Day 1 - Los Torres to Seron, 10 miles, ~250 elevation
You get to see Los Torres today! Sorry, not the best photo.
There is beer at Seron. You deserve it!
Day 2 – Seron to Dickson, 12 miles, ~200m elevation
Day 2 is a beautiful hike. There are wildflowers and mountain backdrops and there are very few people on the trail. Enjoy it.
Looking down on the Dickson campsite. That little peninsula is where we're going.
There’s a little hut that sells beer (again, you deserve it!) and things like eggs, chocolates, and bread.
Beware of the horses.
This night several people thought they felt an earthquake while laying in their tent. I had just gotten up to go to the bathroom so I didn’t notice it. It’s very possible it was just a distant glacier crumbling to the earth, letting us know mother earth is boss.
Day 3 - Dickson to Perros, 8 miles, ~350m
This is Perros Glacier. We got to see it break off into the lake which was pretty cool.
I also built a snowman out of some glacier pieces.
Day 4 – Perros to Grey, 13.7 miles, ~550m (loss of about 100
Grey Glacier
Grey Glacier
Grey Glacier
Once you make it to the top of the pass, you have a bird's eye view of it and it is enormous!
Grey Glacier
Grey Glacier
I've never seen a glacier this big before. Towards the end of the day, you walk to the edge of it and see it's front.
Grey Glacier
Watch icebergs fall into the ocean.
The Grey campsite is officially on the W trek, so prepare for more people.
Day 5 – Grey to Paine Grande, 12.4 miles, ~250m
I hope you're not afraid of heights! This is one of the famous suspension bridges; the height gives you a killer view of Grey as well as the glacial lakes in the other direction.
It was EXTREMELY windy here. It would gust really hard from the lake towards the mountain behind us and then it would turn and hit us again from the other direction. We didn't sleep the whole night because the tent was caving in on us. Jon eventually sat up and used his head as a tent pole. Several people abandoned their tents and booked beds at the Refugio.
We were pretty close into the nook; make sure you set up camp towards the Torres, as close to the entrance as possible, even if it's crowded, and make sure you peg down all of your guy lines. And weigh your tent stakes down with rocks.
Here's my ad for Nemo at the Paine Grande campsite.
Day 6 - Paine to Italiano, 12.4 miles, ~575m
This day is pretty incredible. You start by hiking along some glacial lakes that are an un-touched, milky-magical blue and change color from different angles.
Then you hike the center "nub" of the "W" and see the back side of the Torres.
And then you are at the ocean! Just kidding but the wind make it feel like we went from glacier to rocky cliffside to ocean all in a day.
Day 7 - Italiano to Torres Central, 13 miles, ~250m
Just another day of unmatched beauty. We stopped at Cuernos on the way and had some hot food which was really a treat.
Several of our friends stayed at Cuernos instead of Italiano and we were able to catch up with them.
Day 8 – Torres Sunrise and out, 8.7 miles, ~675m
Last day. We woke up before sunrise and hiked up to the Torres. It was cloudy and freezing but we stayed for a couple hours and it cleared up. Since we went so early, we beat all of the tour-group crowds and day-hikers.
