Torres del Paine Overview

Cleanwatt (Dylan) and I decided to hike a classic route in Torres del Paine known as the "W". It's called the "W" for the simple reason that, when viewed on a map, the route forms a sort of "W" shape. The trek typically takes 4-5 days. There is another classic hike in the park known as the "Circuit" which combines the "W" with a giant circumnavigation of the Paine massif but also adds another couple of days. Originally I had been considering just hiking the "W" route and then heading back to Puerto Notales () while Dylan carried on and hiked the rest of the Circuit route. However, by Day 5, our roles were reversed and I decided to stay in the park for an extra day to do a slightly longer hike while Dylan decided to leave in order to recuperate from a knee injury that he had sustained on the third day. Below is a day by day schedule of where we went and a rough map of the route that I took.

Day 1: Paine Grande to Refugio Grey and Mirador
Day 2: Refugio Grey to Campamento Italiano
Day 3: Campamento Italiano to Mirador to Refugio Los Cuernos
Day 4: Refugiou Los Cuernos to Campamento Torres
Day 5: Campamento Torres to Mirador de Torres to Valle de Silencio to Campamento Torres
Day 6: Campamento Torres to Hotel Las Torres



And now on to the rest of the story....