Torres del Paine Hiking Guide

THROUGH MEADOW FLOWERS AND A PRISTINE VALLEY

The hike along the O-Trek begins with registration at the Hotel and Camp Las Torres, the last post of civilization. The number of trekkers is limited, the full O-Circuit may only be hiked in an anti-clockwise direction and campsites must be reserved. This serves to protect the sensitive fauna and flora of the park and also the safety of the hikers: If a registered group or individual does not pass the ranger checkpoint or arrive at the campsite by a certain time, a search party may be sent. However, you should not rely on this. From the Hotel Los Torres, the hiking trail on the first day's stage always heads north, into the more secluded part of the national park, which only five percent of hikers visit. While you initially tread in the shadow of the 2,670-metre-high Monte Admiral Nieto, which was the first peak in the region to be climbed in the 1930s, the mountains reveal their gentler side as this first stage progresses: Endless meadows, covered with colorful, fragrant flowers - mainly less exotic daisies, cranesbill, ribwort plantain and sweet pea - between which wild geese waddle, leisurely meandering streams and rivers. Airy fleecy clouds drift over the picture-book idyll.

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Vera shows us edible chokeberries, wild currants, foxberries and calafate berries from the barberry bush. "They say that once you've tasted the calafate berry, you'll come back to Patagonia," she says with a laugh. Later, we taste the "Pan de Indio", "the Indian bread", an edible mushroom that grows on the trunks in the southern beech forest. "The three southern beech species, which are only found in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, grow extremely slowly. These trees are therefore ancient," Vera emphasizes. Lichens grow on the trunks like beards. Palomitas, delicate white orchids, grow between them.

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In the Serón sector above the camp of the same name, we look down on the valley of the Paine River, which is unique in its originality. "165 million to 135 million years ago, there was an ocean here," explains Vera. Volcanic eruptions under the surface of the water caused layers of sediment to form. Later, when the Nazca plate began to slide under the South American plate, the mountains folded up. Several ice ages eventually created the rugged towers that characterize today's hike to Camp Serón. "From now on, we will hike through completely different landscapes every day," Vera promises, "today we are in the pre-Andean scrub zone, tomorrow we will pass through Nothofagus forests. After the Garner Pass, the Andean desert awaits us.

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ENCOUNTER WITH THE "PATAGONIAN BREATH"

The Torres del Paine National Park has been a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1978. Covering an area of 242,000 hectares, it boasts vertical granite peaks, huge glaciers, lakes in every shade of green and blue imaginable and rushing waterfalls. Although the mountains barely scratch the 3,000-metre mark, the conditions on the passes are the same as those at an altitude of over 3,000 meters. "The tree line is at 700 meters and even in summer, the precipitation above this altitude falls as snow," explains Vera. In the valleys, on the other hand, it can be warm and even tropically humid. An average of 150,000 people visit the Torres del Paine National Park every year.

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When we arrive at Camp Serón, we pitch our tent among the meadow flowers. A mighty griffin, a carancho, searches the ground for food without hesitation. The sun sinks spectacularly behind a nearby range of hills, setting the scene for a starry night. More wilderness romance is not possible! The next day, we head past Lago Paine and along the river of the same name. Plank paths lead through an extensive swamp area. The peaks make their hanging glaciers sparkle, fast-moving clouds create an exciting interplay of light and shadow. But then Patagonia shows its true face: the wind tugs at your rucksack and whistles through your jacket. The strong Patagonian wind, which no stiff North Sea breeze can compete with, comes out of nowhere. Walking becomes twice as difficult when you have the "Patagonian breath" against you, but when it comes from behind, your feet become unusually light. In the strong gusts, you get the pleasant feeling of flying - with heavy luggage on your back.

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At the Refugio and Camp Dickson, the next stage destination in the very north of the Torres del Paine massif, we make the acquaintance of another Patagonian natural phenomenon: mosquitoes. Despite the mosquito spray, they spoil our enjoyment of the evening atmosphere on the sandy shores of Lago Dickson. A lonely, bizarrely shaped ice floe floats on it. "Lago Dickson is fed by the Dickson Glacier, which is already part of the great Patagonian ice sheet," reports Vera, "and it also feeds the Paine River. The evening sun makes the exciting mountain architecture that rises behind the lake glow in all its colorful glory. It turns purple, then the color fades to bluish. Paine means "blue" in the indigenous Tehuelche language. In the evening hours, you can understand why.

