Trekking in Torres del Paine: Patagonia's premier national parks in Chile and Argentina, including Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy areas

By Rudolf Abraham

A guidebook to 8 walking and trekking routes in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park and Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park. Exploring the beautiful scenery of Patagonia, the routes are suitable for trekkers with some experience.

The routes are presented as 4 multi-day treks, ranging from 3 to 11 days in length, and 4 shorter day walks. The 10-day, 141km (88 mile) Torres del Paine circuit (or ‘O’) and 5-day, 71km (44 mile) half circuit (or ‘W’) are detailed with side trips to the ‘towers’ and the Valle Francés. A 4-day, 39km (24 mile) trek in the Cerro Fitz Roy area of Los Glaciares National Park is also described.

• Sketch maps included for each walk
• Detailed information on accommodation and facilities
• Advice on planning and preparation
• Highlights include excursions from Puerto Natales and El Calafate

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cicerone Press
• Release date: Nov 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9781787650268

Rudolf Abraham

Rudolf Abraham (www.rudolfabraham.com) is an award-winning travel writer, photographer and guidebook author specialising in Central and Southeast Europe. He is the author of 14 books, including the first comprehensive English-language hiking guidebooks to Montenegro and Croatia, and has contributed to many more. His work is published widely in magazines. He first visited the mountainous borderlands of Montenegro and Albania in 2004, having already lived and worked in neighbouring Croatia in the late 1990s - and has been a frequent visitor to this little-known corner of Europe ever since.     

Book preview

About the Author

Rudolf Abraham (www.rudolfabraham.com) is an award-winning travel writer, photographer and guidebook author. He is the author of over a dozen books and has contributed to many more, and his work is published widely in magazines.

Other Cicerone guides by the author

The Juliana Trail

Walking in Salzkammergut

The Peaks of the Balkans Trail

The Mountains of Montenegro: A Walker’s and Trekker’s Guide

Walking in Croatia

The Islands of Croatia: 30 Walking Routes on 14 Adriatic Islands

St Oswald’s Way and the Northumberland Coast Path

St Cuthbert’s Way

TORRES DEL PAINE

PATAGONIA’S PREMIER NATIONAL PARKS IN CHILE AND ARGENTINA, INCLUDING CERRO TORRE AND FITZROY AREAS

by Rudolf Abraham

JUNIPER HOUSE, MURLEY MOSS,

OXENHOLME ROAD, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA9 7RL

www.cicerone.co.uk

© Rudolf Abraham 2023

Third edition 2023

ISBN 9781787650268

Second edition 2016

ISBN 978 1 85284 840 8

First edition 2010

ISBN 978 1 85284 593 3

Printed in China on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Author photo by Ivana Abraham All other photos by Rudolf Abraham

For my daughter, Tamara

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Martina Diez-Routh of Travel Trade UK for her enthusiastic support of this project and for putting me in touch with clients in Chile; Adrien Champagnat, Maria José Eguigoren and Matías del Sol at Remota; André de Mendonça of South American Experience; Anna Francis and Mango PR; Hotel Fundador in Santiago; Alejandro of Hostal la Estancia in Punta Arenas; the Latin American Travel Association (LATA); John Biggar; Lisa Phillips at New Holland Publishers; Vicky Atkins at A & C Black; and Jonathan Williams and all the team at Cicerone. Finally I must thank my wife, Ivana, who checked the language section – and who was with me every step of the way.

Updates to this Guide

While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk/1171/updates), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time. We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to [e-mail] or by post to Cicerone, Juniper House, Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal, LA9 7RL.

Register your book: To sign up to receive free updates, special offers and GPX files where available, create a Cicerone account and register your purchase via the ‘My Account’ tab at www.cicerone.co.uk.

Warning

Mountain walking can be a dangerous activity carrying a risk of personal injury or death. It should be undertaken only by those with a full understanding of the risks and with the training and experience to evaluate them. While every care and effort has been taken in the preparation of this guide, the user should be aware that conditions can be highly variable and can change quickly, materially affecting the seriousness of a mountain walk. Therefore, except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law, neither Cicerone nor the author accept liability for damage of any nature (including damage to property, personal injury or death) arising directly or indirectly from the information in this book.

