The view out of our hotel room.
The next day (Thursday, 04.11.11) was billed as the most challenging walk of the tour. Charlie expressed his confidence in all our abilities to complete the walk (climb/hike). I was feeling stiff and a bit sore that morning. The previous day (Nov. 10), Charlie had asked if anyone wanted to go up the first part by horseback. We had four takers (Maria, Elizabeth, Susan, and Russ). I was pretty sure I didn’t want to add dealing with a horse to my dealing with steep drop off to my side.
So we left the Hosteria Las Torres a little after eight with the horses set to depart about a half hour later. The first segment was brutal, a continuous climb form about 120m to 700m. My polartec baseball cap was sopping wet from perspiration and sweat was dripping off the bill.
The first slope took us up a hillside without any serious drops, but once we cleared the top of the ridge, we entered a steep sided valley with the trail hugging the side. In some places, I think a mountain goat would turn up his nose at the trail. In a couple of places the trail was re-routed due to washouts and slides.
At the end of the valley was a campground with a coffee shop(!). You had to leave your boots at the door to go in. We waited outside while the horses came over the same paths. The coffee shop was supplied by horseback. I saw mattresses and a wheelbarrow being carried by the horses to the campground.
I was talking to one camper who had hiked up to the Towers the day before (which had dawned cloudless) and he showed me a photo he had taken with the golden light of sunrise on the Towers. Even on the LCD on the back of his camera it looked like a one-in-a-million photograph.
The view out of our hotel room.
The bridge over Rio Ascensio.
The same bridge, a few minutes up the trail.
Those lines behind Jonathan are trails on the floodplain below.
Walkers on the trail across the first plateau.
Looking back - that's Lago Nordenskjöld in the distance.
Pausing to shed a layer.
Notro and Paine.
Jonathan, notro, and Lago Nordenskjöld.
A bank of notro.
A view down on the Hosteria Las Torres.
At the top of the (first) hill.
The next leg along the side of the mountain with walkers on the trail.
More of the trail.
Looking back once we reached the camp.
The horseback riders arrive.
Crossing the river.
Maria, Elisabeth, and Sue crossing.
Russ on horseback.
Sue looks pleased with the ride.
Another smile from Sue.
Looking up the valley.
The horses taking a well deserved rest.
The cascade flowers - this image doesn't do them justice.
A number of thin flows were visible across the valley.
Another view.
Looking back down the valley.
Another stream.
Jonathan and Olga in the woods.
Looks a bit like Middle Earth.
By the time we reached the camp, Olivier, Cecilia, and Johan had already departed on the next leg of the hike, which goes from the base camp to the moraine. While the first leg up the ridge had been difficult, and the second leg up the valley had been nervous with the steep drop off the trail, the third leg was quite beautiful. One of the first sights was a small cascade over a face of rocks covered with red flowers (cascade flowers). As we continued up the valley there was a difficult spot where the park rangers had strung a rope to help with the ascent/descent. Across the valley there were thin streams cascading down the rock walls of the valley hundreds of meters to the river (Rio Ascensio) below. The path took us through forest and meadow until we reached the moraine (a tumbled rock deposited by a glacier).
The moraine looked like a giant rockslide. When we left the camp (Campamiento Torres), Charlie put us in charge of a local guide, Carola, who led us through the forest. After a rest, we proceeded up the moraine.
Climbing up the boulder field was not as difficult as I expected, although visually it was enough to make me think twice about making the climb. The slope of the field was close to 45 degrees by my estimation (no doubt an overestimate, but it looks steeper when you’re on it!), and it was very high. The initial portion of the climb followed the left edge of the rocks where a stream tumbled down from the glacier. There was a small waterfall, about 8 feet tall that was also graced by the red cascade flowers.
Carola in yellow, Jonathan taking a shot.
Len, Bill, and Olga.
A view down the moraine, and the other side of the valley.
Resting before climbing the moraine (Photo by Sue).
Looking back down the trail.
Jonathan climbing the trail.
A waterfall on the creek beside the moraine.
If you look closely, there are cascade flowers here too.
The Towers with their heads in the clouds.
Another look back the way we came (and had to go back).
Readjusting the pack.
I took this shot to show the layers of sediment, and the curious cross structures/sediment.
It was crowded at the top.
The stone cairns left by previous climbers.
The lake at the top.
Paine - from the indian name for blue - refers to the color of the glacial ice.
Adjusting the camera for the shot.
About halfway up, the trail turned into the moraine and the climbing turned serious. While the first leg of the day’s hike was exhausting, this climb was not. Because I was stopping after each step or set of steps to plan where I was going to place my foot next, this deliberate pace was slow enough to keep wheezing to a minimum.
About halfway up, Johan passed us coming down, describing the climb as “difficult.” Of course, he’s in his 80’s and was ahead of us all. We passed Cecilia, Olivier, Lavon, Dennis and Len as they were descending. There were a lot of people on the trails and numerous people were passing us.
We reached the top and got to view the lake that lies in the basin. On one of the large boulders around the top, previous hikers had made numerous little 3-4 stone cairns.
After we spent a few minutes at the top to appreciate the view, it started to spit rain. The weather had been closing in and the tops of the towers were scraping the clouds.
We started down the moraine and before we got too far, I slipped and landed on my butt. I caught myself so I was all right. But moments later, I did it again and didn’t catch myself and got a serious impact on my butt. We paused for a moment to allow me to gather my wits before we continued our climb down the moraine without further incident.
By this time Jonathan and I were the only walkers in the care of our guide, Carola. The walk back was an ordeal as my feet were very, very tired. The most difficult part was the main downhill that was so difficult to go up. My toes were jammed to the very toe of my boots, and halfway down I stopped to re-tie them. All that had mangled the blister pad on my right foot.
So 10 hours after we left, we came dragging back into our room at 6:30pm – the last of our group to return. We gave Carola a gratuity in appreciation for her sheparding a couple of doddering old men with their canes (walking sticks) down the mountain.
On the way down, we stopped at a stream and refilled our water bottles. The “agua de Paine” was fresh and cool, although there were small bits of vegetation in it.
After showering and replacing the blister pad, we adjourned to the dining room where I immediately began to self-medicate with a pisco sour. We tottered across the dining room to join our fellow walkers. Lavon had bought wine for the table in celebration of Dennis’ birthday, and Stan had bought champagne in appreciation for folks’ helping Janice on a difficult portion of the trail. The self-medication continued.