One wild and precious life: Walking to Campamento Torrens

The morning was absolutely beautiful, a worker said he had been here for 3 years and never seen such a day, so the weather gods were smiling on us. My lovely Serratus pack felt good, and my Leki trekking poles like old friends ( who I was about to get to know a whole lot better).

A Nav mistake meant we walked about 15 mins on a wrong trail, but that was ok because it was flat. Rejoined the correct trail and started to climb

Now when I say climb I mean a pinchy continuous climb that had my out of breath very quickly. With some cajoling and lightening of my pack I was convinced to continue. Finally we reached some flatter parts but I was pretty much spent.

My lack of fitness was(is) shameful and I really struggled mentally. However the scenery was beautiful and I convinced myself that we could stop at the first campsite not continue on to base camp as planned. You see on the W circuit there are free campsites, private campsites which you pay for and have showers, toilets and usually a Refugio or hut that you can pay to stay in as well.

After walking along a contour line around the mountain we dropped out into the river and to Campamento Chileno. My inquiry revealed that it is $100 Austalian dollars per person to camp here !!!

A failry major breakdown ensued, including tears, but a banana, a pep talk and really no other option we headed on to Campamento Torres.

Almost immediately we entered beech forest just starting to shoot green, with a deep blanket of snow and pockets of snow in the trees. It was magnificent.

This track was leveller and some of my joy de trek returned. I even found signs of a snow angel.

We started to get some views of Torres del Paine. It's hard to describe how beautiful the actual Rio Ascencio valley was with absolutely towering mountains on each side, let's just say it was worth all the effort!