Map: How to hike the "W" in Torres del Paine

Start from the beginning of our Patagonian adventure.

Update: There's some useful information in the comments from recent trekkers.

The trek we did in Torres del Paine, the "W," is one of the park's most popular routes (along with the Circuit), but there still seems to be plenty of confusion among aspiring trekkers about how to do the "W," mostly about how to break up the days. Before we left, we only had a vague idea of what was feasible. So I've made two maps to illustrate possible "W" routes.

The route above is the one suggested by folks at the Erratic Rock Basecamp in Puerto Natales (the hostel/information centers offers free daily 3 p.m. info sessions with advice about hiking in the park). They argue for hiking west to east, though I have yet to hear a convincing argument for either direction (Lonely Planet recommends east to west). They suggest that you wake up early on your fifth day and get to the Mirador Las Torres for sunrise.

But there are a couple of downsides to their proposed route. First, you leave some of the best stuff (namely the Torres) until the last day. So if something unexpected happens, you risk not seeing the towers (for example, our stove broke and we lost a day because we had to trek back to the base). Second, the design of their trek is based around seeing the Torres at sunrise (you just have to pray for good weather). But if you don't care about this, or if you know you're not an earlier riser, you don't necessarily need to plan the whole trek around it.

Based on our experience, the below map is an alternative route that we would suggest you consider.

There are a couple of important features about our revised route:

• It only works if you can take the afternoon bus to the park the day before (giving you five nights in the park, rather than four), which all depends on your itinerary and when you arrive in Puerto Natales. It also only works if you know you are going to have nice weather on your first day (the weather in the park is notoriously unpredictable, meaning no matter what your itinerary, it might not be possible to see what you want to see).
• When you arrive at the park the night before (nice and early at about 5:30 p.m.), set up camp at Camping Las Torres (note: there is both a Camping Las Torres and a Campamento Las Torres). The next morning, wake up early and take only daypacks up to the Mirador Las Torres (plenty of people do this as a day hike, plus you'll have an early start since you're already in the park and you won't have to break down camp). Spend the night at Camping Las Torres again, and then head to Los Cuernos the next morning.
• The main benefit of this route is you get to do the hardest day without your heavy pack (if you are staying at refugios and not carrying much then this route isn't for you). And if you know the weather is good, it guarantees good views of the Torres.

Read more: Lodging and bus travel in Patagonia

Finally, for anyone trying to plan their own route, here are the times and distances between various points, as listed in the CONAF map they hand out when you enter the park:

• Hosteria Las Torres to Campamento Torres (9 kilometers, 3.5 hours): The first 2.5 km is a steep ascent, then the trail becomes much more moderate. With heavy packs, it's probably closer to 4 or 4.5 hours up, but much faster descending.
• Campamento Torres to Mirador Torres (45 minutes - 1 hour): A steep rocky ascent, but not too long, and very do-able carrying a daypack.
• Hosteria Las Torres to Refugio Los Cuernos (11 kilometers, 4.5 - 5 hours)
• Los Cuernos to Campamento Italiano (5.5 kilometers, 2.5 hours)
• Campamento Italiano to Mirador Britanico in the Valle Frances (7.5 kilometers one way, 3 hours)
• Italiano to Refugio Paine Grande (7.6 kilometers, 2.5 hours)
• Paine Grande to Refugio Grey (11 kilometers, 3.5 hours)

We found the hiking times to actually be fairly accurate for carrying heavy packs (unlike in El Chalten, where the hiking times seemed much too low unless you were stopping little and carrying almost nothing).

- Steph

Keep reading...