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GARNER PASS AND GREY GLACIER

Behind the camp at Lago Dickson, the trail leads through an ancient, fairytale-like southern beech forest to Camp Los Perros, which is beautifully situated at the foot of the glacier of the same name. A lake has formed in a rocky basin below the glacier. From the shore, you could spend hours watching chunks of ice cascading down the glacier into the lake. During the natural cinema show, we snack on the not particularly tasty but nutritious chaura berries that grow in large numbers around the shore. "That's the good thing about Patagonia: You can find edible fruit, you have fresh drinking water everywhere and there are no ticks, poisonous spiders or snakes," Vera emphasizes. You don't even have to worry about thunderstorms. They hardly ever form in Patagonia.

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Day four of the Torres del Paine O-Trek is the decisive day with the crossing of the John Gardner Pass: The pass, which was originally called Paso John Gardner but lost its "d" over the years, is just 1,250 meters high. Some alpinists may smile wearily, but the 750-metre ascent is a tough one. Between the glaciers on the slopes of Cerro Amistad and Cerro Blanco Sur, we sweat our way steeply up over coarse scree. At the top of the pass, which forms the weather divide, an icy wind awaits us, but also a view that is second to none: We look out over the Grey Glacier, part of the Chilean ice sheet, the largest continuous ice mass outside the two poles. It is still far below our feet, but we have a complete view of the 25-kilometre-long glacier and can see how it calves into Lago Grey. The further we descend, the more clearly we can see the huge crevasses and ice floes as high as houses floating in the water. An excursion boat looks tiny in between. With immense pressure, the rapidly melting glacier pushes the masses of ice into the lake, the color of which already resonates in the name "Lago Grey". When we reach the edge of the ice flow, we can even hear the creaking and cracking of the ice. But soon everything is drowned out by the whistling of the wind, which carries away every word - and every unattached hat. We can't get enough of the perfectly curved glacier tongue, which presents itself to us, glistening innocently white, from ever-changing angles as we hike along it. As a result of global warming, however, the ice fields in Patagonia are also shrinking. "Over the past hundred years, the glacier has retreated by several kilometers," explains Vera. The Italian monk Alberto de Agostini, who made the first inland ice crossing in the 1930s and made Patagonia internationally famous with his photographs, was presented with a completely different picture.

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ANOTHER TURQUOISE LAKE

Arriving at Refugio/Camp Grey after five days of solitude, you are almost overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle. This is where the first leg of the W-hike ends. The next day's stage to Camp and Refugio Paine Grande is not only characterized by encounters with many other hikers, but also by the traces of the devastating forest fire in 2012. The landscape appears almost surreal: the charred trees, between which the new greenery is still sprouting, stand in sharp contrast to the untroubled idyll of the mountain landscape behind them. At Punta Bariloche, the Paine Grande stretches its pointed spikes into the sky like crooked predator teeth. Then you reach the emerald-green Lago Pehoé, whose name means "turquoise" in the indigenous Tehuelche language. This is where the catamarans dock, allowing you to cross over to Pudeto, where you can reconnect with civilization, under the mountain backdrop of the "Cuernos" and past two mighty waterfalls. Alternatively, you can continue on foot to the Refugio Los Cuernos and then over the middle peak of the W-trek, the Valle Francés, the "French Valley". The steep path offers fantastic views of the Paine Grande, the largest mountain in the national park at 3050 meters, with its many hanging glaciers. After returning to the Los Cuernos refuge, the last leg of the W-trek and the ascent through the Valle Ascencio await. "Ascensio was a notorious cattle thief who retreated here," explains Vera. There is no trace of the loneliness of that time today, but the magic of the mountains is still there. The moment of exhilaration at the brief but intense sight of the Torres - moments like these are simply worth returning to this alpine wonderland again and again?

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MAGNIFICENT ROCKS IN A MYSTICAL VEIL

Shortly before arriving at the mountain lake below the Torres del Paine, the point from which the typical view of the three towers opens up, Vera's prediction comes true: the three peaks shine in all their glory. The sight that adorns many illustrated books and has become a popular motif on Instagram and co. is almost indescribable in person. We put in a sprint over the last hundred meters of altitude, but as soon as we reach the top and the camera is ready, the fog rolls in again. A quick snapshot, then it's over. The three magnificent cliffs are once again shrouded in a mystical veil. It's getting icy cold, our fingers are clammy despite our gloves, we wait, shivering and hoping. Will the Torres towers make another appearance? But the precious moment is over. Nevertheless, we are not disappointed, as we could definitely feel the magic of the place and the day hike to the Torres del Paine towers was just one of many highlights and the crowning glory of a unique trekking tour, the O-Circuit, through the Cordillera del Paine.

Annika Müller on the O-Circuit Trip January 2020