Hiking the W Trek in Torres del Paine

The craggy peaks of Torres del Paine National Park dominate the landscape of Chilean Patagonia. They soar toward the sky like outstretched fingers, concealing glistening lakes, transparent rivers and a host of wildlife in their shadow.

Adventure lovers from around the world flock to Patagonia during South America’s summer months in order to experience some of raw nature at its finest. The region is a backpacker’s wonderland and and an adventure-lover’s playground.

Hiking is the best way to explore Patagonia. As a result, trails criss-cross the landscape and bring travelers face-to-face with its majestic scenery. Among this vast network of trails is the W Trek—Patagonia’s most popular trek and one of the most beautiful multi-day hikes in the world.

 

TORRES DEL PAINE W HIKE: PLANNING & LOGISTICS

The W Trek is a multi-day backpacking adventure that highlights some of the most spectacular scenery in Patagonia. It is an adventure that is as challenging as it is rewarding, and as beautiful as it is wild.

Hiking the W Trek in Torres del Paine requires a fair amount of planning and coordination. In preparation for the journey, I scoured forums, read blogs and made multiple trips to REI for gear. And yet, as Dan and I boarded our flight to Punta Arenas and the prospect of hiking in Patagonia suddenly became very real, I realized that I still had little more than a vague idea of our plans.

Luckily, we had scheduled a day in Puerto Natales to figure out the logistics of our itinerary, rent trekking poles and camping gear, plan for emergencies, and attend an information session conducted by the Erratic Rock Hostel.

The Erratic Rock Hostel was our best planning resource for the W Trek. The popular backpacker’s hangout in Puerto Natales holds an informative overview of the W and O circuits ever day at 3pm. The session is open to the public and covers everything from equipment rental to transportation and from campsites to suggested hiking itineraries.

• GETTING TO TORRES DEL PAINE

In order to reach the park, we took a 7am bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine National Park. Buses Gomez and Buses Maria Jose both operates two daily departures from the Puerto Natales bus station—one early in the morning, and one at 2.30pm. Both bus companies charge roughly $16 one way.

At the park’s administration center, we registered for the hike and reserved a campsite at the popular Torres Camp for the final night of our trek. Then, we hopped back on the shuttle and continued to Pudeto, where we caught a ferry to the Paine Grande trailhead. 

 

TORRES DEL PAINE W TREK

I would have loved to hike the entire O Circuit in Torres del Paine, but the loop takes about nine days to complete and would have eaten up nearly all of Dan’s accrued vacation time. Instead, we settled on the Torres del Paine’s W Trek—an abbreviated and popular five-day version of the longer circuit that covers many of the park’s most notable highlights.

Heeding valuable advice from the information session, we decided to hike the W Trek from West to East—starting out with the park’s easiest terrain and moving gradually to the more challenging sections of the trail. This would allow us to acclimate to the feeling walking hours on end, with our homes on our backs.

 

W TREK DAY 1: PAINE GRANDE TRAILHEAD TO GLACIER GRAY

With our bags packed high and the wind at our backs, we began the first leg of our hike from Paine Grande to Glacier Grey.

The trail is lined with craggy mountain peaks on one side and the placid Lake Grey on the other. As we neared Camp Grey, we were afforded spectacular views of the ice field in the distance.

Low-lying cloud cover partially obstructed our views of the mountain peaks and muted the colors of our surroundings. Still, we counted ourselves lucky in terms of weather and marveled at the beauty around us. Most of what we had read about Patagonia warned us of the temperamental and unpredictable forecast. We’d heard of strong winds and heavy rains often posing obstacles to hikers and we’d come prepared for the worst, hoping for the best. Yet, aside from sporadic gusts of strong wind and occasional low-lying clouds that obstructed our view, the weather remained pleasant throughout our hike. 

When we reached the Glacier Gray campsite, Dan and I quickly set up tent, put down our heavy packs and continued walking along the trail in order to get an up-close view of the glacier. We hiked an additional 4km each way, across a suspension bridge and toward the now-defunct campsite between Refugio Grey and Paso Camp.

At one point, we heard the thunderous sound of a calving glacier and saw a massive chunk of ice plummet into the lake below. We were awestruck and giddy with excitement. I couldn’t believe how fortunate we were to witness the forces of nature at play and to have found ourselves at the exact right place, at the right time (little did I know how many calving glaciers we would witness one week later, at the Perito Moreno Glacier).

