Torres del Paine National Park, Chile and El Calafate, Argentina (23-31 January)

Patagonia - what an incredible piece of the world.  So much beauty and wow factor shared by both Chile and Argentina.  Whilst we are in the region we are below a 350km long ice shelf - this shelf is the third largest area of ice in the world and therefore also fresh water resource. It feeds hundreds if not thousands of Glaciers. 

Our first stop is the Torres del Paine National Park (“Towers in the Blue”) where we start the W Trek (after an intro day it was 4 days, 3 nights and ~71.5 kms of hiking).  Quickly we are introduced to Patagonian weather as we experienced walking into ~80km winds, sunshine, rain and snow all in the first 24 hours.

Day 1 – The Towers, 20kms moderate-hard, 9 1/2 hours (7 1/2 walking)

Today it rained most the day but also snowed for at least 2 hours.  When we arrived at the view point Base de las Torres “Base of the Towers” it was total white out so got glimpses of the lake but the towers were completely hidden.   

Day 2 - 14kms easy-moderate, 5 hours (4 walking)

Better weather today as we walk in front of Grande Paine (3,050m) to Los Cuernos “the Horns”.  Here we watched Condor soaring hundreds of metres above us which was a fantastic sight.

Day 3 - 24kms moderate-hard, 10 1/4 hours (8 3/4 walking)

Beautiful day opened up the French valley for us exposing mountains, lakes, glaciers and extreme landscapes formations.  While in the vicinity of the first lookout we saw at least 15 avalanches, the sound of which is amazing.

Day 4 - 13.5kms easy-moderate, 6 hours (4 walking, 2 on a boat)

Another good day saw us walk the final 11.5 kms to the Grey Glacier where we took the boat cruise to the glacier front before heading to the far end of the lake and another 2km walk to the waiting transport.

The National Park is stunning and not unlike NZ in a lot of ways.  Beautiful mountains, lakes, rivers - all pristine and clean much like home.  The trekking paths not quite the same quality however as we climbed, and walked over some pretty uneven terrain. Will most definitely remember the Patagonian weather (four extreme seasons in one day), the beech forests, the uneven surfaces and the most beautiful views.   Our trek ended in Puerto Natales.

Back into Argentina and Perito Moreno Glacier.

This Glacier is something else - its 30km long (of which we can see about 15km) and its 5km wide at the front edge (split between the north and south faces that you can’t see at the same time).   It's between 40-70m high on the front face from the water level (and 110m below water level).  The special thing about this Glacier is that it's growing quite substantially and that it meets land, separating two bodies of water.  The South face water level is currently 7m higher than the Centre/North and over a number of years the water will build up such force that it will break through the ice - they're expecting that to happen in 2016 (it happened last in 2012/13) and would be some spectacle.  The other quite unique aspect to the Glacier is the calving.  It is constantly shedding ice and with that comes the most incredible explosive sounds.

While in El Calafate we tried the local highly recommended Cordero – “Organic Lamb off the spit” which was great but possibly not so good for the cholesterol.

We have now travelled north to the lakes district in Chile and while flying we were treated to super clear sky’s as we flew right over Torres del Paine National Park (and got our best view of the Paines!), and Perito Moreno Glacier.  Also got to see the biggest glacier in the southern hemisphere outside the polar caps) - Glacier Pio XI is 1,265 sq. kms. We followed much of the 350kms of ice shelf which is surrounded by absolutely stunning scenery with glistening lakes and rivers, snowy mountains, glaciers, forests and more - most definitely rivalling NZ as the most beautiful, certainly from the air.

Best moment     – The French Valley and the amazing sounds of multiple avalanches

Worst moment  – 3 hour Argentinian border crossing that resulted in us missing our connecting bus.

Most special       – The Condors flying high above us in front of the Horns (Cuernos del Paine)

Most surprising – Whiteout on day 1 at the Base of Torres del Paine