Date: 20231104
Time: 8:00 – 15:35
Distance: 15,2 km
Overnight stay: Hotel Big Bang Patagonia, Puerto Natales
Walk
I start the day with packing my stuff so I can start walking immediately after breakfast. Breakfast is sober but ok and one of the girls brings me scrambled eggs.
I leave the backpack at Chileno and head towards mirador Base las Torres. The first part I walk through the woods and it goes up steadily but not very steep. I drink a lot, directly from the streams because I didn’t bring my water bottle. I am travelling light today, at least the first part that is.
During the first kilometers, my TwoNav has problems with measuring the altitude. It thinks I am above 3000 meter. I removed that part of the elevation info from the GPX track.
There are quiet some people coming down already, they must have started early. I also meet Renate and the girls on their way back. They left at 4 am!
At some point I reach an open space, near to a ranger station, at least that is what the sign says but I don’t see it, probably hidden in the forest.
From here on out it goes up more steeply. It is very well doable, it is mostly rocks where you have to make big steps. After a short section that is not very steep the real scrambling begins a the side of a rock field and then through the snow. Now a section follows were I scramble over a rock field. Somehow I get a little off the path and end up in a part where all the rocks are loose and have the tendency to slide down. Not good. I consider my options and decide to go straight up where the path is. I do so very slowly to avoid sliding down with rocks and all. That would be a pity, I would have scrambled up here for nothing…
Once back on track the rocks are more stable, as expected. I continue over the rocks and snow and finally reach my destination, mirador Base las Torres, I did it in a little more than 2 hours. It is a little colder up here, but not too bad. The lake is frozen however. The three granite peaks look very spectacular with some moving clouds around their tops.
The three peaks are named, from left to right, Torre Sur (2500m), Torre Central (2460m) and Torre Norte (2260m), not very imaginative. They were formed about 12 million years ago.
There are not many people up here, two couples and a solo hiker. One of the girls asks if I want my picture taken so today there are again pictures with me in it.
After watching the clouds move around the tops for a while I start my way down again. This is easier than up and I do it in a little more than 1.5 hours. On my way down I meet a lot of people who are going up, sometimes groups of 10 to 25 people. Boy will it be getting crowded up there. I am glad I started early!
Giving the amount of other hikers, it is clear that this is the most popular hike of the W-trek.
Back at Chileno it’s time for something to drink. No beer yet, I still have to go down to the park entrance with my backpack. So it’s a Coke, or actually 2.
I pick up my backpack and start my way down. I arrive at Hotel Las Torres Patagonia where I ask for a transfer to Laguna Amarga. They tell me that I have to walk for 15 more minutes to reach the welcome center where I can get a transfer. Since I have time enough and since they have a bar, I decide to first have a beer. The bar is called Pionero and they have a beer with the name Pionera, so that is what it is gone be. The beer is served with a hopbel in it. According to the info on the placemat they are the only beer and gin producers within Torres del Paine National Park, so I picked the right location.
It is a very fancy hotel and restaurant, I get a small bowl of nuts and raisins with my beer, everybody wears a cap and they are all very friendly. I am wondering what the beer will cost me…
It’s not too bad, a little more than 15000 pesos.
After this very nice rest, I continue through very flat terrain for about 20 minutes to arrive at the welcome center. There are not too many people here, yet. I drink another beer and have an Empanada.
They tell me the bus to Laguna Amarga leaves at 7 pm, which is fine since the Bus-Sur arrives there at 20:15. So I wait…
After 17:00 it is getting more crowded, all hikers who want to go back to Puerto Natales.
The bus trip to Puerto Natales is uneventful and a few minutes from the bus terminal is my hotel, Big Bang Patagonia. I can still check in and the first thing I do is a shower, no not a beer.
Since it is already late, I go and get some take-away sushi. When I come back I ask the girl from the hotel if they sell beer or anything else to drink. They don’t… So sushi with water it is. But then, just when I want to call Ada, there is a knock on the door and the girl brings me two cans of beer, which makes my day!
Weather
Cloudy but with a pleasant temperature. At mirador Base las Torres it was a little colder because of the height, but not really cold.
Songtext of the day
The Torres were shrouded in mists, so here is Nebel by Rammstein.
Sie stehen eng umschlungen
Ein Fleischgemisch so reich an Tagen
Wo das Meer das Land berührt
Will sie ihm die Wahrheit sagen
Doch ihre Worte frisst der Wind
Wo das Meer zu Ende ist
Hält sie zitternd seine Hand
Und hat ihn auf die Stirn geküsst
Sie trägt den Abend in der Brust
Und weiß, dass sie verleben muss
Sie legt den Kopf in seinen Schoß
Und bittet einen letzten Kuss
Und dann hat er sie geküsst
Wo das Meer zu Ende ist
Ihre Lippen schwach und blass
Und seine Augen werden nass
Und dann hat er sie geküsst
Wo das Meer zu Ende ist
Ihre Lippen schwach und blass
Und seine Augen werden nass
Und dann hat er sie geküsst
Wo das Meer zu Ende ist
Ihre Lippen schwach und blass
Und seine Augen werden nass
Und dann hat er sie geküsst
Wo das Meer zu Ende ist
Ihre Lippen schwach und blass
Und seine Augen werden nass
Der letzte Kuss ist so lang her
Der letzte Kuss
Er erinnert sich nicht mehr
[English translation:]
They are standing in a tight embrace
A union of flesh so rich in days
Where the sea touches the land
She wants to tell him the truth
But the wind eats her words away
Where the sea is at an end
Trembling she holds his hands
And she kissed his forehead
She is carrying the evening in her breast
And she knows she must leave now
She puts her head in his lap
And asks for one last kiss
And then he kissed her
Where the sea is at an end
Her lips weak and pale
And his eyes wettened
And then he kissed her
Where the sea is at an end
Her lips weak and pale
And his eyes wettened
And then he kissed her
Where the sea is at an end
Her lips weak and pale
And his eyes wettened
And then he kissed her
Where the sea is at an end
Her lips weak and pale
And his eyes wettened
The last kiss has been so long
The last kiss
He doesn’t remember it anymore
