Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 8 – Torres del Paine

Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 7 – Torres del Paine can be found here.

We continue to grow more efficient by the day, so we allowed ourselves an extra 5 minutes sleep this morning – up at 7:15 am, taking a few minutes to load our packs before we head to the community domes at 7:45 am.

Breakfast is much the same as before, but still very delicious. I still have not yet tried half of what’s on offer, but I like what I’ve chosen previously so the repetition does not bother me in the slightest.

Branching out slightly for the boxed lunch today – switching the wraps for baguette, and trying a new soft brie. Should be very tasty.

We’re on a private tour today so our departure time is flexible, but we’re still hoping to head out at 9 am. My son and I head back early so that we can brush teeth and finish packing before my wife and daughter finish breakfast. These small refinements work well, and we’re all ready early.

Some brief confusion as we realize that we’ll be leaving from the terrace as opposed to the welcome area, but Javiera – our guide, who goes by Javi – is right on time.

We go over the plan once more. We’re going to head out towards the Cuernos (the horns) – one of the refugios on the W trek – but can turn around at any point. We’re not planning to make it to the refugio itself, but have set the ambitious goal of reaching a picturesque suspension bridge overtop a river flowing with glacier runoff.

But here lies the upside of the private guide – we are under no obligation to reach any fixed endpoint. We are free to turn back at any time. And given that our goal destination would require us to take a 9 year old and a 12 year old on a 19 km return trip over rolling terrain, the odds of us turning back early are high indeed.

We set off on foot, passing by the largest central refugio along the way:

From here, hikers can set off on numerous different treks. The most popular is the W:

Image Credit: LasTorres.com

While some at EcoCamp have opted for a shorter, modified / express W, which only involves one night of camping on the trail:

Image Credit: EcoCamp Patagonia

And the truly adventurous can elect to take the O trip all the way around the Torres:

Image Credit: LasTorres.com

Each of these treks involve hikes of around 5 to 6 hours from one refugio to the next. Javi says that she thinks the O trek is the best, as the views from the opposite side of the mountain are stunning. It takes eight days to complete, so maybe next time!

The trail was crowded to start, as both the Cuernos and the Towers Base Trek share a path. The towers trek is particularly crowded, and that spills over to the shared trail.

We started by passing the Las Torres hotel.

Owned by Antonio Kusanovic Senkovic and his family – who hold much of the private land around Torres del Paine – Las Torres represents an indoor alternative to the glamping provided by EcoCamp Patagonia, but at at a steep cost. The food at EcoCamp Patagonia in particular is generally considered to be much better.

After the first bridge, the Cuernos trail branches off and gets quieter.

We spotted some horses!

Then we carried on down the path, past a hidden waterfall:

Past Laguna Inge:

Until we reached Nordenskjöld Lake.

If you look carefully, you can see the Andes on the horizon – as seen from the east

The trails were well marked, but we occasionally needed to cross rivers by hopscotching from one rock to the next. Everyone’s feet got wet at some point during the hike – except for my wife, who managed to stay dry throughout.

The path could get narrow at points and – despite it being quieter than the towers base trek – there were still a lot of hikers on the trail. Occasionally someone would get a bit pushy about moving, but the overwhelming majority would pass with an appreciative “Gracias!” or wait for a more opportune moment.

My wife’s pet peeve was the men (and it was always a dude) who would blast their music via a personal speaker instead of headphones, thereby eliminating any chance of seeing wildlife. But again, these instances were few and far between.

Speaking of wildlife, however, we actually did quite well for ourselves. We saw upwards of 15 condors:

Plus several groups of harrier hawks, including some that were fighting with one another:

Not pictured – a hawk we saw with a very large and very recent kill

And who can forget the adorable hares?

The scenery along the way was spectacular:

Eventually we reached the bridge across Valle Bader, which holds a small glacier-fed stream:

Our guide had very thoughtfully brought a mat for us to sit on if we wanted, along with fresh herbal tea and a selection of sweets. And yes, the turkey and brie sandwiches were as delicious as I’d hoped.

We briefly considered carrying on to the Cuernos, but we had already been hiking for more than 3 hours and the ‘horns’ were a further 40 minutes away. That would mean adding another 80 minutes to an already lengthy return trip. The outward leg was already 9 km, and the math simply did not work out.

It was time to head back.

The return trip was quieter, and the scenery no less stunning:

We were flagging by the time we were approaching EcoCamp. But to the kids’ credit, they never complained about the hike.