Front cover: View across Lago Pehoé to the Cuernos del Paine. Torres del Paine National Park, Patagonia, Chile

CONTENTS

Map key

Overview map

Location within South America

Location of routes

INTRODUCTION

Geography and geology

Climate

Wildlife and plants

History and culture

Early exploration and mountaineering

Getting to Chile

Transport within Chile

Agencies and tour operators

Visas and arrival

Accommodation

Language

Food and drink

Money and costs

Keeping in touch

Safety

About this guide

Trekking in Torres del Paine national park

Refugios, campsites and hotels

Booking ahead

Transport to and around the park

Maps

Equipment

Low-impact trekking

What to do in an emergency

TORRES DEL PAINE NATIONAL PARK, CHILE

Walk 1 Torres del Paine circuit (the ‘O’)

Stage 1 Refugio Paine Grande – Campamento Italiano

Stage 2 Campamento Italiano – Valle Francés (return)

Stage 3 Campamento Italiano – Refugio Las Torres

Stage 4 Refugio Las Torres – El Chileno

Stage 5 El Chileno – Mirador Las Torres (return)

Stage 6 El Chileno – Campamento Japonés (return)

Stage 7 El Chileno – Refugio Las Torres

Stage 8 Refugio Las Torres – Campamento Serón

Stage 9 Campamento Serón – Refugio Dickson

Stage 10 Refugio Dickson – Campamento Los Perros

Stage 11 Campamento Los Perros – Campamento Paso

Stage 12 Campamento Paso – Refugio Grey

Stage 13 Refugio Grey – Refugio Paine Grande

Stage 14 Refugio Paine Grande – CONAF Administración (the ‘Q’, optional)

Walk 2 Torres del Paine half-circuit (the ‘W’)

Stage 1 Refugio Las Torres – Mirador Las Torres (return)

Stage 2 Refugio Las Torres – Campamento Italiano

Stage 3 Campamento Italiano – Valle Francés (return)

Stage 4 Campamento Italiano – Refugio Grey

Stage 5 Refugio Grey – Refugio Paine Grande

Walk 3 Salto Grande and Mirador Los Cuernos

Walk 4 Puente Weber

Walk 5 Mirador Lago Toro and Laguna Verde

Walk 6 Mirador Cóndor

Walk 7 Río Pingo and Mirador Zapata

Stage 1 Guardería Lago Grey – Campamento Zapata

Stage 2 Campamento Zapata – Mirador Zapata (return)

Stage 3 Campamento Zapata – Guardería Lago Grey

Other walks within the national park

Laguna Amarga – Portería Sarmiento

Laguna Azul and trail to Lago Dickson

Excursions from Puerto Natales

Excursion 1 Cueva del Milodón

Excursion 2 Balmaceda and Serrano glaciers (Bernard O’Higgins national park)

Excursion 3 Sierra Baguales

LOS GLACIARES NATIONAL PARK, ARGENTINA

Excursion from El Calafate

Excursion 4 Perito Moreno glacier

Walk 8 Cerro Fitz Roy (El Chaltén) and Cerro Torre

Stage 1 El Chaltén – Campamento Agostini

Stage 2 Campamento Agostini – Campamento Poincenot

Stage 3 Campamento Poincenot – Laguna de los Tres (return)

Stage 4 Campamento Poincenot – Laguna Piedas Blancas (return)

Stage 5 Campamento Poincenot – El Chaltén

Appendix A Route summary table

Appendix B Gateway towns and cities

Appendix C Accommodation within Torres del Paine national park

Appendix D Language notes and glossary

Appendix E Contacts and online resources

Appendix F Further reading

Balmaceda glacier in Last Hope Sound, Bernardo O’Higgins national park (Excursion 2)

INTRODUCTION

‘These vast piles of snow, which never melt, and seem destined to last as long as the world holds together, present a noble and even sublime spectacle… they may be likened to great frozen Niagaras; and perhaps these cataracts of blue ice are to the full as beautiful as the moving ones of water.’

Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle (London, 1839)

Chile’s Torres del Paine national park lies towards the southern tip of South America, surrounded on the west by labyrinthine, lonely fjords and on the east by seemingly endless, dry steppe, and sitting on the edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the largest sheet of ice in the southern hemisphere outside Antarctica.

