The iconic photo at the Towers and, in all fairness, one of the few views photographed from that day as a lot of the walking was done in darkness!
Day 5, our last day of walking, was all about hiking up to the base of the Towers. We opted for a very early start with the hope of seeing the sunrise bathe the Towers in a golden glow. Very weather permitting of course, so it was a bit of a lottery!
Did we win the lottery?! Well, nope, we sadly didn’t! Clambering the final rocks with our head torches lighting the way as snow fell wasn’t conducive to a clear sunrise sky. I remember being quite gutted, but reminding myself the weather wasn’t something I could control! It certainly was an experience and we’d been lucky to have no heavy rain days throughout the hike.
More Day 5 memories…
- The trickiest part of the hike was leaving the campsite on the correct path. The night made it much harder and we did go wrong at first. We found another group also struggling and combined our efforts. I somehow became the direction giver!
- The determination to outwait the low hanging clouds covering the Towers. We were the only ones from the sunrise hiking arrivals to do so – clearly stubborn! Our stubbornness or determination (whichever way you want to look at it!) paid off eventually and the weather cleared enough to see the Towers and get some pics! It was worth it!
- Being able to wait at the base of the Towers because we had brought our sleeping bags with us. The best tip we could have been given! Otherwise, there is no doubt we wouldn’t have held out up there.
- The amused glances we received from day hikers as we sheltered in our sleeping bags between rocks. A lot questioned how long we’d been there!
- Arriving back to Puerto Natales in heavy rain and running to return our camping equipment before 10pm that night.
If you’d like to read more, I’ve written two blog posts about Torres del Paine and the W trek. One is about my W trek experience and the second is more a breakdown of costs and tips.
