented tent already had a little hole in the front and these mice would find it with their noses everytime they attacked me.

Needless to say, it was creepy and contributed to the 5 hours of sleep I had in the freezing cold! (If any other trekkers were reading this they would call me a wimp, but little do they know I found out in the morning that my sleeping bag is rated for +15 degrees celsius (Les we picked the wrong one for this night but I am alive, and heading north for warmer weather)).


If you did the math, I was wide awake at 2:30 in the morning, waiting for the sun to break the dark while scurrying mice away from my tent.

At one point, one mouse starting climbing to the top of my tent and I was batting my tent from the inside with my shoes to rid it!

At 6:30 I got dressed and went outside, but there were still stars. I stood out in the cold waiting for one of the other 5 tents to show a sign of life. I was ready to go but nobody else was awake! Too scared to hike up the mountain in the pitch black, I finally had company. I trekked up to and past the couple, who I thought of as my "saviors" in case anything went wrong up ahead.


I reached the vantage point as the sun slowly started to rise. The colors were amazing and unbelievably, there were no clouds or fog hovering around the Torres. Other travellers told me last week they were snowed on and they climbed up to these towers only to be denied of a view, and I get it my first attempt. YES!


With extra time, I decided to hike 1 hour up the the slopes to the left for an even better view of the sunrise and towers. I was now in uncharted territory and there were no signs of the other 5 couples.

I had a spiritual moment in complete isolation on top of the world with a perfect view, I was reaping the reward i travelled so far for. The omen was the rainbow I passed the day before as I approached the park (for some reason it made me think of my mom).


So I did not make it to the end of the world but i made it pretty close and knocked off two of South America's wonders with style.


Again, the infrequent transportation really eats up your days down here. I need to get into Buenos Aires as soon as possible (luck has it that the 2 biggest soccer teams in Argentina are playing this weekend (Boca Juniors verus Riverplate). This is going to be INSANE and I think I may need to pay $300 USD to get in!).


Maybe I will come back to Ushuaia and Tierra Del Fuego when it is not winter and the penguins, flowers, and other walks of life are about. Dreading the 40 hours of bus ahead of me but the soccer game should make up for it.