Diary entry 13: Patagonia - El Chalten & Torres del Pain(e)

Friday, October 13th, 2023, time 4:20: A ray of hope - a sign of survival⚡️

It's true what people say, rumor and hear when it comes to the beautiful region of Patagonia, located partly in the south of Chile. It's really breathtaking, these endless expanses, the glacier landscapes that never seem to melt and the Andean mountain range that runs through South America.🇨🇱🏔

What you rarely hear and didn't appear in any of the 35 travel reports we read (but you could have guessed it), THE WEATHER IN THE LOW SEASON IS ABSOLUTELY UNPREDICTABLE🧊🌪⛈🌬. Up to 100 km/h wind, snowstorms, crisp sun, hail and never-ending rain showers.

So let's get going, the two German goldheads have of course thought of everything and rented a tent and 2 sleeping bags.🏕 -The last time (cough and only cough) I put up a tent was in 2013 at Splash- (Leo)

Well, prologue over.
Our journey began in El Calafate, a well-populated city still in Argentina. From there you can actually easily reach any travel destination. To prepare for the world-famous W-Trek in Torres del Paine National Park, we drove to the infamous El Chalten hiking area to visit the iconic Fitz Roy massif. All good, 3 hours there, 7 hours hiking, 3 hours back. In terms of price, you have to say that El Calafate and everything south of it is in the upper league. 💰But well once in a lifetime and all that ^^. And then quickly continue with us.

After our little Patagonia “prelude” was completed, we moved on to the “main act” of our trip. - Torres del Paine, W Trek. THE W-TREK DAM DAM.🥾🍑

3000 meters altitude, 80 km, 20 kg luggage, 5 days, 4 nights, 2 Germans.

After a 6-hour bus ride, a border crossing in which of course only Leo was pulled out again, we arrived in Puerto Natales. The starting point of the W-Trek and all kinds of day tours. With a little research, we rented supposedly good hiking equipment, which is about as easy there as finding tacos in Mexico 🌮 (so I think, I've never been there before.. hopefully that's the case). Our trip was supposed to start from there on October 6th, 2023, which it did, but only after every equipment rental company had advised us against it because it felt like the worst October weather since records were recorded. Perfect.🥶

Because in our 5 upcoming days there should be winds up to 110 km/h, snow storms and lots of rain + a sunny day -> the last one of course. What the heck, we thought. We had already rented the Wumms, we chose one of the cheapest options (camping is of course an option here) and only paid around $600 (for anyone who might be planning it).🤑

Day 1 Arrival:

We started at 5:45 a.m., we got out of bed with a queasy stomach, no coffee, we left too late, we missed the bus, we had to catch up with a taxi and a 2-hour bus ride🚕. So actually the perfect start or lol. Wasn't that a sign?!

Well, let's keep it short - arrived, 13 km steep uphill, weather forecast was true, had rain and sun. At night, however, there was a 100 km/h wind and our neighboring tents were blown away, sub-zero temperatures, wet tent, cold as hell, shitty night.😵‍💫

Day 2 :

Woke up bleary-eyed at 6.30 a.m., dismantled the tent, had Hafez and coffee for breakfast (started eating my 22 hard-boiled eggs)🥚 and off we went 13 km downhill again, so almost ^^. We had chosen the right time. Lots of wind, just drizzle, but the last kilometer was really wet. Absolutely soaked, we decided to rent accommodation, since our tent was floating in water, only 100 flakes were cool anyway... Anyway, the class difference between campers and the hiking upper class was very clearly conveyed. But well, we're just a bit soft, like spaghetti.🧽

Day 3 :

Slept well in bed, could dry things by the fire🔥, sunshine🌞. At least for 10 minutes, then snowstorm lul🌪. Anyway, we had to run 13 km, so go ahead, bite through it, what's the cold? The path was still damn beautiful and the views were unique. Arrived at Camp Frances. We set up the tent and waited 7 hours with the other campers (by now we were a small tight-knit group from the last 2 camps❤️) until night came. By the way, there were no warm rooms there, just plastic bus shelters, unless you pay around 300 euros per night. But belongs to Experience. You have to be extra hard there.🏋🏼‍♀️

Day 4 :

The day of fear, 22 km, a lot of altitude. After km 1, Anna falls on her tailbone while taking a photo😒, awesome bruise. The nice colleagues from the camp help us and give her paracetamol💊. All of her heavy things were packed into my backpack🐎. Luckily there were good Americans who carried Anna's remaining clothes for the next few hours. Thank you very much, otherwise it would have been critical. However, Anna is tougher than you think💪🏼, she carries her backpack alone for the last 9 kilometers and it was quite a climb. What a bride. Another 3 kilometers to Camp Chileno. The snowstorm started again with about 30 cm of fresh snow. -> The Soft Germans have again or still? An absolutely wet tent so first rent a Neus tent ($80). Night was good 7/10.⚡️

Day 5 (last day):

Alarm rings 6:00 - Nice. Get out in the cold, put pure oatmeal and instant coffee into your system and set off. It was going uphill, just uphill. Just climb steeply with spikes and walking sticks. Strava (tracking app) says 1.36 hours. Hats off to us, we're still pretty fit, just soft lul. Once at the top (2 towers/Torres del Pain(e) landmark), just 5 people. How cool it is for the off-season and all the cold. In summer you have to queue there to take a photo. Then we went back down towards base camp. So add another 10.6 km to the 1.36.🥾

Even if some things don't sound so good, the pictures speak for themselves. It was an amazing experience, with ups and downs lul. But look at the pictures, you won't find a landscape like this anywhere else in the world.✨

The last paragraphs sound like verbal TikToks is because Laura (Anna's friend) found the last post too long.💁🏼‍♀️

So see you soon.

Your golden heads.👩‍🦳👨‍🦳