Trail running in Patagonia. Torres del Paine circuit and El Chalten/Calafate in Argentina

Part 1: Trail Running the Torres del Paine Circuit

It’s been months since we came back, and I realized I still haven’t written the run report. It’s been long time so I asked Sam to edit my post and add his thoughts to it. Thank you Sam !!

Training

Sam and I decided to do this trip less than a month before, which left us with only 2 or 3 long runs of 2 or 3 hours. Our training millage was under 30 miles/week. Both Sam and I have ultra-running experience and we stay in decent shape, but we were by no means well trained for trek of this magnitude. Nevertheless – we both enjoy being spontaneous.  

 Day 1 – we landed in Santiago de Chile, and took a flight to Punta Arenas with Sky Airlines who happen to have tickets for $100 (compare to Lan $300 tickets). From there we took a bus to Puerto Natales where we spent a night. We headed to a local restaurant for some food and Pisco sour that I had missed since I lived in Peru in 2006 – 2007. We stayed as Hostal Alcatraz and were able to book our morning tickets to Torres del Paine park through them for the next day.

 Day 2: Mirador Torres out and back - Around 10 miles and 4.5 hours

We took a 3 hour bus to the park. Torres del Paine has several refugios owned by Fantastico Sur and Vertice Patagonia. Booking the nights was a bit of a hassle, I had to call and email several times from the US through Skype – fortunately we were able to book lodge rooms every night except one.

[A side note: A company called Andes Adventures organizes running adventure travel packages with very similar schedules to ours (to be fair we partially copy-catted their running itinerary). If you can’t afford it, miss a deadline, or prefer going solo, you can do the trip independently by making your own reservations, but expect to spend several hours over the course of a week planning the trip. You can book the refugios through email listed on their website and giving them your cc info, and you can book your flights the same way or on the phone. Some ability to speak Spanish helps a lot but is not 100% necessary. ]

We dropped off our bags at Refugio Torres and headed for our first ‘warm-up ‘ run up to Mirador Torres. This was supposed to be an easy 10 miler, but the climb to the Mirador ("Lookout point") took over 3 hours to complete.  Mirador Torres offers some beautiful "post-card views" and you definitely can’t miss it. The run down was very cool. I took my GoPro so most of the video is from this day.

[ Sam's note: the Mirador trail passes Refugio Chileno, which has a little store and potable water, and Campamento Torres, on the way to the top. The trail was pleasant and fun to run, with several bridges crossing over creeks along the way. Not extremely technical, though the trail is punctuated by short steep little rollers and lots of roots. Above the treeline is one big rock garden.

 This part of the trail was the most crowded and least fun to run, so if you're just here for the running you can buy the postcard and skip the hour out-and-back through the rock garden. Although there is a neat little surprise at the very top - underneath the "Three Towers" is a bright blue-green laguna formed from glacial water. ]

 Day 3: Refugio Torres to Refugio Dickson – around 22 miles and 8 hours

 Our start at 8:30 am was more difficult than I had expected; I’m not used to running with so much stuff. Sam’s bag was quite a big heavier and I admired the ease with which he was able to run.

 I carried my Nathan HPL-020 hydration pack and a Terra Nova Laser 6 waste pack. I packed these with 2 litres of water, about 10 Gus (back up for the upcoming days), a lunch box we got at the refugio (big sandwich, fruit, snacks, trail mix), some Clif Shot Blocks, spare clothes (2 or 3 long sleeve shirts, a soft-shell jacket, running tights, 3 pairs of socks, a rain shell), and some hygienic stuff. Sam helped me carry some of the heavier stuff – our set of mini shampoo and soap, my GoPro videocamera charger, our toothbrushes/toothpastes, etc and liquid detergent for washing my running clothes every night.  My hydration pack alone probably weighed around 10 pounds. If I could do it over again I would carry less spare clothes, less detergent, and very little GU or extra food – the lunch boxes we got at the refugios were always enough.

 The trail was beautiful on the first day; Sam and I agreed that Torres to Dickson was our first or second favorite part of the trail. My legs were a bit tired from the previous day’s  climb and my back and legs were not used to the load, so we were walking a lot, enjoying the views and taking our time. Countless streams of clear water and meadows covered in daisies made time go by very fast, but we were both relieved when we got to Refugio Dickson in the afternoon.

