Chile (February-March 2016): Torres, Cuernos, and Glaciares del Paine
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[For a previous trek in Torres del Paine (2001), see here.]
The itinerary on foot is shown in blue dots in the map below. The black dots show the access and exit by bus and the brown dots the transfer by catamaran across Lake Pehoe. My wife and I started trekking at Camping Las Torres on the east.
Day 1: Camping Las Torres to Mirador de Las Torres and back
Valle Ascencion.
Views of some of the Torres from a location near Camping Torres (not to be confused with Camping Las Torres located 1km from Hosteria Las Torres, where we had set our camp for the first two nights).
Opposite side of Valle Ascencion (Cordillera Paine) seen from the trail climbing to the Mirador de las Torres.
Torres seen from the mirador. From left to right: Torre de Agostini, Torre Central, Torre Monzino, and Nido de Condor.
Fox at the Mirador de Las Torres.
Day 2: Camping Las Torres to Camping Los Cuernos
Cerro Paine Chico Sur.
Passing by a small lake before reaching Lago Nordenskjold (visible in the background).
Successive views of Lago Nordenskjold. In some pictures strong gusts of wind pull sprays of water up tens of feet above the surface of the lake.
Valle Balder seen from the shore of Lago Nordenskjold.
Successive views of Cuerno Principal (on the left) and Cuerno Este (on the right).
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Day 3: Camping Los Cuernos to Camping Paine Grande
Two views of Cuernos Principal and Este from Camping Paine Grande on a glorious morning. These two photos were taken a few minutes apart. In the second photo the sun was slightly occluded by a cloud, hence the different colors.
More views from a location further west between Camping Los Cuernos and Camping Italiano.
Views toward the south across Lago Nordenskjold between Camping Los Cuernos and Camping Italiano.
Cuerno Principal seen from a location near Camping Italiano.
Entrance of the Valle del Frances.
Cerro Paine Grande and its glaciers.
Lago Skottsberg.
Cuernos Norte (left) and Principal (right).
Reaching Lago Pehoe.
Cuernos seen in the evening from Camping Paine Grande.
Geese near our tent at Camping Paine Grande.
Days 4 and 5: Camping Paine Grande to Camping Grey and back
Lago Los Patos under strong wind.
Sharp peaks of Cerro Paine Grande.
Lago Grey.
Left and center: Rio Olguin. Right: Chilean skuas.
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Views of Glacier Grey.
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Day 6: Return to Puerto Natales
On this last day we took the early morning catamaran to Refugio Podeto. Since we had a couple of extra hours before the departure of the bus to Puerto Natales we hiked to Salto Grande and Mirador Cuernos.
View of the Cuernos from Camping Paine Grande on a beautiful morning before boarding the catamaran.
Salto Grande.
Cerro Paine Grande and Cuernos seen from the southern side of Lago Nordenskjold.
