Refugio Grey – 30km

W Trek – Torres del Paine

This W Trek is one of the Highlights we have been looking for during this trip. A 5 days/4 nights incredible experience in “Parque Natural Torres del Paine” (handle by CONAF) to see the Glacier Grey, Mirador Británico and finally las Tres Torres (read our related article on how to book it and organise your trek).

When we got to Puerto Natales, we went to Erratic Rock to rent our material and we got our very first lesson on how to build up our tent. After that we went back to the hostel and started to pack. It was quite challenging since we couldn’t find the way to fit all our material within our two backpacks of 60L and 70L. We had two sleeping bags which were taking quite some space, the tent, cooking kit, food and snacks and two mats. We had to leave the mats since we couldn’t find a way to attach them properly to our backpacks. We finally made it and could fit everything.

We took the early bus from Puerto Natales to get to the parc entrance. We got a surprise and unfortunately that day there was no boat going because of the very strong wind and bad weather. This meant we had to walk an addition 17km to get to our first camp. On top of the clock pressure (the trail leading to our camp was closing at 4pm) we had to face very strong winds all the way. Nonetheless the stunning landscapes compensated it all!

This Natural Parc is a one and only of the kind. I would comparable it to the Garden of Heaven. It offers everything most beautiful and peculiar you could find in the wild nature. The landscapes bring colours which seem unnatural as beautiful as they are. On our unexpected walk of that day, we started by walking through an immense plateau made of the greenest grass you could see. As any heaven place on earth, Nature doesn’t make it easy for you and you have to earn your way to get into it. We faced very strong winds, rain and hail. After this first ordeal walking at a fast pace, we got to a mount on the borders of te Pehoé lagoon. It was like we were entering in a stunning secret garden. Everything was perfectly aligned, from the reddish flowers contrasting with impressive winterish grey trees. Facing this unrealistic picture: the Pehoé Lagoon. The turquoise of its water looked counterfeit. It was such a deep and lightly turquoise that it couldn’t be real. We never saw such a blue color, it looked like it was paint by some modern artist.

We finally got to our first camp and spent a fresh night close to the Glacier. On the next morning we went to see the Glacier Grey. While we were going on, we started to see immense pieces of ice on the water here and there. The aquamarine blue of the ice was floating like a saphir on the grey water of the lagoon. We reached a first suspended bridge and from their we finally saw the Glacier at the horizon. The mountain spread a gigantic wave of ice and it was there just in front of us. The closer we got, the stronger the wind was. We reached the closest view point we could and just admire this impressive Nature feature.