070225 - Is it hailing?

Torres del Paine, CHL - We finally set of for TDP sliding through town. Somehow, the driver of the company who picked us up in a minibus seemed to be stressed out. Already. At 7am in the morning. We were speeding through town at about 80km/h. And as we are approaching a red light I start wondering if we gonna run right over it or not. And then... he slams on the brakes. The bus breaks out. And we slide sideways onto the junction... After this little incident he slows down a bit. And soon we head out of town.

We had planned to do the big circuit. A bit more than 100kms. And we start out easy. The sun is not really shining, but the weather isn't too bad. As it would turn out later, this was our best day. We arrive at our first campsite, set up the tent and head up to Los Torres. But the clouds are just too low and we never get a clear shot at them.

The next day starts off cold. Rain. And hail. We get back to the base of Hosteria Los Torres. Soaking wet. As the forecast says the weather is going to stay like this over the next few days which in consequence would mean that crossing the path on the other side becomes impossible we decide to camp here and wait up. The next morning we take the concious decision of dropping The Circuit and go for The W instead.

Over the next days our decision has proven to be right as we meet more and more people who had to come back from the path as it was closed by the rangers and they couldn't cross it.

Our stay in the park is characterized by rain, wind, sun, hail... Basically, all four seasons. And when we were lucky, sometimes we had them all in one day. Damn you, Torres del Paine. ;o) Nonetheless, it was an unforgetable experience. I just have to come back for some better weather.

We finished The W and continued on a bit further to get closer to Glaciar Grey. Absolutely mindblowing. This was the closest I have ever been to a glaciar. Looking directly down on it. It seemed endless.

Lessons learned on the hike:

- The weather is just unpredictable.

- Follow the motto "From free camp to free camp!" and you safe a lot of money. Well, those days can be long.

- There are some crazy people out there: guys who carry two backpacks; their own on the back and on the front the one of their girlfriend, while she is not carrying anything!!

Back in Puerto Natales we celebrated our "accomplishment" by partying hard in the local nightclub. After a day's rest I tried my luck hitchhiking to Ushuaia but could only manage to get to Punta Arenas, about fours hours from P.N. ;o)