The rain and snow have been coming down for a couple hours, cold rain that made us contemplate not even hiking up the pristine Valle de Frances. This is the center pillar of the famed 'W' hike which allows trekkers to see the massive walls and glaciers of Torres del Paine national park, here in Chile. It is day 2 for us, out of the 4 required at a minimum to complete the tour in the off season.
We had a great time yesterday, with big vistas of the granite towers that give this park its name, as well as large snow capped mountains framed by opal colored glaciated lakes. Each of the dozen or so lakes we passed during our time here seemed to have its own unique, and totally new, color blue. Some tending towards the opaqueness and complexity of opal, others to the brilliance of turquoise. Many are fed from glaciers a few miles away and are strongly influenced by the glacial runoff and sediments released as the glacier moves forward.
The calm weather of yesterday was a bit of a mirage, this part of the world that is notorious for being fickle and treacherous on that front. We greatly enjoyed our first day, getting up the Torres valley and then traversing the ridge to take us to the heart of the park. We took full advantage of our limited daylight and pulled into the camping area right as darkness descended in full.
Today as been a bit worse, and we have been heading up the valley for 2 or so hours. Right now, we can only see one huge glaciated cliff band, which is not even in the head of the valley. This glacier has let off a few avalanches, tumbling down the sheer face of the rock and ice. Oddly, the sound of the falling mass takes quite a bit longer to get to our ears than the spectacle unfolds in front of our eyes, a phenomena we have seen with other glaciers down here in Patagonia.
As we continue to climb up the valley, we have to resign ourselves to the probable reality that we will not see anything. Still, the hike is along a rushing torrent of a river, with dozens of tributaries crossed and little edens spied in the forest. Very peaceful. We get to the top of the forrest, and out on to a high alpine environment, utterly barren. As we make our way through this landscape (or moonscape), we see faint hints of massive rock towers emerging from the white clouds and mist. First one, then two and then an entire massif. Then a second massif, and another, and another. For a brief moment, five or ten minutes, we are able to see all of the massive torres and cols. Some are too steep to hold snow, others more mountainous, with glaciers stuffed in various cracks and weaknesses.
The vista is stunning, all the more so for its improbability. Muriel observes that these wondrous formations are 'rising like ghosts' and that phrase perfect encapsulates the ephemeral quality of what we see in front of us. The millions of tons of granite and ice around us seem unreal at this moment, half there instead of the result of millions of years of geology. Adding to their ghost-like qualities is the fact that the weather has stripped all color from their face, the entire valley appears as a black and white photo from the Ansel Adams era. Ol' Ansel would have had a field day in Patagonia in general, and Torres del Paine in particular.
Just as quick as the valley appears for us, it closes back and the snow resumes in earnest. Thankfully, the 30-50 mph wind is at our back as we pick our way back through the alpine rocks and climb back down to the main trail of our trek. That night, we continue on and sleep in one of the two refugios still open, with hot showers, a huge kitchen, a wood stove and comfy beds. The next day takes us to the head of the Grey Glacier, over 250 square kilometers in area, and the following day brings us out of the park.
Trekking in this massive National Park gets pretty cushy during the high season, with huge meals and this very lodge booked out until next January already. It is more rustic in the late fall, less amenities but more personal. We love being here in the low season, when the prices are lower and the trails empty. Overall, we hike about 95 kms in the 4 days and crossed paths with other hikers on the trails less than a dozen times. It is like the park is all to ourselves, with gems large and small around the corner waiting to appear.
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