Torres Del Paine - Patagonia

Nov. 26-Dec. 4, 2025 - Part 1

This is the first week of a three week action packed trip in which we did 11 flights, visited three countries and hiked 120 km through the mountains in seven days. We also spent five days sightseeing and eight days getting transported from one location to the other. We had more than double the amount of daylight hours, sunrise being at 5:30am and sunset at 10:30pm. We experienced hot summer and cold winter weather.

I didn't think I'd be back this soon, but its the time that worked best for the other three women. February 3 we were going to start the trek the next day but a phone call from my son abruptly changed that for me. My husband had drowned in an ice-fishing accident. Now, eight months later I was back, determined to give it another go, as Case would've wanted me to do. I was concerned that it'd be a bit too early in the season. But it turned out we got the perfect weather window, being flanked on both ends of the hiking portion of the trip by snow and bitterly cold temperatures.

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Nov 27: We landed in Santiago at 12:15pm. But we couldn't check into our hotel till 4:00pm. This gave us some needed time to sit down in the restaurant there and go over our plans for the following day. After dinner we headed out for a neighbourhood walk. The colorful murals reminded me of those we saw in February in Valpariso, a small coastal town 2 hours drive west of Santiago..

The view from our hotel room.

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Nov. 28

A delicious nutritious breakfast (not).

We started a walking tour at 10:00am in Plaza de Armas.

Our tour was cut short when a man attacked one of the young women in our group. He grabbed her necklace and pulled her to the ground as she screamed and struggled. When he lept up to escape, a local man was about to pursue him but another man popped out of the woodwork and started punching him! Everyone started yelling to stop the thief!!! In a matter of seconds, a group of men surrounded him and restrained him quite forcefully until the police arrived. The poor girl was traumatized.

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago was built from 1748 to1906.

The parliament building.

Odd sculptures.

St. Lucia Hill.

The Costanea is the second highest tower in South America.

Taking the funicular down.

The old with the new.

San Christobal Hill.

By the end of this day we'd walked 19 km.

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Nov. 29

In the morning we did a 5-hour flight to Puerto Natales. The birds-eye view was amazing! So many glaciers, mountains and huge lakes.

The view from our hotel room. It was a relief to be out of the bustling busy city.

A walk through the town of Puerto Natales.

A monument of the Mylodon, a giant prehistoric sloth from the ice age. Well preserved remains were found in a cave 30-minutes drive from the town.

Group shot: Cindy Waslewski, Sheri Kampman, Emelia Panakova + me

Fitz Roy; the Towers.

A mineral exhibition store.

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Nov. 30

A unique coffee table. Waiting to get picked up for the drive to the boat launch.

A brief stop during the 1:30-hour drive, to get our park permits checked.

Alpine Daisybush Lord Anson's Pea

A 2 km walk got us to the boat launch.

Grey Glacier.

Ahh. The warm sun felt so good on our skin. Especially after weeks and weeks of cold wet weather at home.

Escallonia alpina Poepp Dove Orchid

Myrtle Orange Prickly Heath

Our original plans to do a 3-hour hike to the lookout above Grey Glacier had to change. Because of the five fatalities the week before, they closed the O-Circuit trail. The rangers that control the gates to the John Garderer Pass were gone to vote. Winds equivalent to that of a catagory 3 hurricane, and blizzard conditions caused five hikers to die of hypothermia.

So instead, Emilia and I did a 4-hour glacier walking tour while Sheri and Cindy went kayaking.

The toe of the Grey Glacier.

I got a kick out of our guide, Carlos. He constantly had this big Cheshire cat smile on his face as he was enthusiastically leading and instructing us.

Harness, helmet & crampons -- ready to go!

I've never seen such blue water and ice before.

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Dec. 1 - Refugio Grey to Camp Frances: 20.5km / about 400m elevation gain (not cumulative)

We hiked the 4-day red route which is called the W Trek.

We were excited to be on the way at last. My backpack weighed about 20 lbs. The temperature went up to a comfortable 15C.