[Sam’s note: This section of the park had the most varied terrain, with foothills, marshes, forests, plains, and countless streams. For that reason it also featured the most varied plant and animal life. We saw what looked like a large rabbit hopping away as we ran down the trail (we later learned it was called a "Mara" and it's in the rodent family) and several exotic birds we couldn't identify. The weather was also extremely varied; within 30 minutes the weather could change from mid-60s and sunny to windy with slight drizzle, with even a bit of sleet. I tried adding and removing layers for a while but eventually gave up and just ran in my long sleeve top.]

 We were the only people staying inside the Refugio, but there were dozens of people camping.  2 or 3 couples joined us inside to eat dinner or just rest from hiking. I have never met so many young couples while backpacking, Christmas holiday seem to be the time to travel for people who don’t have kids yet. Many of the people we met were doing the circuit in 10 days and were carrying a lot of food and 40-60 litre backpacks. They all seemed quite amazed that we were doing it in 4 and half days and how little stuff we carried. Many of them were carrying tent and sleeping bag, which we didn’t have to because we booked a made up bed for each night. We also had the pleasure to meet the owner of Vertice Patagonia that night (Vertice Patagonia also operates Refugios Grey and Paine Grande.) The dinner at Dickson was great and we spent a couple hours sharing hiking experience with the other folks and listening to their stories and went to bed early.

 Day 4: Refugio Dickson to Lago Grey, 15 miles, 10 hours, crazy elevation changes.

 We headed out at about 8 am. The first 2 or 3 hours were pretty runnable and I was happy that I was still able to jog without any issues, and so was Sam. Sam was particularly strong and wanted to run more, but I wanted to hold back a little because we knew we had a 5 or 6 hour climb up to the Paso. We were warned that the weather over the Paso tends to be quite brutal so we were mentally ready for what we thought would be the hardest day. The first two hours were smooth trails going through the forest, with occasional streams and scenic views. Eventually we reached Campamento Los Perros and there began the ascent to the John Garner Pass, or simply "El Paso". 

Immediately from Los Perros, the forest trail climbed uphill and plateaued into a mud pit that seemed to last miles. Eventually we broke out of the mud pit and emerged above the tree line, to stunning views of mountains surrounding us and glacier-fed lagunas immediately before us. Above the treeline was pretty much one big rock garden, with most rocks larger than 10" in diameter. Not surprisingly, we saw very few people on the route in this direction; according to the Vertice owner, only 3% of the hikers do the full circuit.  Most enjoy only the W version of the trail, which is considerably shorter and has some great views, but I think it’s a shame; Sam and I actually liked the back part of the circle more than the "W".

 The climb to the Paso was tough and long but rewarded us with beautiful views of soaring glacier-topped mountains and crystal blue lagunas. After meandering past several lagunas we began a steep climb to the pass, over loose sharp scree rocks and eventually snow near the top. Despite the warnings, the weather was pretty mild that day and I only used one layer all day, except for the summit where it got really cold and windy for a few minutes. After we finally crested the summit, we were stunned to see the enormous Glacier Grey revealed on the other side, a giant frozen brilliant white mountain of ice. El Paso is probably the #1 viewpoint (aka Mirador) of the circuit that you can’t miss.

The descent from the Paso is steep, long, and takes several hours. The trail was soft soil but badly washed out, leaving numerous drops as tall as 3 feet. There were guardrails installed at one point, but they were mostly damaged beyond use by erosion, and lay bent and twisted in the bushes to the side of the trail. I did not have any serious issues, however Sam was feeling his knees badly. The neverending ‘stair steps’ on the 4500 foot descent make it difficult to run without a lot of pounding. I was wishing we had brought trekking poles like most other people we saw on this section.

 About half way through the descend we had to run along a cliff, and I had a little bit of a freak-out moment where at one point I was facing my first panic attack ever. It took me about an hour to get through the mile running on the edge and I was very relieved when it was over. This happened after I sliped and fell right on the edge which freaked me out quite a bit. After eating and gathering my breath I felt a bit better.

 The views, however, were well worth the  nightmare of dealing with heights. Even if you are afraid of heights, don’t let this keep you from doing the circuit – just make sure someone is holding your hand  on this part of the trail – it’s not that bad. And make sure you pay close attention to your nutrition and breathing.

