Monday, November 27, 2006
Torres del Paine Day 4 - Grey Glacier
Thank god it´s a bit of a rest day today as I feel terrible. I slid off the thermarest mat last night and slept on the ground. Even with 3 pairs of socks, all my clothes and two hats I was freezing.
The sun out is out for the first time in three days and I sit on the edge of the lake rubbing my sore knees from the pounding they´ve taken over the past few days.
We take a boat trip past huge icebergs to the face of the glacier. Huge ice towers, tinged with blue (where the ice is more compact) rise up to the sky.
We have lunch at Lake Pehoe overlooking the Torres massif before taking a short but steep walk to the Condor lookout which overlooks the mountain range and lakes.
On the way back to our campsite at Laguna Amarga, driving through grassy steppe, we spot two guanacos mating. The hills are covered in guanacos. It´s the first time I´ve seen one and now they´re everywhere.
Tomorrow is our last day and hike and reputedly the hardest - to the base of the Torres peaks. Our tour guide conveniently leaves us and hotfoots it back to Puerto Natales, but not before leaving me his minus 19 degree sleeping bag. He says I´ll sleep well tonight, and I do.
Torres del Paine Day 3 - Grey Glacier
It´s a shorter and easier walk to the Grey Glacier or 'Grey' for short. It´s only 11km so I´m relieved after yesterday´s ordeal. We start in scrubby valley walking up and down through rocky terrain until we reach the lookout point over the glacier. There are even icebergs that have drifted down the lake from the glacier. My first thought is that is looks remarkably similar to Pio XI - craggy with blue slits that glint like rough diamonds - but it´s beautiful and I can´t wait to get nearer.
We stop for lunch in field of dandelions before reaching Grey Campsite at 2pm. The lake really is grey in colour because of sediments in the glacier but it´s drinkable. I get my first close-up of blue icebergs floating in the lake. I climb to a viewpoint where I can clearly see the face of the glacier. It´s huge and dwarfs a passenger vessel cruising past. The glacier is part of the massive Southern Patagonian Ice field, which is the third largest in the world after Antarctica and Greenland.
At the campsite we are treated on Baileys on (glacial) ice. Later that evening the guys that run ice-climbing on the glacier (we couldn´t go as there was a problem with the boat) start a campfire and bring out the Gato Negro (cartons of red wine) to kill the cold. I start talking to one who´s been working in the park for a while and ask if he has any desire to travel outside Chile. He tells me he has no interest in seeing Europe or the US. It´s beautiful here (in Torres del Paine) and he gets to meet people staying at the campsite from all over. Well, he does have a point. It is beautiful.
The stars are out in abundance tonight and I haven´t seen so many since Dorset, April 2003. I remember it clearly.
Contemplating the French Valley, Torres del Paine
This is to satisfy those of you that have complained that there aren´t any photos of me on the blog (did you miss the tango one?). It was taken by my tour leader who turned out to be a very talented photographer.
Torres del Paine Day 2 - Valle del Frances
I don´t sleep well. It´s too cold, even wearing my woolly hat, and the wind bellows menacingly all night which makes me thinks I didn´t do the tent zip up properly. I feel my hips dig into the ground even though I have a ground mat and my self-made pillow of fleece and t-shirt is woefully inadequate. I must try to moan less or I´ll become a whinging pom' to my Australian tent mate.
We´re up at 7am for our W circuit leg to the French Valley. It´s starts off bright but is overcast within minutes and from then it changes constantly from rain to sun, to grey skies and gusty winds. Four seasons in one day is the usual description given of Patagonian weather. Layers constantly on and off.
The walk past Lago Skottberg is undulating and beautiful. The lakeside is covered in fire-bush trees which flank the snowy mountains. Mini tornados are whipped up by the wind on the lake.
We arrive at Campamento Italiano 2 1/2 hours later before starting the steep ascent up the Valle del Frances to the Campamento Britanico. The valley overlooks an overhanging glacier (on Paine mountain) covered in moraine dust which is pushing its way down. The walking is hard, and it turns into a scramble over rocks and boulders with hands and knees. At this point I start to think if having a baby is similar to trekking. The girlfriends I have that have children have always said they´d never have another child after their first, yet a couple of years later they´ve forgotten the trauma. I think trekking is the same for me. However many times I say to myself I´m never going to put myself through the agony again, the next day I´m doing it again. Maybe senility is setting in.
I´m relieved when no one wants to go any further than the camp and we head back - another 3 1/2 hours retracing our steps to the camp. 20km in 8 hours. All in all, not a bad day´s work but I´m exhausted.
At dinner Daniel and I manage a nerve-biting game of Jenga which goes to 38 levels. I lose.
It rains all night and whenever I wake, which is often as I´m cold, all I can hear is the pitter-patter of the rain.
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