The Circuit of the Torres del Paine Massif
The Torres del Paine National Park is in southern Chile, about 200 miles north of the Straits of Magellan, and Tierra del Fuego. The entire region is known as Patagonia, and is known for its strong winds, which blow 35 to 50 miles an hour almost continuously.
A day without wind is a rare blessing. Magellan discovered the Straits now named after him more or less by accident. His ship was blown into the eastern entrance, and then right on through and out the west side. He and his crew were very fortunate not to make any wrong turns in the maze of islands and blind channels while they were being blown through. If they had been wrecked, we would have never known about the passage as early, and would not have heard of Magellan or his crew again. Once known, the Straits were a great alternative to the course around Cape Horn, which is known for its almost continuous gales, and giant waves. We flew in to Punta Arenas, a small city on the north shore of the Straits, about in the middle of the passage. From there we took a bus north to Puerto Nogales, spent the night in a quaint hotel, and then continued on into the National Park.
The Torres del Paine Massif is a large, roughly circular, group of granite peaks almost straddling the backbone of the Andes. The peaks are only up to 10,000 feet in height, but the park is so far south, that perpetual glaciers, snow, and ice grace the area. The peaks are all snow-capped year round. The nearby Patagonia Ice Cap does straddle the Andes, and, at 180 miles long, is one of the largest glacial systems in the world. It sends glaciers down into both Chile and Argentina. One of these, Gray Glacier, is just on the east side of the Massif. The circuit of the park is about 100 miles, accomplished in 9 hiking days. For most of the trip, pack horses carry the gear. However, the horses cannot make it over Paine Pass, which, while it is only at an elevation of 4000 feet at the top, is snow covered year round, and is followed by many miles of very steep cross-country terrain, too difficult for a loaded horse. Over this stretch, one has to backpack, and carry tents, and food.
On this trip, organized by Mountain Travel-Sobek, there were only six paying participants, a leader and two staff. Besides us, the other four participants, three men and one woman, were all MDs, and all in their 30s. At 62, we were definitely the oldest on the trip, but we were not the oldest who had ever done it. (continued)