Hiking in Patagonia – The W Trek in Torres del Paine
Most recently updated June 9th, 2022
It’s been more than a year since I returned from hiking in Patagonia, spending a week on the W trek in Torres del Paine National Park.
I wrote a very short “I’m baack!” kind of post right after the trip, but now I’m finally getting around to sharing more details.
Hiking the W Trek in Patagonia
Frankly, this is partly just an excuse to post more amazing Patagonia photos!
Be warned, this is an extremely long post, but it’s jam-packed full of useful information:
Different options for getting to Patagonia,
Torres del Paine hiking info,
What you’ll need to bring for the W Trek, and
A day by day description of my trip.
This is all really good info for you if you’re thinking about a similar trip. Anyway….about the place:
Patagonia, Chile is at the southernmost tip of South America, very close to Antarctica. Torres del Paine National Park is located on the eastern edge of the continent.
It’s a place of spectacular beauty, with dark jagged snow-topped mountains, turquoise glacier-fed lakes and rivers, and abundant wildlife.
Returning to Puerto Natales from Torres del Paine.
The W Trek, and the whole Patagonia trip, was an unforgettable experience.
Even though I’m a fit experienced hiker, I wasn’t sure if it would be a good trip for me, personally – being in my 50’s, asthmatic, and not a big fan of wilderness camping. But I took a chance, and I’m very glad I did.
With some extra training and planning ahead, I had no issues at all.
In fact, I held up much better than most of the 20-somethings! 🙂
Torres del Paine National Park
The park is in the southern tiers of the Andes and features mountains, lakes, and glaciers. Torres del Paine is Spanish for “Towers of Paine”.
Hikers at the base of the Torres
Three immense gray-blue rock towers (torres) are what give the park it’s name.
Paine means “blue” in the native Tehuelche (Aonikenk) language and is pronounced PIE-nay.
The towers extend up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) above sea level, and are joined by the Cuernos del Paine.
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Torres del Paine National Park is one of the largest and most visited parks in Chile. The park averages around 252,000 visitors a year, of which 54% are foreign tourists from all over the world.
Trail marker in Patagonia
There are established camps/refugios, with dining halls and bathhouses inside the park.
There are also some cabins to rent near the Cuernos camp.
I stayed in a tent at a group campsite each night – this helped keep my costs down.
The W Trek
The W Trek route I took was a 4-day, 62km (38.5 mi), excursion into Torres del Paine NP.
The route is called the W Circuit/Trek because on a map, it creates a “W” (following the red dots, below).
Map of Torres del Paine
The W Trek is normally done in 4-5 days, walked east to west, starting at Refugio Las Torres and ending at Refugio Paine Grande.
It runs up three valleys, creating the W shape that gives it its name.
Each of those valleys contains one of the iconic sights of the park:
Ascencio Valley – in the east takes you all the way to the base of the famous towers. The ascent to their base is a steep 800 meter climb as part of a 6-8 hour day of hiking.
French Valley – the central spur of the W, is dominated by the hanging glacier Francés. This glacier lies ahead of you on your rocky climb into the heart of the valley.
The final leg runs alongside Lago Grey. The lake is dotted with cobalt blue ice floes, up to the face of the enormous glacier that stretches towards the ice cap.
For many hikers, the W trek is a perfect length and gets extra points for its access to some of Torres del Paine’s top attractions.
If you’re looking for more of a challenge inside the park, the Q, the Circuit, or O treks could be just the thing.
Crossing a bridge on Day 1 of the W Trek
While the W covers 38 to 48-miles (62-76km), the Circuit and the Q are routes with distances of 57-miles (93km) and 68-miles (110km) respectively.
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These treks are more adventurous and require more experience and preparation than the W Trek.
Instead of figuring all of this out by myself, I went on a trip managed by G Adventures travel company, with local hike hosts in Torres del Paine.
It was a small group, about a dozen adults of all ages and from all over the world.
View of the pier into the Puerto Natales harbor
The G Adventures people managed all of the site reservations and fees, transporting and setting up the tents from camp to camp, and food for meals when there was no dining hall.