And yet the glory of our first day on the trail did not end there.

After we returned to camp and fixed up a dinner of dehydrated Pad Thai, we were rewarded with one of the most incredible sunsets I have ever seen. Lenticular clouds formed over the mountain peaks, making the sunset striking not only because of the reds, oranges and purples of the sky, but also because of the unique shapes of the clouds.

 

DAY 2: GLACIER GRAY TO CAMPAMENTO FRANCES

On our second day of hiking the W Trek, the trail took us from the Glacier Gray campsite to Campamento Frances. Campamento Frances is the newest camp in the park and offers an alternative stopping point to the free and often booked-up Campamento Italiano. The path between the two camps returns to Paine Grande, before continuing along the shores of Lake Pehoe and Laguna Scottsburg. As we hiked, the clouds lifted a bit, revealing mountaintops that had been largely concealed the day before.

We were exhausted when we arrived at camp. Dan’s knees hurt from tendonitis and the bottoms of my feet were sore from hiking another 20km under the weight of my pack.

 

DAY 3: DAY HIKE TO THE FRENCH VALLEY FROM CAMPAMENTO FRANCES

On the third day of our trek, we explored the scenic French Valley as a day hike from Campamento Frances. We had elected to stay at the same campsite for two nights, so that we wouldn’t have to worry about taking down and re-mounting our tent. Staying put for two nights also allowed us to leave our heavy packs at the campsite and climb up to the Mirador Britanico with just our cameras and a small pack of essentials.

The French Valley is the middle leg of the W and many consider it to be the most beautiful area of the park. A trail leading to the Mirador Britanico cuts through forested terrain and is flanked by tall, granite spires on either side. As we scrambled up the uneven path, each step revealed views more spectacular than the last–stratified columns of granite reaching toward the clouds, sheer cliff faces plummeting to the valley floor and hanging glaciers lying delicately between the mountains’ crevices.

Behind us, views of Lake Nordenskjold and the sculpted, windswept hills took our breaths away.

 

DAY 4: CAMPAMENTO FRANCES TO TORRES CAMP

In addition to being the longest day in terms of distance, our fourth day of hiking was made more difficult by the beating sun and constant uphill climb.

But despite the fatigue we felt, we were propelled forward by the promise of beautiful view upon beautiful view. 

The path led us past the Cuernos towers, across bubbling streams and along the shores of sparkling lakes.

During the penultimate day of our hike in Torres del Paine National Park, the sun had decided to peak out from behind the clouds and paint the mountains and lakes in vivid shades of brown, green, blue and grey.

That is, until we reached the base of the towers and the clouds began to form in front of us—muting the landscape’s vivid colors once more.

The famous towers are the crown jewel of Torres del Paine National Park and are considered to be the highlight of  the W Trek. They are Chile’s answer to the jagged peaks of Argentina’s Mount Fitzroy.

The last stretch of the climb to the towers was grueling, especially after such a long trek from Campamento Frances. For the last mile or so, we had to scramble up a steep moraine that shot straight up the mountain with few switchbacks.

The views, of course, were worth every ache and pain in our legs.

As Dan and I sat at the base of the towers and tried to shield ourselves from the fierce wind, we ogled at the remote and wild beauty around us.

Then—exhausted from the longest stretch of our multi-day trek—we hobbled back down the mountain, toward camp.

 

DAY 5: COMPLETING THE TORRES DEL PAINE W TREK

By the beginning of day 5, we had made it to the pinnacle of the trail. From the towers, it was all downhill, both in terms of difficulty and elevation. With a mere 8km to go on the fifth and final day of our hike, we relished the fact that we had conquered the W Trek in Patagonia and successfully completed our first multi-day backpacking trip together.

 

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The rugged tip of Chile is home of sweeping vistas, jagged granite towers and a host of Patagonia animals like the adorable wild guanacos (South America’s answer to a camel and the largest mammal in Patagonia). It is also home to unpredictable weather; strong winds, relentless rains and, at times, sweltering heat.

Hiking the W Trek in Chilean Patagonia left us tired and sore and battered and bruised. Despite the agreeable weather, the elements had peeled a whole layer of skin off my face and the steep downhill portions of the trail left Dan with a crippled knee.

But hiking the Torres del Paine W Trek also left us invigorated and inspired. The reward of completing the hike washed away any semblance of pain and exhaustion that we might have otherwise felt.

And the views and photographs that we gathered from our five days on the trail, were worth every punishing step.

 

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