The Cuernos from near the CONAF office on Lago Toro (Walks 1 and 4)

There is a feeling of immensity in the landscapes of this, Chile’s premier national park – vast sheets of fractured blue ice, turquoise and emerald lakes, primeval-looking forest, vertical granite spires and seemingly limitless cloud-streaked skies. It is one of those rare destinations with which you think you are familiar even before arriving – after all, one or more of its iconic views decorate almost any publication or webpage associated with Patagonia – yet it has somehow managed to lose none of its magic. It is, quite simply, a staggeringly beautiful place.

Trekking in Torres del Paine – a national park since 1959 and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1978 – is a hugely rewarding experience. The Torres del Paine Circuit (a circuit of the park, and the main route described in this guide) is without any doubt one of the world’s truly great treks, an opportunity to travel through awe-inspiring mountain scenery in an area with a fascinating history and rich in wildlife. Trails are for the most part clear and well marked within the national park, there is a comprehensive network of huts and campsites, and transport both to and within the park is all refreshingly simple.

It takes about 10 to 11 days to complete the 140km Torres del Paine Circuit as described here – but bad weather can delay your crossing of the highest point on the route, the 1180m Paso John Gardner. The shorter version of the route, the ‘W’, requires five days. None of the walking is particularly difficult, and elevation gain is minimal for most of the stages on the route – the exceptions being the hike over the pass, and up the Valle Ascencio and Valle Francés (but, be warned, rain and wind can turn either of these treks into a considerably more demanding undertaking). The northern part of the Circuit is also fairly remote, with no convenient exit point should you want or need to cut your walk short. This guide also includes some of the shorter walks in the national park, as well as excursions from the nearby town of Puerto Natales, and a trek in the equally beautiful Fitz Roy area of Los Glaciares national park over the border in Argentina.

Torres del Paine takes its name from the magnificent granite spires which launch themselves skyward near the head of the Valle Ascencio (torres meaning ‘towers’) – one of the most iconic sights in Patagonia, or anywhere in South America for that matter – and the name of a local estancia (ranch), upon which part of the national park still lies.

The national park does attract an increasingly large number of visitors each year, most of whom arrive in the peak (summer) season of January/February, when the ‘W’ route can get quite crowded, yet despite this it is still possible to find solitude, particularly in the more northerly areas of the park. On my first visit to Torres del Paine I sat among boulders by a stream in the Valle Francés, mesmerized, as shafts of early morning sunlight struck the enormous east face of Paine Grande, all dark rock slung with glaciers, and glistening crags festooned with clouds. It mattered nothing that there was a campsite with a few dozen tents hidden in the forest behind me; in those few moments I was completely and utterly alone. On another visit I clung to an exposed section of trail in screaming winds, only to turn and see a Condor rising effortlessly out of the valley, utterly still except for the feathers on its wing tips, and so close I almost felt I could reach out and touch it.

What’s in a name?

Torres del Paine

Place names almost always provide a fascinating window into a region’s past. The Paine massif probably takes its name from the Tehuelche world for ‘blue’, paine. The Tehuelche, the indigenous inhabitants of this part of Patagonia, have also left their legacy in other place names (pehoé means ‘hidden’, as in Lago Pehoé; baguales means ‘wild horses’, as in Sierra Baguales; as well as in the names of various plants and animals. And the correct pronunciation should really be ‘pine-ay’, not ‘pain’.

Patagonia

Patagonia is a region covering the southernmost part of South America, made up of the southern parts of Argentina and Chile. The name ‘Patagonia’ derives from the description of the native Mapuche population by Antonia Pigafetta, in his record of the voyage of Magellan. Pigafetta described the Mapuche as ‘Patagones’, which has long been considered to have meant ‘big feet’ or ‘big footed’ in Spanish – although while pata does indeed mean foot, there is no real explanation for the -gon suffix. His description gave rise to enduring legends of a race of giants inhabiting the wilds of southern South America. His description tells us as much about the teller as the subject – the average height for an adult male Mapuche was 5′ 11″, while that of the average Spaniard at that time was 5′ 1″.

Another more recent explanation for the origins of the word Patagonia is that it comes from a 16th-century Spanish romance, Primaleón of Greece, in which the hero encounters a race of ‘savages’, who ate raw flesh and clothed themselves in