Day 1 Torres del Paine W-Circuit

FINALLY the day of our big last adventure had arrived!! To say that we were excited would be and understatement, but truth being told we (or Alina at least 🙈) were also a bit worried about the weather - according to forecasts the weather was predicted to once again not be in our favour 😬 We left Puerto Natales early with our 13 and 15 kg backpacks for Pudeto, where a ferry took us to the Refugio Paine Grande. After a quick lunch we started our first trek: 11km to the Refugio Grey where we spent our first night camping. They way to Refugio Grey was nice and not too difficult (even though we really had to get used to the weight on our backs) with views of the lovely blue Lago Grey. It was the trek where we noticed the devastating impacts of the two big forest fires of 2012 and 2019 the most: dead trees everywhere 😕
After pitching our tent (like professionals 😎) at the Refugio Grey - which, by the way, was pretty luxurious with a minimarket and hot showers etc! - at around 14:30, we did not feel like we’ve had enough steps in yet, so we went further to the small viewpoint of the Grey Glacier. Great views and 3 more kilometers on our counter! Still, after coming back and seeing it was still very early (and us not being tired at all), we went off to explore the surroundings some more until we reached the 15km mark for the first day. NOW we could rest, take a hot shower to warm up a little (Alina did - the manly Gilles thinks showers while camping are overrated 😉) and cook our dinner = boiling water 😄 for instant couscous and tomato soup as a makeshift sauce 🍽️. It was a good first day of good weather, easy exercise and having an early and relaxing night!Read more