Enjoy Patagonia trekking in this outdoor travel adventure: this wonderful trek is the most
complete
turn around circuit you can hike through Torres del Paine National Park.
We go around the whole massif from the arid steppe to the majestic Patagonia
Ice Field. We pass forests, bushes, always with the scenery compose by mountain,
lakes and glaciers. You visit the Paine Towers, Paine Grande massif, the
Paine Horns, the French valley, Grey glacier and lake Dickson, Los Perros
and John Garner pass, and you get incredible views of the southern section
of the Ice Field. Physically demanding, it’s a rewarding trip. We cross
in our trek guanacos, condors, lesser rheas, foxes, a wide range of birds
and flowers. We combine the comfort from our Full Camp with the logistic
provided by the Refuges and some days on Expedition Camps. All the nights
we lodge in tents. When there are refuges, we use them to have meals. Our
staff is in charge of provide our Expedition Camps. Travelers will carry
their personal items, sleeping bags and insulating mattress. This is a regular
group trekking activity but with a minimum of 3 travelers. Departures 2019/2020:
Confirmed upon request. Please let us know your suitable dates, we will gather all possible departure dates from interested travelers and coordinate among them to establish a confirmed departure with at least 3 travelers.
13 days - 12 nights
Season: October to April
Starts at: El Calafate Airport (FTE). The Meeting Point for the Group on Day 1 is 7 PM at El Calafate.
Ends at: El Calafate Airport (FTE).
Itinerary
Day 1: El Calafate Airport (FTE) - El Calafate
We receive you at El Calafate Airport and from there you are transferred to the town of El Calafate, to check in at your hostel. You get the rest of the day to enjoy the town and later you have your welcome dinner with you adventure partners while chatting on the travel details for tomorrow
Lodging at Hostel double or triple room with private bathroom
Included meals : dinner (D)
Day 2: El Calafate - Torres del Paine
Early start for a 6 hours drive to our camp in Paine. We drive across the steppe, still following by parts the legendary route 40, to get around Sierra de los Baguales, an impressive range in between Calafate and Paine. We cross the Argentinean Chilean border at Cancha Carrera/ Cerro Castillo. After the border crossing, we start our final sprint to Paine National Park, World Heritage by the UNESCO (United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization). Approaching the Park, we start to see the different mountains that feature the area: Paine Grande, the Horns, Admiral Nieto and the Towers. We enter the Park by Porteria Laguna Amarga. A rich wildlife: guanacos, lesser rheas, condors and all types of wetland and buzzard birds, will be available for our eyes and cameras.
Lodging at Camping Las Torres Full Camp in double tent (with sanitary services)
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 3: Las Torres - Ascensio river Valley
This day is dedicated to one of the most classical and amazing treks of the Park: the trail toward the Paine Towers. After breakfast, starting from our camp we cross the Ascensio river through a hanging bridge and begin the ascent walk on the Almirante Nieto Mount path, going by the border of Ascencio river. We hike up a steep slope for one hour, to get inside the Ascensio river valley, a narrow “V” shape alpine valley coming from inside the Paine massif. After one hour we go into the valley, until a gentle downhill leads us to Chileno Refuge, a cozy and comfortable mountain lodge. The trail slopes down into an impressive beech forest along the riverside where you get unforgettable landscapes. We reach Las Torres Base Camp where the mountaineers wait, sometimes for months, the appropriate weather conditions to climb the Torres. We take a final climb through the boulders of the moraine, it's one hour to reach the Las Towers viewpoint: an amazing natural amphitheater at the bottom of the vertical granite towers with a glacier-fed lagoon and the three towers rising vertically 1000 meters from the glacier and reaching 2800 meters height above sea level. The lack of breath will be either because the climb and the sight. We go back to our camp on the same way we came. Walking time: 7 to 8 hours.
Lodging at Camping Las Torres Full Camp in double tent (with sanitary services)
Included meals : breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 4: Las Torres - Seron Camp
Today we start the traverse departing from our Las Torres Camp at the beginning of the Ascencio Valley. We cross flat prairies following the border of the Paine river, until we arrive to Seron Camp. It’s around 5 hours trekking, without big ascents. During the first part of the walk we get good views of the Paine Towers.
Lodging at Seron Expedition Camp in double tent
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 5: Seron Camp - Dickson Camp
From Seron Camp we walk following the Rio Paine valley. After a one hour ascent we lead to the west, getting the first views of the massif’s back part. We can see on the horizon the John Garner pass (1250 meters/4100 ft) far away closing the valley, the higher point of our expedition. After 3 hours of ascents and descents, and another 3 hours walking the valley across an old area of cattle, we arrive to Dickson Lake and Camp. Total approx. 7 hours trekking.
Lodging at Dickson Expedition Camp in double tent
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 6: Dickson - Los Perros
From Dickson we enter into the forest, and you feel you are entering the Lord of the Ring story. This is the gate to the back part of the massif. After some ascents on a steady up hill that lead us to Los Perros river valley, the Lengas trees forest look like a magical place. We cross the forest, the lake, and the glacier Perros, and camp in the forest beside the glacier moraine. Total approx. 6 hours trekking.
