Vacation Blog: The W Trek in Torres del Paine

So after a 3 hour bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, a kind of bouncing tiny town for backpackers going to Torres del Paine and El Chalten or Fitz Roy, we avoided our first scamming South American lady who swore she could get us a super cheap bus but was super nervous and kept saying "I'm not lying!" and we bought our tickets to Torres del Paine for the next day. We then went over to our hostel (which at this point we thought was really cool), ate lunch at a super cute and awesome vegetarian restaurant called El Living in town (burritos and carrot cake mmm!), and then went to another hostel in town called Erratic Rock for an hour presentation on the W that was INCREDIBLY helpful and told is exactly what we should do over the next 5 days from where to camp, to how to pack our packs, to everything! After that, we went grocery shopping for the backpacking trip, rented 2 tents (for 2 people each, thus we crammed 3 people in 1 every night but it was totally fine, the 3 person one was actually always warmer!), sleeping bags and mats, and then tackled packing our packs before turning in early before the big 5 day adventure!

The above is the best map of the W I could find online (thus why the talk at Erratic Rock was so helpful). We did the red part in the shape of the W in 5 days, 4 nights. It was incredible! It was my first time backpacking and I fell in love! Definitely hard work, but worth it all!

Day 1: We took an early bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine from our hostel, saw flamingos on the lake from the bus on our way, and made our first stop at the park entrance where we got to pay the Chilean entrance fee ($20 less!) because of our cédulas! We then continued on the bus to the Pudeto Cattermeran where we got off the bus and started our adventure by taking the Cattermeran across Lago Pehoe (off the map) to Refugio Paine Grande and the bottom left corner of the W where we started our trek. Our weather was incredible! This day, we walked for 4 hours (11km) up to Refugio Grey camping site right next to Glaciar Grey and a giant glacial lake with icebergs in it. My pack took some adjusting but eventually got really comfortable, even day 1 with all my food weight plus the tent. There were great views of lakes with icebergs and the glacier. When we arrived, we quickly figured out how to set up our tents and then went for a 10 minute quick walk up to the mirador for the Glacier Grey which was incredible. When we got back to camp, we ate dinner (always classy out of our trash bags eating our nuts, salami, cheese, and peanut butter), played some uno, and went to sleep. It rained that night, but everything stayed dry! On the map, this day involved going up to the left top of the W from the bottom left corner.

Day 2: On the map, this day involved backtracking what we had done the day before, and then going on a bit further to the bottom of the middle of the W to Campamiento Italiano where we camped for the night. We took a lunch break back at Refugio Paine Grande where I also bought new bread to replace my bread that had quickly become inedible and also indulged in a diet coke. I was tent free this day, which was awesome since it turned out we basically had walked down a cliff on the trail the day before without noticing and now had to walk back up the cliff to get back. This was definitely one of the hardest sections of the trail! After lunch we walked 2 hours more on to where we camped that night, which was free and definitely a little more run down than the night before but still beautiful! On the day's walk., we had beautiful views of a different lake from the day before and the mountains. It was incredible to be able to fill our water bottles with glacial stream water and drink the water while being able to see the glacier it came from. At camp, we ate dinner, played some uno, and slept. This is also the day teh big blister on my back appeared, which we named Carla.

Day 3: This was the day that we had definitely built up in our heads and joked around as our "Saturday Night Out". We knew that if we got to our next campsite by 5:30 we could reserve our 1 hot refugio dinner we were going to eat on the trek AND shower. Thus, we got an early start up the middle of the W, leaving our packs and tents at Campamiento Italiano and bringing just a day pack up the French Valley. This hike was hard! There were lots of loose rocks and bouldering involved and it was pretty cold in the morning, but the views were beautiful and it quickly warmed up a bit. We walked along a river and through forests, watching avalanches from a massive glacier on a mountain side off the trail, to an amazing mirador where there we towering mountains and rock forms. Then, we returned to camp, ate lunch, and packed up. We then headed out on the 2 hour hike to Refugio Los Cuernos (favorite camping site!) which was super down hill and steep rolling hills along the side of a lake. We got there in time to reserve our hot dinners and then we showered! An incredible experience in and of itself after 3 days sin shower, although some wimpering ensued when the hot water hit my blister! The camp site was super cute, the dinner was delicious (Austral from Punta Arenas beer involved), and the night was slightly interrupted by the fact that there were signs saying there were mice at the site sow e were all paranoid even though nothing really happened.

Day 4: Long day! We left Los Cuernos at 11am and walked along the beautiful glacial lake for 11km before turning left up the shortcut at the corner up a valley past a refugio and all the way to Campamiento Las Torres, which is basically at the very right hand tip of the W. It was super up hill and pretty difficult, but beautiful. The campsite was cold since itvwas so high up, so we ate dinner, played cards, and went to bed in preparation for waking up before the sun to walk up to the Torres for the sunrise the next morning.

Day 5: On the last day of our trek, we woke up at 4:40am and embarked on a 1 hour trek up to the mirador Las Torres in the dark with flashlights. It was SUPER STEEP, probably the steeping thing I've ever walked up, so it was probably good we couldn;t really see too far ahead of us in the dark! It was also very very cold and started to snow and there were clouds when we got to the top, but we were able to see the Torres for a little bit! Besides this, we had perfect weather the whole trek. After this, we went back down to camp (in which we realized how ridiculously steep the trail we had walked up in the dark really was), packed up, and headed down the last leg of our trip towards Hosteria Las Torres (super nice hotel that marks the end of the W if you do it the direction we did). On the way down we stopped at a refugio half way for some hot water to make coffee and a diet coke before heading out for the final stretch, which was all downhill from there (literally). The weather had vastly improved from earlier that morning and we also very briefly experienced the Patagonian wind that is so often talked about down there as we got inside the Hosteria to eat, rest, and wait for our bus back to Puerto Natales. We did it! And it was an absolutely incredible experience! Now I want to backpack in the Sierras when I get back to California!


When we got back to Puerto Natales, we SHOWERED (glorious! shaved :)), checked email and facebook, and headed to our favorite El Living restaurant and ice cream. We bought our bus tickets to El Calafate for the next day, repacked, and went to sleep in a bed, whcih would have been slightly more glorious if it hadn't been freezing and the bed bugs hadn't made their first appearance.

Overall thoughts on the W: It was incredibly gorgeous and unlike anything I had ever seen. Difficult, but definitely worth it. I can't believe we actually made it happen! Maybe eat fewer nuts next time haha. I really want to backpack more! It was awe inspiring and I'm so lucky to have experienced it. It's also really cool I was able to pay for it all myself. Buying coinditioner and carrying it--definitely worth it. No Pert 2 in 1 haha.


Vacation blog on El Calafate and stuck in Punta Arenas coming soon!