Torres del Paine Day 3

Refugio Francés - Valle Francés - Refugio Paine Grande
➡️22,7km ↗️812m 🕙9:39h 🌞☁️🌬

The shaking of our domo during the night tells us that today will be windy. But at least there is no more rain in sight, so we start the longest of all our hiking days with new motivation and surprisingly still fresh muscles (probably thanks to our daily potassium/magnesium dose).
We hike up the "French" Valley through a calm forest to the two viewpoints Mirador Francés and Mirador Británico, all the while accompanied by the sound of the wind and the Francés river as well as the thunder of cracking ice on falling from the glacier above us. We are very fortunate to have good weather conditions: the day before a storm and snowfall caused warnings not to go all the way up to the second viewpoint, as the path is steep, rocky and exposed.
Still the physically demanding trail that again takes us over rock fields and through even larger streams takes its toll. The last three kilometers to Refugio Paine Grande my legs are screaming - they just cannot be heard through the wind. Our complimentary welcome beer with Mike and Gab is well deserved.Read more