Torres Del Paine - Daily Diary

Arrival at Torre Central (1st day in the park)

  • We arrived at our first Refugio (Torre Central) in the late afternoon after driving most of the day from El Calafate, Argentina, crossing the border into Chile.

  • The border crossing was uneventful and we followed the easy 1, 2, 3 signs on the windows for checking in with each border crossing worker.

  • When you first pull into the Park, you see the Amarga Park Entrance, where we checked in and confirmed timing of the shuttle, bus, and ferry for the next day.

  • We then drove on to Refugio Torre Central. Parking is about 100 yards from the Refugio, so we unloaded our suitcases, packed our backpacks with what we’d need for the night and the following 4 days on the trail, and checked in.

  • At check-in we were asked which dinner seating we wanted (early vs late - this was an option at almost every Refugio), and we went to drop our bags in our room.

  • We noted that there were VERY limited power outlets to charge your electronics - and none in the bathrooms for hair dryers.

  • Dinner was hearty and we enjoyed meeting other hikers (some of whom we’d later run into along the trail!).

Day 1 of Hiking (2nd day in the park)

  • The next morning we ate breakfast and caught the first Shuttle from the Los Torres Welcome Center (where we parked our car) to the Laguna Amarga Park Entrance & Ranger Station. The shuttle cost was 3,000 Chilean Pesos per person (paid to the driver)

  • At Amarga, we rode 30 min in a Tour Bus (called the Jose Maria) to the Pudeto Ferry. The Bus cost was 5,000 Chilean Pesos per person.

  • At Pudeto, we waited about 90 min but made sure we were in the front of the line for the Ferry, because it’s first come first served, seats only 80-90 people, and missing it meant waiting another several hours!

  • The Ferry ride (30 min) was beautiful, and dropped us at Paine Grande Refugio/Ranger Station around 11:30, where we started our W Trek, heading first to Refugio Grey.

  • The views were stunning around every turn, but the wind…THE WIND…oh my…it was blowing at 20-30km/hr with gusts up to 80km/hr on the peaks/saddles of the trail.

  • It took 2hr 50 min to get to Refugio Grey, and we got our first taste of what the trails are like in the park. To sum the trails up in one word we’d say “Rocky”.

  • Once checked in at the Refugio, we had a little time before dinner, so we did the 15 min hike out to the Glacier Lookout point, and then headed back inside for an adult beverage and dinner.

Day 2 of Hiking (3rd day in the park)

  • After staying the night at Refugio Grey, we woke up (with our hearts sinking) to pouring rain.

  • After breakfast, there seemed to be a small weather window, so we suited up in our rain gear, loaded up our packs, and headed out.

  • Back at Paine Grande after 2hr 45min, with off-and-on rain, we stopped for a quick rest and a cheeseburger.

  • From there, we headed out toward Dome Francis where we’d booked our next overnight stay.

  • The trail between Paine Grande and Dome Francis was exceptionally muddy in parts, so we found ourselves jumping around, over, and between enormous mud puddles. This slowed us down a bit but we still arrived at Dome Francis in plenty of time before dinner.

  • This Regufio was the most unique of the ones we stayed in, having 8 bunks with 2 bathrooms within each Dome.

  • Each Dome was equipped with a wood burning fireplace which heated the unit…which meant that when the fire died in the middle of the night, we were very grateful for our sleeping bags provided by the Refugio.

  • Truth be told, that night we ran into some fellow hikers who we had met 2 nights earlier at Torre Central, and had a great time sharing stories of our first 2 days on the trail by the fireplace.

  • That night after dinner, we picked up both breakfast and lunch which we had requested since we planned to leave very early the following morning, and wouldn’t be able to stay for the seated meal.

  • Brown bag breakfast included hard boiled eggs, cheese and bread.

  • Brown bag lunch (which we got every day as part of our meal package) included a large chicken salad sandwich, fruit, granola bars, and some nuts.

Day 3 of Hiking (4th day in the park)

  • We woke up at 6:30 to leave Dome Francis by 7am. We had picked up our to-go breakfast and lunch the evening prior, so we tried to slip out of the Refugio as quietly as possible.

  • We hiked 30 min to Camp Italiano (a refugio with only outdoor camping and outhouse-style bathroom facilities) where we stopped to eat our breakfast of hard boiled eggs, cheese, and bread.

  • From there, around 7:40am, we continued up the center spine of the W trek to the Britanica Lookout. It took us 1 hour to get to the Valle Francis lookout, and another hour to the very top.

  • The view from the peak was amazing, and we were the 1st to arrive. As we were headed down, we passed a steady stream of hikers coming up the valley.

  • We made it back down to Dome Francis in about 5 hours, making it perfect timing for an a-la-carte lunch of quesadillas. We picked up one of the backpacks we had left there (since we didn’t need all our gear just for the hike to Britanica), and headed back out.

  • Our end destination for the night was Refugio Chileno, but first we hiked to Refugio Cuernos, past a beautiful lake with black and white pebble beach. The hike from Francis to Cuernos took 1hr 20 min.

  • We stopped at Cuernos for the restroom and a candy bar, before continuing on to Refugio Chileno.

  • This section of the trail (between Cuernos & Chileno) felt like a lot of big vert (aka a lot of ups and downs) but wasn’t as muddy as the earlier sections of the trail.

  • We missed a cut-off trail to the left which would have shortened our hike by about 2 miles and, we estimate, about 1k of vertical feet.

  • So, we ended up at the Torre Central area (back where we started), and then hooked a hard left to head up the trail to Refugio Chileno.

  • We arrived at Chileno a few minutes before 7pm…12 hours after leaving Dome Francis that morning.

  • At Chileno, we dropped our bags and headed to the dining room. Dinner was a delicious (let’s be honest, anything would have been delicious after that 12 hour day) creamy vegetable pasta, with soup and dessert.

Day 4 of hiking (5th day in the park)

  • We woke up with sore knees (from the LONG day prior), but excited to finally get to see the famous Las Torres (the towers).

  • After breakfast (and some Advil!), we began our hike around 8:20am and made it to Las Torres in 1.5 hours.

  • We left our packs at Chileno, and carried only a day pack (with plenty of water).

  • Along the way, we passed people coming down the trail who had gotten up from Chileno in the dark, in order to see the views at sunrise.

  • We were lucky with the weather, and had clear skies. We reached the famous Las Torres and the views took our breath away.

  • Only about a dozen people were there at the beautiful lake/lookout with us.

  • On the way back down, we gathered our packs from Chileno, and continued all the way back to Torre Norte (the Refugio about 2 minutes walk from Torre Central).

  • We booked Torre Norte only because Torre Central was full for that night. Given the option, we’d recommend Torre Central so you don’t have to walk to dinner (served at Central), but in the long run, it was no big deal to be a short walk away and Torre Norte was the same as all the other Refugios along the trail.

  • The reason we stayed this one extra night is that we had a 6.5 hour drive to El Chalten next. Instead of trying to hike and drive in the same day, we gave ourselves the extra night so that we’d be driving after a good night’s sleep. If we were only going to Puerto Natales (for example), we could have easily left the park on this day.