There’s also good info about discounts and special savings.
NEW!!!IT’S THE G ADVENTURES
JUNE 2022 20% OFF SALE!!
Author with G Adventures group at the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in New Zealand.
OFFER 1: Book your next trip before July 5, 2022 to get 20% off* your G Adventures vacation with travel before the end of July 2022.
OFFER 2: Book your next trip before July 5, 2022 to get 15% off* your next G Adventures vacation with travel before the end of September 2022.
There are plenty of trips to choose from – one of them could be just perfect for you 🙂
View from the road going to Torres del Paine NP
They also handled lodging and transportation from Puerto Natales, which – though the closest town to Torres del Paine – is still about a 3 hour drive from the park.
For more of my favorite travel deals and resources, see my Travel Resource Page.
Training for the W Trek
It was a fantastic trip, and I trained like a maniac before I went.
As it turns out, I didn’t need to train so hard.
Though the Torres del Paine park – and Patagonia in general – is visually imposing, the W Trek is not insurmountable for any hiker in average shape, even if you are a bit on the “mature” side.
The ascent to the base of the three towers in Torres del Paine
There was a lot of vertical gain on the trail, but elevation was only 9,462 ft total at the summit of Paine Grande, the tallest mountain in the group.
For fit hikers, that’s not a lot of elevation and we didn’t hike anywhere high enough to worry about lack of oxygen or altitude sickness.
We had help carrying supplies on the trail, too.
The G Adventures crew had horses to help carry the tents and food supplies.
The gauchos (cowboys) would ride ahead on horse trails to our next camp, so that our tents would already be set up when we got there.
Peruvian cowboys prepare the horses for the trek
They also carried a dry bag for each hiker, which held our extra clothes and toiletries.
(We retrieved our dry bags when we got into camp each day.)
Hikers only had to carry personal gear, water, and lunch that was needed each day on the trail in our packs, so they weren’t very heavy.
Initially all of this help made me feel like a wimp, but after hiking to the base of the towers I was over it 🙂
If you feel you might need a little bit of extra training before you go, see my training guides for older hikers and ways to get extra fit while you train for an epic trip!
In Patagonia, January is late summer – which means it was not freezing cold at night, and temps can get up to a balmy 72 degrees F during the day.
Snow blowing from mountain peaks in Torres del Paine
That said, Patagonia’s infamous winds are at their strongest that time of year and can reach over 120 miles an hour.
During my trip, the winds were gusting up to 80mph on one day.
Every so often you had to stop and grab onto a rock to avoid being blown off of the narrow hillside track.
Coming from hurricane country in North Carolina, it really didn’t seem that bad.
We hiked another half day in some pretty steady rain, too, but other than that the weather was just perfect.
What to Pack
The temptation for me (always) is to over-pack, because I want to be prepared for anything that could happen.
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But I also know that I’m going to have to carry everything on my own – if not on the trail, at least through all of the travel to get there!
Viewpoint on Day 2 of the W Trek
Knowing that, I lay out everything I think I’m going to need and then reduce all of the clothing items by half, and then sometimes by half again.
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I usually still carry more with me than I absolutely have to. But a girl likes to have choices 🙂
Packs dropped for a rest break at the Italian Camp
On the W trek with G Adventures, you will carry all your daily gear and layers in your daypack or in an extra (provided) 40L dry bag, so travel light.
You can leave the rest of your luggage at your hotel in Puerto Natales.
BASIC REQUIRED GEAR
For the W Trek, because you are able to leave extra gear in camp, you’ll just need basic day hike gear, plus a couple of extras:
Sturdy hiking boots. Wear boots that are already broken in and comfortable, because you’ll be in them for days. Learn how to choose the best boots for your hike.
Flip flops (for showers or tent wear)
2-3 pairs of socks that won’t slide down into your shoes and cause blisters. I usually layer 1 pair of thick socks over 1 thin pair.
Patagonia, Chile is at the southernmost tip of South America, very close to Antarctica. Torres del Paine National Park is located on the eastern edge of the continent.
