Torres Del Paine - In Pursuit Of Towers

Unfortunately, for the next few days the weather forecast for the Torres del Paine National Park was unhelpful to say the least. Not only was it forecasted to be a bit rainy, but the wind speed would make it difficult to do some of the hikes - or impossible, as the park closes certain ones due to unacceptable risks.

Hope is what we had and the following day, we drove with said hope to a boat ride that we prayed would take us over the western lake of the mountain range and close to Glacier Gray.
However, the strong wind was too dangerous for the boat, so it was cancelled. Instead, we did a short hike that was open for views over the lake, but couldn't really see the glacier as thick clouds rolled in.

So we drove to our new accommodation, which essentially was a brown and spacious dome that looked like it could stand on Mars. It was a really cool place and the owner brought us delicious breakfast every evening for the next morning.

Anyway, the following day was the best window for the most famous hike in Torres del Paine - the hike towards the three iconic towers. It is a 20km round trip with a total elevation gain of around 900m and would turn out to take us around 10h incl breaks.
Luckily, the weather turned out to be okay, with not too much wind and no rain. Only the clouds slightly ruined an otherwise perfect picture.

The hike was relatively straightforward with a longish steep ascend at the beginning followed by a moderately steep middle section. Once we reached the first viewpoint, the views were gorgeous with a river making its way through the valley below us to the right and the mountains rising to our left.

The last section was a tough one, however. It wasn't a long one, just 1.5km, but an elevation gain of 400m meant that it was not only steep, but the terrain was rocky and a clear path was hard to identify. At some point it was more scrambling than hiking and once we passed the tree line, the force of the wind made all this a tricky endeavour. It took us, I think, an hour or so to make it to the viewpoint.

Even though the towers were not completely out of the clouds, we could make out the shapes and were still quite happy that they were not fully covered by the clouds. The lake laying in front of us with the towers rising behind it made for a truly mystic sight. We were both happy and a bit lucky that we did not encounter rain and could still see some of the three towers. Thus, we sat down at a comfortable spot that was protected from the wind, ate our made-it snacks/chocolate, took some photos, did people-watched and simply admired the view. After all, the three towers are among the most famous pictures of mountains in the world and we were right there underneath them.

Then it was time to walk ALL the way back, the same way we came from. For the first 20-30 minutes the weather caught up with us a little bit and we were exposed to some winds and snow. As soon as we reached the tree line, it was all good, though. The 10km or so back turned out to be a very long slog, especially the last 1-2km and we could definitely feel our legs by that point.

For our last day, we had one more hike to do. And it turned out to be the steepest - Mirador Ferrier. It is only 6km long, but with an elevation gain of around 700m of which the first 2km are basically flat. It wasn't the perfect weather either with some light rain making the path up a bit muddy. The viewpoint was west of the Grey Glacier (the one we wanted to see by boat), so we hoped to get a glimpse of it from the top.

However, once we reached the top, it was almost unbearable to stay there. Not only were clouds blocking our views of the glacier and the mountain range, but a mix of a bit of rain/snow, but extremely strong winds meant that it was not enjoyable up there at all. So we did not linger there for long but made our way back quickly.

And of course, as soon as we were around half way down, the weather cleared a bit and the sun even came out. Ah well, guess we cannot have everything. It was a good exercise that probably offers a stunning view in the right conditions.

That was it with Torres del Paine and Chile, though. It truly is an amazing landscape and we could easily see why it is so popular. In addition, being sort of at the end of the world also made coming here alluring and exciting. Dad was also happy and I was honestly impressed about his fitness and level of endurance. Every hike I did, he did as well. And apart from some steep uphill sections where he had to slow down, his pace was similar to mine. Well done, and yes, I definitely was proud of him!Read more