 The last 2-3 miles were a more gradual descent (finally), so we were able to shuffle comfortably again. This section featured large, rocky creek crossings aided by giant metal ladders, a great photo opportunity.

We arrived at Refugio Grey and saw the owner of Vertice here again. Construction on Refugio Grey had completed just 2 weeks before our arrival, and workers were still putting some finishing touches when we arrived. We had booked a room and 4 roommates were there waiting for us; two from Canada and two from Netherlands. Very nice people, all doing the W (Refugio Grey is the the west end of the W trail). The dinner was fantastic as always, Sam and I did our laundry, had some beer, chatted with roommates, spent some time scrubbing off all the mud in the shower and off to bed.

 Day 5 – Refugio Grey to Campamento Cuernos. Distance 24 miles, 12 hours.

This day was definitely the hardest day of all, even though the terrain was not nearly as difficult as the previous day.  Sam’s knee is too hurt to run, my right thigh is giving me issues, and I’m feeling nauseous. My fingers had been puffy since day 2; my body ran out of sodium very quickly and even eating 2 salt pills every hour isn’t helping at this point, and my stomach is suffering as a result of the sodium depletion as well.

 The first 3 miles were quite easy to the beautiful lake Pehoe. From there it’s a couple hours of rolling hills to Campamento Italiano, where Sam and I took a little break at the glacier stream. The water from the glacier is so cold that you can keep your feet in only for a few seconds at the time. 

We dropped off our packs at Campamento Italiano leaving it sitting on the groud,  took only some water and a bit of food and headed out to the French Valley out-and-back climb. We saw many people turning around noting the climb was a bit too hard and the views were the same along the way anyway.

 We were tempted to turn around as well as the climb was very steep, but we didn’t, and we didn’t regret it. Once we got behind the first glacier, the views were changing every mile. After 2 hours we made it to the Campamento Britanico, and from there only another ½ hour to the French Valley summit, where the most incredible views open.

 The descent was very hard for both Sam and I. I had developed tendonitis on the front of my foot and I could not keep my left foot in a 90 degree angle; on the way down my foot was flopping helplessly in the air and I kept tripping over it. Sam’s knee was getting worse by the hour and we both were dealing with fatigue; it’s the fourth day spending between 6 and 11 hours on foot every day and we both knew we needed a break.  We didn’t run much at all – worse: we were passed by some hikers on the way from Campamento Italiano to Cuernos. Fortunately it wasn’t long before we got back to the foot of the Mirador, then 80 minutes more to Cuernos for a much deserved dinner.

[ Sam's Note: This climb was really difficult and the trail was too steep to run in many places. If you're short on time or just trying to spare your knees, you could leave this section out - I enjoyed the views but my knees didn't, and there are plenty of other places in Patagonia with great views and better trails for running. ]

 At the dinner we met a few folks from Australia who had the same taste in travelling and who’ve happened to have done the Annapurna Circuit that is on my list as well. Everyone at the dinner was quite cheerful, perhaps thanks to the Pisco Sour the refugio had on sale that night. Nom, nom. 

 Day 6 – Campamento Cuernos to Refugio Torres, 7 miles (or so..)

 Last day and just a few miles. This hike follows the stunning Lago Nordenskjold, which despite its beauty is a bit underwhelming compared to Glacier Grey and the other experiences we have been through. By this point we are fatigued and we were just focusing on finishing what we started while avoiding last minute injuries. If we had to skip anything, it would be this last day. We arrived at noon, and took a nice long shower, stretched, and got ready for the Chrismas Eve dinner buffet at Refugio Torress.

The dinner was  simply amazing. Different types of fish, ceviche, chicken, turkey, salads, deserts, spous, wine, pisco sour, beer, and lots and lots of pastries and desserts - everything that I had dreamed of the previous 4 days on the trail. What an amazing way to conclude our circuit!  A couple drinks, lots of food, hours of hanging out on the couch, good company of fellow adventure seekers, and knowing we just finished 75 miles of the hardest terrain either of us has ever done was the best Christmas gift I could imagine.

 Now we had 2 days to recover and get ready for our next adventure – the Argentinean side of Patagonia, but enough writing for now.