Which was good, because the clouds were threatening rain. So we needed to move.

After almost 6 hours of hiking, we returned victorious, and were rewarded with a round of beers, juices and sparkling waters.

It’s the longest hike we’ve ever done as a family.

And beyond that, it represents another major milestone – the first time that our kids’ hiking abilities have virtually mirrored our own.

It’s exciting. This opens up so many possibilities for future trips. Possibilities that we can’t even imagine because we are absolutely wrecked from 20 km of hiking.

With my beer complete, my son and I returned to our dome – where we each had a shower, and I promptly passed out for over an hour.

When I woke up, my legs had stiffened into solid boards – which I used to very slowly propel myself back to the community domes to have a coffee and some banana bread before we went off on the EcoCamp tour, which starts at 5:30 pm most nights.

The tour was fascinating. We mostly learned about the “eco” part of EcoCamp, but we also heard quite a bit about the history of the resort.

EcoCamp Patagonia was first started in 2001, and was intended as a kind of base camp for those making the longer O and W treks. It moved to its current site – closer to the Torres – a few years later.

While EcoCamp initially started with its standard domes – which do not include bathrooms – it then added 4 superior domes with bathrooms and gas heaters, and then dome suites with up to 4 beds, bathrooms, gas heaters and a wood heater in the main room.

(We haven’t used our wood heater yet but I can’t imagine staying here with the kids in their own dome, or without an ensuite bathroom. There are only three family dome suites, however, so early booking is strongly recommended. Bookings open more than a year in advance, closer to 18 months if you contact them directly.)

Then on to see the solar hot water system:

And the composting toilets:

EcoCamp works with a non-profit that handles trail cleaning and maintenance in the park, as well as reforestation – and they use the compost to assist with that. It’s also used to grow some of the beautiful flowers that can be found throughout the resort.

So if you notice beautiful lilies like these:

They started off here:

We then moved on to the solar power system, which provides between 15 – 20% of the electricity for the resort.

A further 75% of the power is provided by water turbines, which are spun by the glacial runoff:

Strange to think their battery back-up is only about 5% of what you’d find in a modern electric car (5 kW vs. ~100kW)

The outflow from the water-based power generation

The remaining shortfall is made up from natural gas produced in the region via a backup generator in case the weather doesn’t cooperate during high demand, like dinner prep.

We also saw the composting system for the staff, which was even more impressive than the one used for guests:

It included perhaps the largest vermiculture system we’ve ever seen – which is when the organic matter is eaten and digested by worms:

This is also used to support park maintenance efforts.

Organic compost from food is instead used to grow additional food:

It’s a great system, and one which we’d love to see other resorts adopt. (Particularly as the system does not produce foul odours of any kind.)

Recycling and the like is largely done in Punta Arenas. It suffers from the usual challenges associated with recycling plastics (ie. No one can really do much with the end result) but Chile is working on charging producers so that they are responsible for the ultimate recycling and disposal of their product. That’s worked well in other areas like British Columbia, so hopefully it works here too.

We also had the chance to learn about staff housing, which admittedly seems a bit cramped – each dome has two bedrooms, and there are two beds to a dome:

Staff work 11 days on and then 4 days off. They have a wide range of facilities including a gym, lounge, and even a foosball table, which our son found quite impressive.

Back to the community domes to do a bit of reading and blogging, and to enjoy our welcome drinks – a somewhat strange coffee-based beverage that didn’t really work. But I also drank it all, so maybe don’t place too much faith in what I’m saying.

I did, however, enjoy a delicious Patagonian mule:

The amouse bouches were again fabulous, and included some sort of bacon-mushroom puree and empanadas with ham, cheese, and tomato sauce.

Our son demolished two empanadas.

Dinner was equally delicious. Here’s the menu for tonight:

We started with the king crab with crispy avocado, which I somehow missed photographing.

I then had the eel and shrimp for dinner:

While my wife had the pumpkin and sweet potato risotto with mushrooms:

The kids had buttered noodles again, though they weren’t the only ones with a modified meal. Apparently someone here doesn’t eat plants? They made him a big plate of salmon.

We ended the meal with a selection of Chilean desserts:

All fantastic.

We think everyone’s earned a relaxed day for tomorrow, so we are abandoning our tentative plans to attempt the Torres base hike in favour of sound healing, yoga, Dungeons & Dragons – and a nearby two hour hike.

But the real question is – will we be able to walk, or will we be solid blocks of cramped muscle?

Continue reading Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 9 – Torres del Paine.