Torres del Paine National Park - Chile
Chile is a land of spectacular mountains and volcanoes.
Its backbone of the Andean Cordillera extends over 4000 kilometers north to south forming a natural boundary with neighboring Argentina.
Some of the best mountain scenery in all of South America is found in the Torres del Paine National Park, located about 350 kms north of Punta Arenas, the capital of Chile's prosperous 12th Region, and seaport on the Strait of Magellan.
In winter time the region is snowy and inhospitable, but the southern summer, December to March, brings an increasing number of visitors. For tourists, Chile is a pleasant, economical and safe place to travel, and exploring the Torres del Paine region is a great ecological adventure.
The southern fiordland town of Puerto Natales (population ca 20,000) is the jumping off point for visiting Paine. To get there you can either fly or bus or boat (cruise ship) into Punta Arenas and then bus the final 247 kms north to Puerto Natales, which has no commercial airport.
Finding accommodation in Puerto Natales is no problem. The town is awash with economical guest houses (hospedajes) plus many motels and hotels ranging up to the impressive 4 star Hotel Costa Australis on the waterfront. There are some fabulous up-market estancias and tourist hotels located within the Park and close by.
The website Hostelworld.com gives details of computerized budget places with reviews and online booking. The nicest hospedajes are run by little old ladies who make a modest living catering wonderfully to international travelers. You will find them in the Lonely Planet guide book, or by word-of-mouth from other travelers.
Access from Puerto Natales to the National park is by bus or car traversing 170 kms of rough road. Puerto Natales has many tour operators ready to organize anything. Your hostel or hotel manager will provide good advice on such matters. Minibus tours to the Park for the day are very good as the driver will stop any time for photography which is not possible if you go by regular bus. You'll get to see the highlights of the Park in comfort.
The most stunning close-up view of the mountains is from the mirador or lookout point near Pudeto. From the car park it is a short walk to see the Salto Grande. This is a spectacular waterfall on the short stretch of river linking the two glacial lakes Lago Nordenskjold which lies in front of the Cuernos (Horns) of Paine, and Lago Pehoe. An inviting track leads across the hills for 2 kms to another mirador above Lago Nordenskjold.
Early morning hikers may encounter a few guanaco, or small brown "llamas". The track winds around the lake shore and through a wonderland of flowering heaths and red embothrium. Prickly calafate and Patagonian cactus shelter little glades covered in flowering pea and green and yellow ground orchids. You may have to share your lunch with an inquisitive fox.
The fantastic panorama of the Paine mountains starts with Paine Grande (3050 meters) having a precarious summit snowfield that periodically send avalanches crashing down onto the Frances Glacier. The Valle Frances separates Paine Grande from the awe-inspiring Cuernos del Paine, always a favorite scene for Chilean postcards.
Cuerno Principal (2600 meters) and Cuerno Este (2200 meters) exhibit shear walls of light-colored granite capped by jagged peaks of black shale. Next in line is sprawling Monte Almirante (2670 meters) to round off this impressive Paine massif. The entire area was covered by a thick ice-sheet about 50,000 years ago, which has now largely melted away to expose a well glaciated landscape.
Present day glaciers are still slowly retreating during this post glacial period. The huge North and South Patagonian icefields, which extend northward along the Andes for 400 kms, are a remnant of what used to be during the last Ice Age (100,000 to 18,000 years ago).
Hidden behind the Cuernos lie the formidable Torres del Paine, shear granite towers that reach skyward more than 2700 meters. South, central and north towers have all been climbed by mountaineers by means of pegging a 1000 meter rope into the walls and hauling yourself up!
If you are lucky to fly south on a fine day your pilot may oblige by circling the aircraft close above the wonderful Torres for photographs before heading off to land at Punta Arenas.
For a closer ground look at the Torres you could stay at the Hosteria Las Torres which is the starting point for a strenuous 7 km hike up the steep valley of Rio Ascencio whose source is the glacier at the base of the Torres. At the top of the glacial moraine you get a magnificent view of all three towers, shared with the condors, whose home is close by in the shaly crags of El Nido del Condor!
Another fine walking area is above the conglomerate outcrops south of Pudeto and the jetty on Lago Pehoe. In summer the ridge tops are ablaze with "notro", a striking red-flowering shrub (embothrium coccineum). The glaciated landscape is dotted with tarns and wonderful alpine flora.
The animals of the National Park seem to like tourists. On the peninsula between Pudeto and the park entrance at Laguna Amarga from the road are seen many small herds of guanaco. Safe from the cougar and fairly tame, they roam freely and like to take up majestic poses on rocky outcrops. The rhea, or South American "ostrich" is fairly common and so too is the ever present condor soaring high above..
The Andean condor is the largest "vulture-type" bird with a wing span of up to 3 meters. It has jet black plumage with a white collar, like a vicar, and spiky wing tips when soaring. It lives on carrion and makes short work of any dead guanaco or sheep. If you want to see some close up just lie down on the ground and pretend you are dead!
Cougars are rarely seen, not uncommon, but dangerous. In March 1998, a trout fisherman was attacked and killed by a cougar when he disturbed it eating its prey on the shore of Lago Sarmiento, about 6 kms from Estancia Lazo.
What about fishing? There is good fishing on the Park periphery away from the milky glacier-fed waters. The outlet Rio Serrano, only 20 minutes walk from the Park Headquarters, has big rainbow trout and salmon. A notice here in Spanish informs anglers:
"Conserve our resource - 3 fish per day permitted, without exceeding 15 kilos."
Finally, there is Lago Grey and its icebergs, which is a much frequented tourist beauty spot. All day tours stop here. Visitors get to walk a few 100 meters to the lake and admire the drifting icebergs which crash off the distant front of the huge Grey Glacier marking the end of the Southern Patagonian Icefield.
Torres del Paine National Park is the new mecca for hikers. Whether you visit Paine as a tourist, hiker, backpacker or mountaineer, the stunning natural beauty of the region will make it an unforgettable experience.