We had decided to do a boat ride and a hike to see the Glacier, and a park ranger also suggested we do the day hike to the Torres (towers) base. This hike had seemed too much to do in one day but with her advice we added it to the itinerary. By doing this we'd be hiking both sides of what they call 'the W'.
On our first day we caught the boat across to the point where we would start the hike. The sky gave us a fantastic view of the Torres. It seemed like a nice day, but 10minutes into the hike it started gently raining. Weather changes fast in the mountainous part of Patagonia. I had a rain jacket but it rained just long enough to make me very cold. It rained on and off all day and in parts it was so windy it was difficult to get one foot in front of another.
When we got to the Glacier viewpoint we could hardly get to the top for the strength of the wind, and then that same wind brought pellets of ice hard against our faces. I'd bought sunglasses which H and I shared to take turns looking at the Glacier, the rest of our faces already being covered. The winds were reported as 95km per hour.
We were pleased to have made it despite the weather.
That night the strong winds continued and the camper rocked back and forth. I woke from a dream that we had been going around Cape Horn in a boat during a terrible storm!
Two days later we did the last part of the W. The weather was perfect! It was a long hike, 11km each way, with the final part being a steep ascent through big rocks. At the top we sat and waited while the clouds revealed the Torres, one by one.
As we reached the parking lot at about 6.30pm we were astounded by the amount of people just leaving (there are 2 campsites on this hike). Each seemed to be a complete novice, backpack on back, new tent in carry bag in hand, and a roll mat still in plastic strapped to the backpack... And leaving on a long uphill hike at 6.30 in the evening.
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