The arrival of our friend Christian marked a new part of our trip: minus two bikes and plus one guy. One could discuss about the equation but it definitely promised to become a fun trip. Also for the boys it was a first warming up session for their planned mountaineering trip in the beginning of January.
After 10 days in the same place, working, cooking and eating I wouldn’t exaggerate saying I really longed for wilderness, our tent and some physical exercise. I was definitely keen to go.
Knowing that Torres del Paine is one of the most visited places in Patagonia, I even dare to say in South America, we did not need much time to decide to go for the longer but quieter O-Circuit, an estimated 8-day-trip. It includes the famous W-Circuit, which is usually fully or partially done by an estimated 150,000 people per year. Most of them come to see the famous towers, which is also possible during a day trip. One has to be lucky to see them though, as they are covered in clouds most of the time. So here begins our story.
THE PREPARATION
In Gloria’s house we met Lukas, another German who was keen to travel with us in Torres del Paine. Perfect match as we had 2 tents, each for 2 people. We bought a lot of food to survive an estimated 8- day trip. Most important: Chocolate, nuts and biscuits. Water? No need: one could find delicious glacier water and springs everywhere to fill up the bottle. Clothes: not to forget water proof jacket and trousers, gloves, bonnet, a t-shirt. I was also glad that I have taken my long underwear and the extra jumper. Equipment: It was a great choice to squeeze my thermal liner into my rucksack. After the trip I would not trust the temperature scale on my sleeping bag anymore saying comfort -1. It’s certainly not true for women and certainly not for me.So when we started, we had 4 heavy bags between 17kg (mine) and far above 20kg (the boys).
FIRST DAY AND ALREADY SEEN THE TOWERS:
It was an 1.5h bus ride from Puerto Natales to the park entrance and we already cycled a fair bit of it a couple of days before. A strange feeling indeed to sit as a tourist in a bus with plenty others of them. Approaching Torres del Paine National Park is an experience for itself: 
beautiful valleys, mountains and some glaciers in the far distance. We went through the recommended procedure at the entrance of the park including paying the expensive entry fees and watching the park’s educative video. Key points: take your rubbish with you and whatever you do: don’t set fire.With all these great advices we started the track at around 5pm: first campsite we targeted was Seron, a nice 3-4h hike. The weather was great and it was a promising start with a great view of the so famous towers. Main mission completed. Christian treated his first blisters, it promised to become an interesting trip. We arrived late at the Seron campsite but it was planned anyway. At this time of the year one can enjoy daylight until 11pm. The wind freshed up and temperatures cooled down again. Finding a cooking place was not as easy as we thought. Due to the park’s fire regulations camping stoves must be used only in the dedicated areas but it seemed that there was not enough space. Queueing for a table or space we learnt was not unusual in Torres del Paine. There are few alternatives: simply not cook or eat to unusual times.
WIND AND RAIN … THAT’S WHAT WE KNOW
We planned to start early the next day with the option to skip Dickson campsite and to go straight for Cerron to cross the path. As bags were heavy and Dickson was said to be a very beautiful spot for camping, we kept it easy and enjoyed a late breakfast, took pictures everywhere of the beautiful landscape. The tiny pass on our way was marked with a warning sign and indeed the winds were incredibly strong but nothing which could reach the nasty gusts of Freak-Roy. Not only did we reach Dickson campsite but also did the first clouds which seemed to announce the weather for the coming day: a bit of rain, a bit of wind. Christian decided to walk in sandals to the next campsites. No blister and no ankle pain was able to stop this guy. And when I saw quite a couple of people in shorts (I was wrapped into jumper, rain trousers and rain jacket) I felt quite over-equipped. Arriving at Cerron campsite was rather a bit scary than rewarding. How would the weather be like for the next day. We heard a lot about the John Gardener crossing, a 1200m high pass where some of the strongest winds blow. The CONAF guys, the National Park rangers, could not give any forecast. Probably rain. The hut was full of people trying to dry their equipment. Of course we joined them as we were quite drenched, too. We waited for quite a while in hope that the rain would stop. As it seemed as unrealistic as finding a lovely vegetarian restaurant nearby we waited for the next moment where rainfall was not that heavy to built up the tent in hope that it won’t get washed away during night.
