The W trek is one of the world's great treks.....if the number of people doing it is any indication!
It is so well-known that is simply called "the W". So people will ask you "did you do the W?"
Weird, eh?
Actually I didn't know about it before my daughter went to patagonia a couple of years ago.
But seriously it is a great multi-day trek.
It is in spectacular country. In chilean patagonia. This is the tail end of the Andes - almost.
It is in the Torres del Paine National park.
And it full of spiky sticky-uppy bits.
Not only that - there are the bluest aquaest glacial lakes, a glacier (or two), clearly marked walking tracks, campsites, refugios (mountain huts deluxe), and a boat trip.
And it is close to sea level - so no altitude sickness.
Are you sold?
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| an encouraging sign along the way |
The classic W is a four day trip.
We did it in 6 days.
Hardcore walkers carry all their gear and camp and cook all their own meals.
Softcore walkers carry day packs, stay in the refugios and get all their meals provided for them. Sounds cushy....but it is also expensive.
Plus I kindof like camping. No! Actually I LOVE camping!!
So I nutted out a middle road.
We camped in the campsites that had tents already set up.
We carried our own sleeping bags and mats (as I am a fussy bugger!)
We ordered dinners in the refugios.
And we made our own breakfasts and lunches.
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| snug camping platform at Los Cuernos campsite |
It worked out great I think.
It also meant that I only carried my day pack as I don't have a bushwalking backpack. And I am slow enough anyway, so more weight would have slowed me down to snails pace.
(N0 comments G, P and D!!)
I also randomly selected to walk from east to west.
Which was OK, but we were told that most people go from west to east as that is the direction of the prevailing winds.
The nearest town is Puerto Natales and we stayed there 2 nights before and 2 nights after the walk.
Puerto Natales is well set-up to provide everything you need for the trek. From fully guided walks to tent and other gear hire.
Every day at 3pm the guys at Erratic Rock hostel give an information talk about the W.
Although we thought some of the information was iffy - eating snickers for breakfast so you can get off to a fast start, or not wearing raincoats as you get wet anyway???
But it is worth going to ask any questions you might have.
One thing I was unsure of before we went was if there were cooking facilities at the campsites.
I knew there were kitchens for campers, but when we discovered there were no stoves our travelling buddies bought a propane gas cooker and we hired a set of pans.
We also bought some cheap plastic plates and mugs. We had taken plastic sporks, a thin plastic chopping board and a sheathed sharp knife.
There are at least a couple of supermarkets in Puerto Natales, and it's quite funny when you shop there, there are all these other hikers buying the same sorts of things!
For breakfast we took oats and dried fruit, which has put me off porridge for life! Remember to take some sweetener or lots and lots of dried fruit.
For lunch we took crackers, cheese, cucumber, capsicum and carrot. I pre-cut the capsicum and it turned very slimy before the end.
Our buddies took boiled eggs which didn't last the distance either.
We had dried fruit and nuts and "muesli" bars for snacks. And chocolate of course.
The dinners in the refugios varied from edible to pretty good. But to be honest I would have eaten anything - at least I didn't have to cook or do the washing up.
We were able to order vegetarian meals.
Also the refugios sell grog! How very excellent.
There were also showers at all the campsites we stayed at. Sometimes hot. Sometimes not so much.
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| vegetarian meal at refugio Chileno |
When planning our route I knew that there was a tourist boat trip on Lago Grey and thought it would be wonderful if we could get on the boat at Refugio Grey and not have to walk back down to Paine Grande, but couldn't find any info on it. When we were there we found out the the boat goes in fact land near Refugio Grey and we could probably have booked the boat trip instead of walking back to Grande Paine.
But I think it was quite expensive.
So this is what we did -
Day 1: we got the afternoon bus from Puerto Natales to Hotel Las Torres at the eastern end of the walk.
Stopping at the national park entrance to pay the entrance fee, sign some forms and listen to a short safety talk (compulsory)
All this took about 2 hours.
We then walked up the Rio Ascencio valley to Refugio and camping Chileno.
It was about 7pm when we got there and dinner time!
The tents there are set up on wooden platforms and thankfully are well attached as it was incredibly windy that night.
I woke several times convinced the tent was going to actually blow away!
Distance: 5kms.
Time: 2hours
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| we start out from Los Torres hotel |
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| up the Ascencio valley to camp chileno |
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| happy and relieved to find dinner waiting |
Day 2: waking up pleasantly surprised to find we hadn't blown away!
Walked further up the valley to THE Torres. Which are three magnificent towers of rock set above an impossibly aqua lake.
Oh - just look at the photo!
The torres are over 2000m high - that's as high as the highest point in Australia!
It was still quite windy and several times I was nearly blown off my feet.
The strong winds are a feature of the park.
We stayed another night at camping Chileno.
Distance: 4kms one way.
Time: 2.5 hours
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| camping at Chileno |
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| the beautiful Torres |
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| "that way" |
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| from Chileno camp you can see the Torres |
to Camping and refugio Los Cuernos.
Another tent on a platform.
I should also mention that the tents were quite small.
2 person tents - just, but with no room for backpacks.
We slept with our feet on or around our bags.
Distance: 13kms
Time: 4.5 - 5.5 hours
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| beautiful Lago Nordenskjold |
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| Camp Los Cuernos nestled beneath the cuernos |
Day 4: The longest day.
We knew this was going to be the most challenging day - going up the middle of the "W".
But we knew that we could turn back and not go all the way to the top.
Even so it is a long way from camp Los Cuernos to Grande Paine. There ae two other campsites in this area but they didn't meet our requirements in terms of tents already set up.
However it is definitely worth going up the middle bit - Valle Frances, as you get to see the glacier Frances, some lovely forest and views of the amazing rocky pinnacles.
You can leave your backpack at Campamento Italiano - as the hoards of other walkers do.
At the end the sight of Grande Paine lodge was very very welcome.
Distance: 23kms
Time: All day! Left camp at quarter to 8am, arrived at 6.30pm.
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| morning walk with rainbow |
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| Los Cuernos |
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| Valle de Brittanico |
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| Frances glacier |
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| Looking down the Valle Frances to Lago Nordenskjold |
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| Our destination Grande Paine lodge and camp comes into view |
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| Grande Paine campsite |
Day 5:
Up the valley alongside Lago Grey to the refugio. You get views of glacier Grey.
There is a bit of a serious bump on the way which made us think that the return trip would be strenuous.
We were told this takes 3 and a half hours - it took us longer. It was very windy and pretty cold.
Distance: 11 kms.
Time: 4.5 hours
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| Grey Glacier |
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| Camp Grey campsite |
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| Refugio vegetarian dinner |
Day 6:
Return trip down to Grande Paine.
We made an early start, as early as we could considering it didn't get light enough to see until 20 past 7.
The troublesome hump didn't seem so bad and we made good time.
From Grande Paine we caught the 12.30 catamaran across Lago Pehoe and then bus back to Puerto Natales which we reached at 5pm.
Distance 11 kms
Time: 4 hours
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| Refugio Grey looks very cosy as we leave at dawn |
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| Lago Grey looking very grey |
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| We did it! |
http://www.torresdelpaine.com/ingles/secciones/01/portada.asp
http://www.fantasticosur.com/en/mountain-lodges/
http://www.verticepatagonia.com/
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