Torres del Paine: Day 1- Las Torres

Thursday, March 5

Waking up this morning was painful, but the pain quickly dissipated as the excitement for our Torres del Paine adventure set in. We ate a quick breakfast before the bus was outside our hostel honking for us to board. The first thing I noticed as we stepped into the crisp morning air was the sun rising over the hills. I can probably count the number of times I’ve seen a sunrise on one hand, and this sunrise was no different. I would easily trade the beauty of the rising sun for a couple extra hours of sleep. We climbed aboard the bus, settled in, and conked out for the next 2 hours.

I awoke to guanacos grazing in the hills as we approached the entrance of Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. The entrance to the park was a simple a lodge where visitors paid the $15,000 pesos entry fee and received a trail map of the park. The first thing we noticed was the weather. There was a line of clouds stretching across the entrance of the park covering all of Torres del Paine. Behind us were clear skies and sunshine. Our first priority before beginning our hike was to decide at which end of the “W” hike to start. The far end began at Glacier Grey and worked its way back towards Las Torres. The near end, which begins at the entrance of the park, starts with a hike to Las Torres and works back to Glacier Grey. Las Torres are the namesake for Torres del Paine as well as the iconic centerpiece of the park, representing an awe-inspiring masterpiece of nature’s beauty. Before arriving we had heard countless stories of visitors who co]ame to the park and never saw Las Torres because of fog, clouds, or other varieties of poor weather. Torres del Paine is equally known for its beauty as it is for it’s extreme weather, ranging from hurricane force winds to successive weeks of rain, snow, and clouds. It is extremely rare to have more than one day of sunshine and clarity on a trip to Torres del Paine.

Needless to say, our group was at a crossroads. Conventional wisdom says if the weather is poor to start your trip, then begin at the far end with the hike to Glacier Grey and hope that by the time you make it to Las Torres the weather clears. When we arrived the weather was partly clear, but it was early enough in the morning that there was promise of the clouds burning off as the sun became stronger throughout the day. We took a gamble and decided to start with the Las Torres and hoped that the clouds would indeed burn off.

We exited the bus and climbed in a small van with 8 other people on our way to Refugio Las Torres, the start of the hike. With 12 hiking backpacks strapped to the roof and 12 passengers in the van was rumbled along a pothole-ridden dirt road when we approached an old rickety bridge. Gaurding the bridge was a sign exclaiming “Peligroso”, meaning “Danger”. The sign basically said that the bridge was not made for the weight of a vehicle plus all of its passengers, and instructed everyone to exit the vehicle and walk across before allowing the vehicle to pass. Our driver barely took notice of the sign and steamed across the bridge. Everyone was so overcome by shock and surprise that nobody made a move, yet everyone’s eyes harbored an unspoken glimmer of hope that we would cross unharmed. Fortunately, we made it unscathed and were at the start of the trail in no time.

We strapped on our packs and got underway making progress up over the ridge and into the valley of the first leg of the “W”. As soon as we turned the corner of the ridge, and were exposed to the wide open expanse of the valley, we were literally slapped in the face by a driving wind. Standing on the edge of a cliff with 40 lb. backpacks, we had a difficult time staying on our feet. We were warned of high winds today, but we never expected to experience them right of the bat. In vain, Daniel predicted the difficulty of walking in the impending wind when he facetiously mentioned that his only fear on the trip was getting blown of the side of a cliff. Truer words have never been spoken.

After about 2 hours of hiking into the wind we made it to Campamento Chileno, our campsite for the first night. We dropped our packs and had a quick lunch before hiking the rest of the way up to Las Torres. As we got closer, the clouds began to lift away and it looked as though our decision to start on the near side of the “W” was going to pay off. We climbed above the tree line when again we were hit by a wall of wind. This time, however, the wind was coming from our backs and the gusts were literally pushing us up the steep inclines. After hurdling boulders and trekking through streams, we finally made it to the Las Torres and they were more extraordinary than any of us had imagined. We were blessed with crystal clear skies and everyone began snapping away with their cameras. We scrambled to gain sure footing in the howling wind, but continued to get knocked around by 75 MPH gusts. The towers were absolutely beautiful. They were framed by a turquoise lake at their base, rocky cliffs on each side and puffy cumulous clouds above. With such clarity it was easy to see the blue tint in the rock of the towers, from which they get their name. Torres del Paine roughly translates to “Blue Towers”. After 30 minutes of being in awe, the cold started to get to us and we decided to head back to camp.

We made it back to camp in the valley and cooked up a quick meal of beans and sausage. Not exactly the gourmet meals my brother and I are accustomed to at home, but it did the trick. Everyone was in such high spirits from seeing Las Torres that we hadn't even notice we hiked for 6+ hours today. Exhaustion was impossible to avoid. We were all in the tent by 9:30pm ready for our longest and hardest day of the trip in which we planned on hiking for 12 hours. Valley Frances here we come!