JOHN GARDENER PASS AND GREY GLACIER
We have heard a lot about it, same amazing stories where people crossed the 1200m high pass and did not have any wind and pure sunshine and stories where people crawled on all fours to resist some pretty nasty wind gusts and heavy snowfall. The rangers did not give us a lot of hope to have plenty of sun but they did not close the pass either. Well, I was not sure if they actually had a clue about the 
weather forecast and updates on their white boards were either a couple of days old or did not correspond with the experiences we made during the day. So we started at about 9am, an hour later than planned. By then the rain had almost stopped and we were keen to go for it. The 700m climb was easy to do, though crossing some little rivers was a bit slippery on the wet trunks. We reached the tree line half way to the top. Rain turned into snow and felt like little needles on the skin when the wind blew with up to 80km/h into our faces. At some point I could not look up anymore and followed the foot steps of the person in front of me. Christians glasses got frozen and I wondered all the way up how Lukas survived without gloves. My hands were frozen by the time we reached the top. And even though the landscape was beautiful in it’s rough existence we rather hurried up to get over the pass quickly. A short turn into the wind with half a smile or something like that was the only thing we were able to provide for the camera before going on fighting the harsh weather conditions.
A couple of meter behind the pass the wind calmed down and we were lucky enough to catch some glimpse on the seemingly endless ice field of the Grey glacier. An impressive view which was for sure worth the freezing fingers and all the snow in my face. The pass down to the Grey camping was adventurous. We climbed down and again up some … how should I describe it … ladders, metal steps, ropes to hold on. Adventurous describes it best. All the time with some great views of the glacier and it’s ice blue crevasses. The permanent cracking of the ice was not only impressive but also a bit scary even though we had walked far above the glacier.
When we arrived at the Grey camping we searched for a great spot to put up our tent. By now it had been quite freezing and I was thankful for the warm and almost cosy room where we could squeeze in to cook our dinner. The night was freezing cold despite sleeping in my 3 season sleeping bag, thermal layer and thermal underwear. When we woke up we discovered a layer of snow on the tent of our friends. Ours was well protected under a tree but still I did not feel keen to get out of the tent at a freezing temperatures around or below 0 degrees. Eventually we got up, dried the tents as much as possible and packed up all things. We hiked back to the view point from where we could see the Grey glacier from it’s front site. Kayaks looked tiny and I wondered how few of the glacier one could see from this perspective but still it’s hight was more than just awesome.
BEING PART OF THE CROWD
It still rained a bit when we started the more famous W-Circuit from Grey camping. It was an easy and beautiful hike. However, it was quite noticeable that the number of visitor increased drastically. We had to wait to let groups pass and also only frew people greeted us on the way. I do understand it as I was a bit tired of saying “Hola” every minute and this is really an understatement. However, landscape was beautiful and less rough than the days before. We arrived Italiano Campsite quite early and set up our tents. After one guy started an open little fire (accidentally with his camping stove) and the park rangers put a layer of fire extinguisher powder on the top of our food, we had enough excitement for the day and went to bed early. The night was cold again but we got better in coping with the weather conditions.
Next morning we left early to hike up the Vallee de Frances. Morning view on the nearby lake was beautiful but we saw more and more clouds covering up the sky. A huge and noisy glacier overtowered us in the west. When climbing higher and higher the few raindrops converted into snow. We stopped our ascent maybe 30 minutes after the first and usually last viewpoint when we caught some great view of the Torres del Paine (from the back) and the surrounding mountain range. Vallee de Frances has been closed since a while apparently as some of the trail collapsed in the past. For sure it’s possible to climb behind the first viewpoint and without any snow or harsh weather conditions it might be also possible to climb up a bit further. The path is still visible (if there’s no snow of course) and with some caution it’s not a difficult hike which will rewards with awesome views. Some people say, it’s much more beautiful than the overrun but famous Torres del Paine path.
BEAUTIFUL NORDENSKJOLD AND FESTIVAL FEELING AT CUERNOS CAMPSITE
After our decent to Italiano campsite we went packed up our stuff and continued to Cuernos campsite. Along some beautiful shores of the Lago Nordenskjold. Again, more and more people crossed our way. The park rangers promised some sunny weather which we could not confirm to 100%. Still, my rain trousers stayed in the bag and the few raindrops which fell on my head where nothing compared to the past days of snow and heavy rain. When we arrived at Cuernos campsite I had already decided to stop the tour the next day and that I would skip the famous Torres del Paine path. I had enough of camping and bad weather and especially I had enough of all the tourists. I estimated around 50 tents at the campsite, the music in the cooking area was rather annoying and after such a long time in the wild and calm nature, this was a real culture shock.
So when we left next morning, they guys continued the path to the famous towers while I continued to the next village from where I got a lift back to the park entrance and took a bus back to Punta Arenas. I used the time for Christmas shopping and baking a Strudel-Stollen. When the guys arrived next days, I saw that I had missed a fabulous view the day before on the lake in front of the towers but as usual the sunrise was hidden in clouds the next morning.
That was when a great trip ended. If only it wasn’t so touristy, it would have been one of the greatest places in Chile.