Hiking the “W” in Torres del Paine: Days 4 and 5

Day 4 – Thursday, February 25

Our day started a bit early. WIND found us! At 1:00AM, we were both woken by fierce winds slamming our tent. It was incredible and seemed to have come from nowhere. We sat up in our tent to make sure everything between the tent and rain fly was still there. Jared got out to tighten down the rainfly and make sure our camp was safe. The rain fly was intact, we still had all our gear and our tent had not been blown into the next galaxy.

The rain fly leaves about a 2 inch gap between the bottom and the ground, which is just enough space for the wind to pick up the dirt and push it through the mesh of the tent. It was like being stuck in a sand storm. We were pounded by dirt all night long. So much for a shower. I think I got dirtier in the next few hours after my shower, than I had been before I showered. We didn’t sleep real well that night, waking up every so often to strong, sustained winds.

When we did decide to get out, we were covered by a thin layer of dirt and we had dirt and dust in every corner of our tent and inside all our gear. Once we did finally get out of the tent, we were rewarded with the amazing sunrise reflecting off the mountain.

We broke down camp very carefully. The tent proved to be a bit tricky. How do you take it down without it blowing away? We decided that I lay on the tent while Jared would put pieces of the tent into a bag.

At one point, he had packed away the rain fly in a bag and set it against a wall of earth. It had handled the wind just fine and wasn’t moving until a huge gust came up the hill and caught the bag, launching it five feet up into the air and pushing it 15 feet into the bushes. In his flip-flops, he jumped over the embankment and scrambled through the shrubs to catch the bag. We could not lose the contents of this bag! Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt and we recovered everything.

We finally got on the trail for day 4, the longest day. We were still moving. Feet still dry. No rain. Blue sky. The wind had not stopped, only grown a bit stronger on the trail. Jared was the first to get knocked over by the wind. It wasn’t long after we left camp. We were coming up a hill and as we rounded a corner that a gust caught him mid-step and pushed him to his knees. It was sort of a warning. It certainly wasn’t the strongest gust of the day, but just enough to let us know that we needed to be careful.

As we skirted along the lake, we were being blown around like crazy. We both got knocked down several times by the wind alone. At one point, I had to grab hold of a tree as we came around the bend. As we reached the cutoff trail to bypass Las Torres, we had to go around a small lake. On the far side of the lake, the wind was really howling and actually lifting clouds of mist off the lake. Jared thought it would be the perfect opportunity to test his aerodynamic positions.

Taking the bypass trail saved us about an hour of hike time on our way to Refugio Chileno. The whole day was windy and we had some very strong winds at the passes and bends in the morning, but the valley up to the towers is where we hit the strongest winds.

In fact, coming around the bend to Refugio Chileno, was pretty scary. The path was cut into the steep hill face, completely exposed. You could also tell that the hillside wasn’t completely stable and you could see where there were rock slides. Small collections of sediment would just slide down the mountain.

It was extremely windy and way too close to the edge for me. Jared would go ahead and scout out the path and then yell back “just come this far.” We finally arrived at Refugio Chileno (in surprisingly good time), but it was still extremely windy there. Our plan was to go 1.5 hours further to Campamento Torres, but we were afraid it would be just as windy and we didn’t feel like competing with the wind as we set up camp.

We decided to drop our bags at Refugio Chileno, hike to the Towers and return to the Hosteria on day 4 and camp at the end of the trail. It had already been a long day and to get down to the Hosteria as well was going to make it an even longer day, but we had to get to the towers to complete every step of the W.

The strength of the wind took a toll on our energy. We were glad for our trekking poles to just dig in and ride out the gusts at times. So, we knew to get up to the Towers and out, was going to be pushing it.

Having left our packs behind, we made the scramble for the Towers. We were pushing along, making great time. We had 2 hours to reach the top from Chileno, which was a bit less than the recommended time on the map. The trail from Chileno wanders through the forest, until the last 45 minutes, where it is climbing straight up the hill face to reach the laguna at the base of the towers.

We finally made it to the top. Jared actually made it twice. The first time, the last stretch across the rocks seemed to be too much for me. But Jared went to the top, came back and assured me that it was doable. So up we went. We reached the Towers and the last destination point on the W circuit. We had done it! It was beautiful.

Now, all that was left was a long hike out…

Our eating pattern had been that every half hour during our hikes, we would stop and have water, and maybe get a bite to eat. We had some carrots, cereal bars, trail mix (with chocolate, of course) and oreo cookies. Leaving real meals for breakfast (oatmeal) and dinner.

However, the lack of real food proved to be a problem on Day 4. After we descended from the Towers and got back on the more level trail, Jared got sick. Up came the oreos, the trail mix and the granola bars. The whole way back to Refugio Chileno from the Towers he could not keep anything in his stomach, not even water. The combination of malnutrition and dehydration that day made its mark on his body. We were both exhausted.

It was clear we weren’t going to make it out that day. We decided that if the Refugio had two beds available, we were going to stay inside and hike out the next morning. Lucky for us, they had room at the inn. We showered, got food (which was irrelevant for Jared, since it all came back up) and a good night’s sleep. Jared was finally able to keep water in his belly at 3am.

Hike Time: Los Cuernos to Refugio Chileno 4 hours 20 minutes; Refugio Chileno to the Towers 4 hours RT

Day 5 – February 26

We arose from our sleep, Jared feeling much better and I, having been battling a cold our whole hike, awoke sounding like a man and feeling worse.

It was time to hit the trail, finish this thing up and get out of there. What a blessing, the sky was blue once again and the wind had stopped. I was so thankful. I was dreading having to take that trail back around the mountain again and having to deal with that wind from yesterday. It was kind of scary and frustrating that it was scary. I wanted to enjoy the hike, not wish it to be over as soon as possible.

So, we were able to enjoy our hike down. The first half was quite a hoof uphill; the second half was nothing but downhill. Hosteria Las Torres was in sight and we were almost there.

We made it and it felt so good! We threw off our packs and kicked back and relaxed until the bus arrived to take us home.