Torres del Paine pt 3

The night at our third camp, Refugio Cuernos, felt like we were in the middle of a tornado. All night long, wind howled at our tent and shook it as if we were in an earthquake. Neither of us got much sleep. When we ate breakfast the next morning, we learned that two friends had a tree branch crash through their tent. They were fine, but their tent was unrepairable. Another couple had a branch sever one of their poles as it cut through their tent. They were fine as well, but also had an unrepairable tent to carry.

Still can see light at 10:45pm

Breakfast on day 4

Day four was going to be the longest day by distance at just under 12 miles. The path was a steady climb up the foothills to Campamento Chile.  After a quick lunch, we set off again up the valley to Campamento Torres which lies about 45 minutes away from the Torres themselves. One of the reasons we hiked the 'W' from west to east is so that we could save the famous Torres for the final fifth day. Some of the best views of the trip were still ahead.

Facing the sporatic rain and heavy wind head on 

Gust of wind racing across the water with a rainbow in tow

The lone boulder

Only one at a time across the bridge

Heavy wind and a smile

Raging river as we get closer to Campamento Torres

Amazing cut through the mountain

Spectacular forest

We made it to our last camp at the doorstep of the Torres. The winds were not letting up, so we picked a spot that provided good cover. There was a mix of campers on their last day, and many on their first day trekking east to west. It was clear who was which. We barely had enough energy to cook our raviolis, and ultimately decided that the sauce wasn't worth the energy to cook so we just added hot sauce. It was very tasty. The guy next to us was working three burners at once. Sausage and beans in one with a homemade sauce in the other and two types of rice in the third. We stared in disbelief as he actually twisted off the top to a personal-size bottle of wine to go with the two-course dinner. We didn't need to ask if it was his first day. We made our way to the tent and prepared for a 4am wake up to see the Torres at sunrise. The plan was to hike 45 minutes up the steep terrain until we reach the lookout point for the towers.

We made it to the top

Waiting for the sun to shine

Breathtaking view 

We made our way down and packed up our gear. It was another three hour hike back down to the shuttle that would take us back to Puerto Natales. As we arrived at the shuttle pickup, we couldn't believe that it was over. We set down our packs, walked into Hotel Las Torres, and ordered a beer. The trek was difficult, but the only memory will be of the unimaginable beauty of the park.

A much needed beer at the finish line

Once we got to Puerto Natales, we dropped off our gear and went back to our hostel. We flew out the next day to Puerto Montt, but not before Shanta finished her celebratory beer at the airport. 

She hiked Torres faster than she finished that beer!