First leg of the W, up to Las Torres

Some people get up at 2:30 in the morning to make the hike up to Base de Las Torres to see the sunrise. Yeah, we weren't going to make that. We did see the sunrise though from the valley and it was beautiful. Just not 2:30 AM beautiful.

We had a nice breakfast in the lodge and returned to the cabin to pack for the hike. Today's itinerary was to hike past the Hotel, up the valley to Refugio Chileno where we would break before hiking to Campamento Torres and then up the steep climb to Base de Las Torres.

The sunrise from the porch of our Refugio.

Breakfast or desayuno.

After breakfast we picked up our "box" lunches for the trail. They wound up being more like shopping bag lunches and were ridiculously big. The sandwiches became a running joke with us. More on that later.

The parking lot in front of the hotel grew some more expedition campers overnight.

These red foxes, or culpeos, were playing around in front of the hotel.

The heating plant for the hotel. Paine Chico Sur is the big mountain in the background. We would be hiking to the right of that mountain up the adjacent valley.

MB bravely ventures across the first bridge as a test case.

MB made it so JD saunters across.

Caballeros head up the trail at a much faster clip than us.

The F family makes their way up the lazeras or switchbacks.

A pause to admire our progress. We came from the left background of this picture.

A group of gringos on horseback made their way past us with the exhortations of the caballeros urging the horses on faster.

The first of what would become a regular feature of the W hike. The trail sign. Some times it would represent salvation, as in "we'll take a break at the next trail sign" or more often it represented exasperation as in "we've only gone 2.5 kilometers!" The elevation representation was fairly accurate in hindsight. Good thing I didn't realize it at the time, just look at the elevation after Campamento Torres, it goes straight up! And it did!

The first high pass we would summit.

After the pass it was a couple of ups and downs before reaching Refugio Chileno which is in the far distance at the bottom of the valley. We would go down to the Refugio and then back up around a side valley to the left in the far background.

Looked like a horse lost its load on the trail.

Looking back down valley.

Heading to the Refugio.

These caballeros showed up to clean up the horse wreck.

Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do you?

Horse break.

The "bar" at Refugio Chileno.

EF clambers her way up past the D family.

Damn, I thought we were already in the park! Anyways, welcome to TDP.

Funny that the beaver is the mascot of the Guardaparques or Park Rangers. Beavers are considered an invasive species. More on that later as well.

Our first sight of a hanging glacier high above us.

Looking back to the pass we came through.

A twisted and possibly lightning damaged tree.

Hmmm, 45 minutes. Really? Are you sure?

Really, don't ask about the weather. We were lucky because this day was warm, dry and clear.

The Guardaparques hut at Campamento Torres. I asked him to punch our park pass and he chuckled. I'm guessing that they don't really use those passes.

A neat old stove in the hut.

These geodesic domes were all over the park, used by CONAF (Chilean Forestry) personnel. Too bad we didn't get a look inside.

Oh, boy that's a long way up!

Still a long way up.

Finally! It was worth the effort to get all the way up here.

I believe this is Torre Norte, Central and Sur, left to right.

Dammit, some of these pics won't rotate. This couple was quite interesting in their fashion of Arcteryx jackets and matching fedoras.

After enjoying a few moments in the warm sunshine of the lookout, we descended to the shore of this glacial tarn where we took even more pictures and I filled my water bottle. Cold glacial water from Chile is quite good!

I used this opportunity to test out my new thermos as I had filled it with hot water for tea. It was a perfect setting for a spot of tea.

We took a few last pictures and then began our descent. We weren't late but we did have to maintain some progress in order to make it back for dinner. The descent was pretty rough on the old knees but we all made it.

The obligatory skyline shot.

Finally summited the last pass before the long descent to the bridge. I called this the trek of the deceiving ridges as it looked like the bridge was just over the ridge for 6 or 7 times!

I picked up a stick to help me with the descent way back up at the lookout. I left it by the bridge with the following inscription "Este baton uso por Pablo Verde de los EEUU. Use por la camina con buena suerte, 21-2-13" Loosely translated "This stick was used by Pablo Verde (my high school Spanish "name") from the United States. Use it for the hike with the best of luck. February 21, 2013"

The troop makes it back.

The hotel from a different angle.

Another expedition camper.

The park sign about the fires. You can see where they marked the extent of the 2011 and 2005 fires.

We all made it down in time for dinner. All in all I think we did close to 18 kilometers with the walk from our Refugio added in. I felt like I had run a half marathon my legs were so shredded. We all earned our sleep that night and I don't think anyone was awoken by any snoring (unlike the previous night!). I did wake up at one point and someone was moaning in pain. That may have been me.

Next up: A "light" day to Cuernos.