The "W"

Hello everyone.

Well it´s been an eventful few days. Since my last post, we´ve done a 5 day trek through the Torres del Paine National Park, and popped back into Argentina and seen Glacier Perito Merino.

Anyway, I have a bit to post up, and I might spread it across a few posts. Expect this one to be meaty. I think...

First, the trek.

Easily one of the hardest, most rewarding, yet physically and mentally draining things I have ever done. We followed and increasingly popular hike called "The W", because funnily enough, it´s in a rough shape of a W. I´ve ripped an image from Google Maps and overlayed a rough impression of the route. Do you like my MS Paint skills? God I miss Photoshop.
We did the trek with Jamie and Alexis (mentioned in my previous blog post). An awesome couple. Jamie is like Superman with his mental and physical fitness and Alexis is just the most positive person ever, which really came in handy as the days went by! Thanks again guys for an awesome trip.. a really "unique experience" ;-)

click me for full size pic

Day 1 began at around 12pm, where we caught a ferry across to the starting point (purple dot above). Hot chocolate on the boat put us all in good spirits for the day ahead. Once we disembarked we wasted no time in getting off to a great start by being unable to find the start of the trail. A few questions later at a local "refuggio" (think organised camp-site, with log cabins optional if you don´t want to camp) and we were on our way. Looking back on this day, it was definitely one of the hardest. It was only 3 and a half hours to our camp site that night, but over very rough terrain, with bits so steep they left us quaking at the thought of returning via the same route the following morning. In the map above, we camped at the spot marked "1".

Jamie leads the way on day one.

Icebergs from Glaciar Grey, whose eastern tongue can be seen in the background

Unfortunately, the weather didn´t play with us this day. There was slight drizzle, but thanks to this being day one, it didn´t dampen our spirits. We camped about half an hour from the start of Glaciar Grey, which is pretty impressive. Icebergs sailed past our campsite during the evening and into the morning. Not many camp-sites can claim such an attraction. Glaciar Grey is actually slightly bigger than Perito Merino to the north.
Spirits high, we fed ourselves on two minute noodles, and warmed ourselves and dried our gear in a common area of the nearby Reffugio. That night we camped under clearing skies and woke to some nice weather.

Day 2 began with a hearty meal of porridge to power us through the rough walk back to the start of the trail. Instead of taking us 3.5 hours, the walk back through steeper terrain was 4 hours, but boy did we see some awesome scenery! The weather cleared up nicely and we could see the extent of Glaciar Grey from several viewpoints:

Glaciar Grey, which if were advancing (most glaciars in the world are retreating), will eventually crush the island in the centre

Constant snacking on raisins kept the sugar levels up, and by the time we got back to the start, we were still in good spirits, if just tired. A quick tuna sandwich lunch, and we were off again, this time to our second campsite marked with a "2" on the map. The tuna must have been laced with something, because for this short walk (two and a half hours) I earned the nickname Energiser Bunny (still prefer Mr Mysterio) because I was absolutely speeding ahead. The consequence of my being rapido was that I pretty much drenched my clothes in sweat. Nice. Lesson to self: don´t do that again. With the weather clearer on this day, we were afforded a great view of the Cuernos peaks:

The Cuernos

Camp that night was next to a raging river, at the start of Valle de Frances. There must have been loads of moisture in the night, because we woke to damp tents, clothes, and sleeping bags. Not pleasant when the temperature drops to freezing.

The morning of day 3 started with plenty of cloud cover, which I suppose was a bonus because we were now going to head up into the valley for two and a half hours past Camp Britanica for a panoramic view of the valley. I really wish I had photoshop here, as I´ve taken a bunch of shots I want to stitch together. Next time I guess.
Thankfully, this morning we left camp up and took day bags (water, food, cameras, etc) so we weren´t lugging 10+kg around (more for me with my camera gear normally). The view from the top was beautiful, and Jamie being Jamie, decided to go a bit further to a higher plateau and see the view from there. Lex, Fran and I knew our limits and stayed further down the mountain!
As we descended, the clouds remained but thinned and we could see the glacial lakes below:

Autumnal colours area currently in vogue in Patagonia! Beautiful

Packing camp, we hiked another 2 and a half hours to the next camp for the night, which had a Refuggio! Yes, a chance to warm and dry our clothes! It rained this night, but it was so windy that the wind dried our tents. And we awoke to clear skies, fresh air, and an awesome mountain sunrise on our doorstep.

I´ll bring the highlight back in PS, I promise!