In the morning we were hiking along Grey Lake.

Austral Thrush Streaked Maiden

Violet Anemone

We had to do many creek crossings on wet rocks. But the trail was in good condition.

Notro = Firebush Slender Goldenweed

Huemel Deer

Pea Darwin's Slipper

We had lunch at Paine Grande which was the halfway point.

Gavilea lutea Alpine Mouse-ear

Lake Pehoe -- south with Refugio Paine Grande to the far right.

north

We arrived at Camp Francis at 3:30pm, good and tired. The winds that this region is known for, came out in full force, slamming against our tent in the night.

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Dec. 2 - Camp Frances to Britanico viewpoint to Los Cuerno. Stats: 19 km / 770m gain

A lovely restaurant and the bathrooms were large and clean.

The buns for lunch were delicious, loaded with meat and cheese and the paper bags had different illustrations every day.

We backtracked a few kilometers, to the Frances Valley junction by Camp Italiano.

We hiked to the right of highest mountain in the park, Paine Grande (3050m).

Lake Nordenskjold.

The wind literally swept me off of my feet at the Frances viewpoint. I had to hang onto a huge boulder to keep from falling!

Approaching the amphitheater.

The next six photos are taken from the west to the east.

Heading back down from the Britanico viewpoint.

Back on the main trail along Lake Nordenskjold. We continued to walk along this massive lake the following day as well.

Strong gusts of wind left me walking like a drunken sailor.

We arrived at Refugio Torres at 4:30pm.

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Dec. 3 - Los Cuerno to Refugio Torres / Stats: 13 km / 150m gain

The first few hours on the trail we were constantly stopping to put our ponchos on only to have to take them off again when the drizzle let up.

Leaving Refugeo Cuerno behind. The food was the best there but we did not get the biggest quantities.

Azorella prolifera

Yellowear

Rufus-collared Sparrow Ox-eye Daisy

The Ascenio River.

By 12:30 noon we were at Refugeo Torres. It was nice to have an easier day after two longer hikes. Mt. Al Mirante Nieto (2640m).

We had a better view of the Towers from our refugeo than the next day when we hiked to the base of the Towers and the clouds had closed in.

Sheri had gone on to the Towers because of the good weather window. She said it was a gong show with so many people and traffic jams on the trail. This is the most popular day hike on the W Trek. It is accessible by road. Photo credit goes to Sheri (obviously).

This was the largest refugio. It was one of two nights that we had to share our room with two others.

Breakfast was served in all the refugeos at 7:00am so we'd be on the trail by 8:00am. And dinner was at 7:00pm.

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Dec. 4 - Refugeo Torres to the Base of the Towers. Stats: 10km / 1200m gain

Most of the hike was steep but this section along the Ascencio River was not.

We regrouped at the Refugio El Chileno. Sheri stuck with Emelia who was not planning on going all the way (yes, Sheri did the hike again).

Magellanic woodpecker.

The forests in this region consisted mostly of lenga beech trees.

Black rock inside the boulder.

Emelia made it too! At the age of 79 she was a true inspiration!

We felt like we were sitting in a theater, higher up on the slope under the shelter of a huge rock, watching this proposal unfold. Then right after that, a man went up on the rock and did some type of karate dance.

Cindy and I were planning to stay up there longer, hoping to get a better glimpse of the towers but my hands were going numb so we left.

Erosion caused braided trails on this slope leading to the suspension bridge. From there it was a half an hour walk to our refugio. The nearby Welcome center is where the bus picked us up at 5:00pm us up and transported us back to Puerto Natales.

These wild guanacos could jump the fences.

It was kind of our driver to stop for us for photo ops.

Back at our hotel for one more night.

We had booked this self-guided W-Trek through Patagonia Heros. They made two mistakes with the time we met our representative and the departure time for the boat on the first day. Thankfully four people didn't show up so we could get on which saved us 3 hours of waiting for the next sailing. Also they didn't email us a detailed itinerary till the last week. But they did get us the huts on the trail and that was most important.