Torres del Paine

'The O trek'

Starting off on a very wet first day, morale was low when we arrived to Seron campsite. After setting up camp, we bungled into a small Refugio for some warmth and tea. Surrounded by everyone's wet gear left out to dry, we sat with Augustin from Belgium, Chad and the Texans, McKenzie and Jeffrey from Seattle and Jordan from Colorado playing cards. This group along with the Ozzie siblings Ingrid and Rohan who we met on the trail the next day happened to be our hiking company for the next week.

Day two provided some relief from the weather and some nice views on route to Dickson, one of our favourite campsites although we lost a few Oreos to some mice friends during the night.

Our third night at Perros campsite was our wettest and coldest although our camping gear held up to keep us dry and warm. A early morning start provided some nice sunrise views as we ascended up to John Gardner pass (the highest point of the O trek) before the wind, sleet and icy conditions met us at the top. Descending down we were treated to spectacular views of glacier grey. The sun arrived in the afternoon as we hiked alongside the glacier and we had an impromptu photoshoot with Gal from Israel.

As we reached grey campsite on the W side of the circuit, the trail and campsites became busier but campsite facilties were also better with bigger cooking areas and more choice of bars and restaurants.

We enjoyed the iceberg lake Mirador close to grey camp before heading off to Paine grande where we experienced some of patagonia's famous winds and got lucky with a morning rainbow over camp.

Day 6 we headed up to Mirador Britanico and after waiting the snow shower out in the forest with a few games of knives, forks, spoons, we got super lucky with some panaromic views of mountain range and valley Frances.

On our last night of our trek at central, discussion throughout camp was widespread about 3am alarms and set off times for a sunrise view at base de Las Torres. We set off at 3.45am and arrived just over 2.5 hours later and were treated to picture perfect views of the famous towers. After the wet start, it was a great high to end it on along with meeting the best group of people.

Campsites: Seron - Dickson - Perros - Grey - Paine grande - Frances - Central

Recommendations:
Do the O
Book campsites in advance before your trip
Best hot showers at Frances
Bring dehydrated meals from homeRead more