The blown mountain above

Day four began in style with the above sunrise, which cheered us up big time. This was also going to be the hardest day, with a good 7-8 hours of trekking ahead with the final section over some steep terrain. We all knew it was coming, and we all were pretty nervous and anxious. By now I was beginning to hit my wall, and knew today would make or break me. Thankfully, even though the day nurtured some dark thoughts in my mind (created by exhaustion, honest!), day four was not the day that would break me. That would be day five´s privelige.
But with such good weather that lasted the whole day (you can have four seasons in one day in the Torres), this was pretty much the best day scenery wise:



I can´t wait to play with these pics in Raw

These guys were on their way to close down one of the Refuggios for the season

And then, we hit a MONSTER climb. Straight up with two flat sections that lasted no more than 10 meters. For over an hour we climbed and climbed and climbed. Carrying our gear on this stretch was torture and I was close to breaking. Still, I didn´t lag behind on this hill, which I´m proud of, and kept pace with Jamie right to the top. Where we saw the final valley on our trip:



Beautiful. My mind didn´t even think about having to climb back up this valley the next day on the way out. I was too impressed by the scenery.
At our final rest trip though, we had to let Jamie and Lex go ahead as we knew that we just wouldn´t be able to keep pace with them. So Fran and I made the final hour trip to the campsite directly beneath the Torres, ready for an early morning assault on the mountain to watch the sun hit the peaks.
Camp that night was great, but I just knew, with Sod´s law, that the weather would not be kind the following morning. And I was right. We woke on day 5 to cloud and slight drizzle, which served to really dampen my mood and knock the spirit out of me. I wanted "that shot" of the sun warming the Torres that DOES happen, and happens quite often. Just our luck that it didn´t for us. So, trying to use Lex´s positivity for motivation, we made the final 45 minute scramble up the mountain. And this is where I broke. With nothing left, no energy in my legs, and a downed spirit, even sans backpack with all our gear, I struggled. Everyone bar Fran got further and further ahead until I had to tell them to just go on, and I would try and catch them later. Fran stuck by me and tried to keep me positive. I will publicly apologise for being so moody wth her here and snapping at her. I was not in good shape, and without your help, I would not have made it to the top. And make it I did! Of course, the view of the Torres were obscured by cloud and the sun did naught to illuminate the spires, but still, the part of me that wasn´t broken was happy to be at the top. Congratulatios by my new friends at the top really helped, even if it didn´t seem like it at the time. Sorry guys!
Anyway, obligatory pic of the Torres below. I can do a lot to this in Raw!

The sun couldn´t burn through thick cloud, but you take what you´re given and make the most of it

Again, I was slow down the mountain, with no energy to keep up with everyone else. And again, we told Lex and Jamie to go ahead and we would meet them at the finish line, because I had to take it slow. So we packed up and make the slow, 3 and a half hour walk back to the end. Along the way, I threw up, but kept pushing. Fran saved my bacon by carrying my camera bag for me, which really helped. Not a complaint out of her either. With nothing left in my stomach, the rest of the trip was slow walking interrupted by dry-retching. Not pleasant. Along the way, I found a walking pole. Ordinarily, I would try and find it´s owner or hand it in, but in my state, I took it and used it to help me back to the finish line.
Constant drizzle kept us company the whole way back, but in the end at around 1:20pm, we reached the end!
Lex and Jamie (and Elly, another who joined us for the morning climb to see the Torres) met us in a hotel restaurant as we waited for the bus back to Natales.

I down two pints of O.J. in quick succession, hoping the sugar would help. I was still broken. Thoughts of food only stirred my stomach in a bad way.

On the (smelly) bus journey back to town, everyone on the bus slept. We awoke, and carried our gear to our hostel (more like a guest house - really nice place too: Yagan House if you´re in the area) and I crashed. We had plans to take Jamie and Lex out for dinner that night as a thank you for inviting us and for carrying and letting us use their cooking equipment, but I was coming down with fever symptoms and so needed the rest. Fran went out with them sans me. Thankfully though, I´d taken a berocca and two paracetemol before falling asleep, on an empty stomach, which worked wonders. Half an hour after she left, I was up, feeling LOADS better and so went to meet everyone at the pizzeria. With Jamie and Lex leaving early the next morning, and Fran and I staying another day so I could recover, I knew I wouldn´t be up in time to say good-bye to them. So the night turned out well and I went to bed on a full stomach, with only a small desire to throw it back up. Things were improving.

The next day, I spent pretty much in bed. The fever symptoms had come back and rest was what I needed. All in all, we´d trekked nearly 80km over terrain that was in parts clogged with mud, steep, rocky, and slippery, carrying all of our gear ourselves. An incredible achievement and I´m very proud of our effort, for a couple of virgin trekkers. Lex and Jamie proved to be excellent companions and I thank them for the warmth, friendship and understanding they showed us.

Any regrets? One. Don´t take so much camera gear next time. I took three lenses and used only one. The 17-40 and 100-400 were essentially dead weights.

Not much wildlife was seen on the trip bar Gunacos at the start of the trip, massive Andean Condors (the world´s largest flying bird), and a really cool Black Chested Eagle-buzzard, which against it´s name, is actually a hawk, but the size of an eagle. Huge.

We booked our bus to leave Natales the following morning for El Calafate, and were greeted with a beautiful sunrise:



And two days ago, we arrived in El Calafate, which will be in my next post.

Oh, before I go, I did promise a pic of my passport with an Ushuaia stamp.. here it is. Done at the most southerly post office in the world apparently, which I think is bogus, because I´m sure McMurdo in Antarctica has a post office.

And lastly, but CERTAINLY not least, congratulations to Kelly and her lesser half on the birth of their second son, Oliver Grace. I hope mum and baby are doing well, and Paul is taking good care of everyone!

Cheers all