Note, I've posted two blogs on a row. So if you haven't read W trek part 2, go back to that first.
--Sun--
Midnight
1am
2am
2:30am
Finally at 2:45am I gave up. The alarm was going off at 3 anyway. Rolling over again was pointless. To Ellie's credit, she actually made it to the alarm.
We silently got ready to hike, putting our hiking layers on and getting the packs ready. Grabbing our headlamps, we headed to the dining hall. 10 places were set for early breakfast. None of the other places had been touched yet. Cheese slices. Ham. Chocolate crescent cereal. Tea.
And we were off into the darkness.
A popular way to tackle the last day of the W is to hike the last 6 km up to the Mirador los Torres (viewpoint of the towers) before sunrise. The first rays of the sun light up the very tops of the towers a beautiful shade of red-orange. We had decided that there were many advantages to this early start; beautiful views, relative solitude at the peak, and getting back to Puerto Natales in the early afternoon to reset.
So up we went. We had to climb a 1500 ft in the dark and be there before 6:20 am. I joked with Ellie about coming across a puma in the woods in the dark. She wasn't amused.
It was so surreal walking through the woods in the darkness. We'd come to a river crossing and look up to see bright, vivid stars and a small glimpse of the milky way between the trees. The forest was quiet, peaceful. The trail was easy to follow, thanks in part to reflective trail blazes.
No one else was out. We were the first.
Halfway up there's a ranger station. As we neared, we started to get pelted with rain. We came out to a large clearing with an open view. It was still so dark that we couldn't see anything across the valley. But looking up, we realized only part of the sky was starry. It appeared to be shifty clouds. We also realized here that our pace was way too fast. We had less than an hour to the top and it was only 4:30am. The rain and wind were cold, so we couldn't stop. So we continued at a much slower pace.
Back in the woods, the trail got steeper. It was still pitch black but we could perceive that we were gaining views we couldn't see. A light appeared behind us; we slowed and let a man with a camera pass.
Father up, we went around a bend to find we were suddenly at tree line. We had to wait somewhere; we were 20 minutes earlier than we needed but we feared sitting out in the open in the cold. So we went back under cover and waited.
Tick
Tick
Tick
Finally the time passed. A frozen gust came out of nowhere (classic Patagonia) to chill us and distant lights behind us showed we weren't alone any more. We carried on. It was probably 20 to 6. It was still pitch black.
We emerged from there treeline onto a boulder/scree field. The trail became steeper and slight posts were the only trail markers. Way finding was more difficult and treacherous. We went diagonally up along one slope and wrapped around a bend to an adjacent slope. Looking back, there were a couple groups of lights that had also emerged from the tree line. It was like the Ave Maria scene from Disney's Fantasia: a silent line of monks slowly and determinedly processing to a midnight candlelight vigil. A dozen lights in the pitch black. One for each apostle.
Climbing some more, we came to a cordon. Beyond the cordon was a short ridge of rubble. And there in the dark, I noticed it: the three Torres, a faint black on black outline.
We followed the cordon around to the right and, going around the right end of the rubble pile, we entered a glacial corrie. Walking down into the enclosed area, I became aware there was a silent waterline close at hand: we had reached the Mirador! The end of the W.
Taking shelter from the wind behind a boulder the sky finally lightened. To our right was a huge rock face. Behind us, the rubble pile, with the ridge line probably only 30-50 ft above where we sat. To the left, the rubble pile went outwards and upwards, becoming a giant rubble-y slope and, farther left, a a steep mountain.
The rock face on the right and the scree slope mountain on the left wrapped together before us like a person's arms in a hug, fully enclosing an enormous turquoise lake. From where we sat on the near shore, the opposite rock face was maybe a mile or more away.
And there, rising out of the water, were the three gigantic towers of rock like three amigos. Too steep even for glaciers. The tops of the towers were 1500 m (5000 ft) over the elevation of the lake.
Clouds danced around the tops of the towers like a balloon daring to rest on the tips of three needles.
There was no red orange sunrise for us that morning, but instead we had an intriguing, mysterious, blue-grey dawn. There was a moment everyone had spread out to watch and the was a moment with no head lights, no cameras, no shuffling around. Just silence. Just the darkness. Just the towers and the Lago Torres. A beautiful, magical sight to behold.
********
W trek afterword
The W trek, you will recall, is like an upside down m. We planned to catch a bus from the top left serif of the m. We didn't pre book a ticket because we didn't know when we needed it.
From the Torres, we hiked back to Chileno to pack our stuff, marveling at all the views we missed in the dark. From there, we hiked 9km back past Windy Pass and down down down off the TDP massif.
From the time we left Chileno, the first of the day hikers were going the other way up towards the towers. There were tons of them. They looked exhausted. Going down is much easier on the cardio.
We made it to the welcome center around noon. Looking back, there was still cloud around the towers, but the entire rest of the sky was bright blue with puffy clouds. We made it!
Well... Not so fast. The welcome desk informed us that the bus company was totally booked out for the rest of the day. We were shocked! How could a half dozen buses all be packed?? The lady didn't have anything any good advice for us except to wait for the next bus at 3 pm (facepalm) and then start talking to drivers.
When you wake at 3am and hike 16 km in the sun, the last thing you want is to wait 3 hours to find you might be stranded in the park. Hashtag angry. It definitely deflated what should have been a triumphant finish.
It turns out we weren't alone. There were probably a dozen people without tickets. Ellie leveraged her travel experience and convinced the driver to give us passage on the floor of the bus. He accepted. It was a long, drowsy hour on the bus floor, but at least we made it out. We were back in Puerto Natales by 5.
~60 km total (41.2 mi)
~3000 m elevation gain (9100 ft)
Two backpackers weary of the trail, wind, and terrible park transportation management.
But for all that, we did it! What an amazing place on the planet to see and be a part of.
Some teasers for upcoming posts:
-A run in with bad food
-Living the high life at an Argentinian ranch
-What? Another hike?
-Wind and guanacos
-Buenos Aires (the air is so good)
-Cultural observations
No comments:
Post a Comment