It’s simply beginning to get mild when path information Jose Ignacio Roca reaches Lake Sarmiento in Chile along with his group. Most are nonetheless a bit sleepy, no shock since that they had already left the Andes backpacking city of Ultima Esperanza Fjord at 5am.
But a warning signal jolts the hikers awake: The trekking path might see a “potential danger of attack” by pumas. Roca instantly calms the group’s nerves. “We aren’t of any interest to the pumas. We don’t belong to their list of prey.”
Instead, their urge for food is for guanacos, llama-like camelids in the Andes. Soon sufficient, their skeletons litter the aspect of the mountain climbing path, proof of the dietary desire of the pumas. Around 100 of the wild cats, weighing as much as 80kg, inhabit the area, greater than in another half of South America.
Suddenly, a small herd of guanacos escape in flight, an indication of an assault by a puma. Roca motions for the group to cease and be silent. As rapidly because it appeared, the puma has disappeared once more earlier than Roca can move a pair of binoculars round.
Two routes
Seeing condors majestically circling the skies above is, nonetheless, compensation sufficient for lacking a glimpse of the pumas. And the following day a brand new journey awaits the group – the Torres del Paine (towers of del Paine).
The three granite spires practically 3,000m excessive are the area’s trademark. The nationwide park in the Chilean half of Patagonia covers some 2,400sq km, with its wild panorama formed by turquoise-coloured lakes, pristine deciduous forests, snow-covered peaks, fjords, raging rivers, waterfalls and glaciers.
At the guests’ centre, hikers face a alternative between two trek circuits, labelled “W” and “O”. The latter covers a distance of 130km, taking eight days and requiring trekkers to surmount altitudes of as much as 4,500m. The trails are distant and there are few protecting shelters. Hikers have to hold their very own provisions and tents.
The “W” trek circuit is 70km, reaching as excessive as 2,500m and taking 4 days. Along the means there are a couple of easy inns, shelters and tenting grounds providing full meals, so no provisions must be carried.
Postcard panorama
Our group has chosen the four-day tour. The first day is a problem proper off, however it’s rewarding as a result of it leads proper to the picture-postcard panorama of Chile. To attain the lookout level Mirador de las Torres at the glacial lake at the foot of the Torres del Paine cliffs, it takes 9km of uphill climbing, to round 1,200m.
The granite needles developed greater than 10 million years in the past. Later, Ice-Age glaciers fashioned the rock towers, above the tops of which condors not sometimes could be seen flying their rounds.
The subsequent day: A considerably much less taxing route by a hilly panorama alongside the stunningly stunning Nordenskjold Lake. On the proper, numerous waterfalls plunge down the steep sides of the Cuernos cliffs. The identify comes from the horn form of the peak and, in phrases of visible magnificence, the Cuernos needn’t shy from comparisons with the Torres del Paine.
The Torres del Paine National Park.
The third day means rising early. The morning sky is a fire-red. After an hour-long trek the heavy backpacks could be set down in Campamento Italiano (Italian camp) and traded for a smaller pack for the day’s tour to the lookout level Mirador Britanico. The hike takes three hours every means.
Mighty thunder resounds ominously by the darkish forests. However, it’s not an approaching thunderstorm, however avalanches plunging from the glaciers up on the mountain peaks. Over and over, nearly each 10 minutes, big lots of ice slide down the steep partitions to combine with the waterfalls. The sky above the basin of the Vallée del Francés is trying ominous, whereas the climb means having to scramble throughout a boulder area. But as soon as at the high, all the effort is forgotten. The mountain surroundings with the Cuernos massif is like one thing out of an image guide, looking over the seemingly infinite Patagonian forests.
Enormous glacier tongue
The ultimate day’s trek is baby’s play in contrast with the earlier levels. Supposedly solely 4 hours’ stroll. But no person does it – how can they, when an increasing number of brilliant blue ice floes come floating up on the lake of the Grey Glacier, all needing to be admired?
Finally, one is standing earlier than a big wall of ice. The glacier tongue is an element of the South Patagonian ice area, the largest ice floor in the southern hemisphere exterior of Antarctica. The Grey Glacier alone is 28km lengthy.
From the Grey campsite an tour boat takes trekkers to Hotel Lago Grey, where shuttle buses to Puerto Natales can be found. The boat passes the monumental ice partitions, greatest admired at shut vary with a “Chilean Pisco Sour” in hand. And of course, the cocktail primarily based on the Chilean nationwide drink is served with glacier ice. – MANUEL MEYER/dpa
At Camp Frances, you could find some ‘luxurious’ tents like these.