Lodging at Los Perros Expedition Camp in double tent
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 7: Los Perros - Paso John Garner
We continue trekking in a boggy area with some mud and water, which is our main obstacle before ascending by the pebbles trail which lead us in a steady climb to John Garner Pass (1250 meters/4100 ft). After 3 hours of ascent, we reach the path, where we have a brilliant perspective of South Patagonia Ice Field, the Grey glacier flowing down to the lake and a ridge of mountains sticking out of the Patagonia Ice Field, most of them untouched by the men. A steep down hill leads us to our camp in the forest. Total approx. 6 hours trekking.
Lodging at John Garner Pass Expedition Camp in double tent
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 8: Paso John Garner - Refugio Grey
From our Garner camp, we cross through a dense forest, always with the Grey glacier on our right side. Skirting Cerros Ostrava and Olguín, we head to the north side of lake Grey. It’s the most humid sector of the Park, which is seen by the kind of flora we find: lots of ferns along the trail. We trek 6 hours until the north shore of the Grey Lake, in front of the glacier and the refuge where we camp. Our camp today is located in a protected bay, few hundred meters away from the front of the glacier.
Lodging at Refugio Grey Expedition Camp in double tent
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 9: Refugio Grey - Refugio Pehoe
We dedicate the morning to visit the front part of the glacier calving into the lake. By noon we start our trek to Pehoe Lake, walking 4 hours with ascents and descents. We cross many sectacular viewpoints to observe the Park over the lake and glacier Grey and the mountains of the Ice Field. When we arrive to Pehoe Refuge we meet our Full Camp and the personal belongings we left at Las Torres. In these two days we travel the Grey valley almost complete. Total approx. 5 hours trekking.
Lodging at Refugio Pehoe Full Camp in double tent (with sanitary services)
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 10: Refugio Pehoe - Frances Valley
Today we visit Del Frances Valley, the inner valley of the Paine massif, which descent to the Nordenskjold lake, between the Cuernos del Paine and Paine Grande, two of the most impressive pieces of the massif. Walking around the Skottberg lake, we get to the end of the valley up to Italian Camp, where we have our first viepoints of Paine Grande, Horns and French Glacier. We remount the valley until the upper viewpoints, surrounded by the most impressive peaks of the massif at the entrance of a unique cirque surrounded by granite spires that feature the high valley: Hoja (Blade), Máscara (Mask), Espada (Sword), Catedral (Cathedral), Aleta de Tiburón (Shark Fin), the magnificent Fortaleza (The Fortress) and Paine Grande. It’s a 9 hours trek we do carrying only a daily backpack.
Lodging at Refugio Pehoe Full Camp in double tent (with sanitary services)
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 11: Refugio Pehoe Camp - Lago Pehoe Camp
We cross sailing Pehoe Lake with all our luggage, in a boat to arrive to Puerto Pudeto, where our bus picks us up and after a short drive we reach Camping Pehoe where our next Full Camp is located by the lake. After lunch, we visit Salto Grande (an impressive waterfall of Paine river), and later the south shore of the Grey Lake, a place full of icebergs separate from the glacier that gathered as they sailed south pushed by the wind. A dream location. We drive back to our camp.
Lodging at Camping Pehoe Full Camp in double tent
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 12: Lago Pehoe - El Calafate
In the morning after breakfast we start our return, leaving behind Torres del Paine National Park and driving back to El Calafate where we arrive around 4 PM. We will be transferred to our hostel.
Lodging at Hostel Room with private bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B)
Day 13: El Calafate - El Calafate Airport
After breakfast we transfer to El Calafate Airport. End of the Expedition.
Included meals: breakfast (B)
Price (u$d):
| Lodging type |
Departure Month
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[ Oct - Feb - Mar - Apr ]
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[ Nov - Dec - Jan ]
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| Hostel, shared |
please
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ask
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List of Equipment and Clothes you should bring
• Backpack 75/85 litres capacity,
• Good pair of trekking shoes/boots,
• Sleeping bag, duvet or synthetic, for -20ºC,
• Sleeping pad (therm-a-rest type recommended),
• Thermal underwear: Interior synthetic clothes (polipropilene, lifa o capilene): 1 long-sleeved shirt, 1 long pant,
• 1 cotton t-shirt,
• 1 pant of polar fiber,
• trekking pants,
• 1 polar fiber jacket or coat,
• Goretex jacket with hood or similar (parka),
• Goretex shell pants with full-length sided zippers,
• 1 pair of gaiters,
• 2 pairs of wool or synthetic mittens,
• waterproof mitten shells (goretex or similar),
• 1 pair of thin synthetic gloves,
• 2 pairs of thick synthetic socks,
• polar fiber or wool,
• 2 pairs of synthetic liner thin socks,
• Ski sticks,
• telescopic type,
• Thin scarf or handkerchief for your neck,
• Balaclava of wool or polar fiber,
• Cap of wool or polar fiber,
• Sunglasses with UV filter for high solar radiation,
• Snow goggles,
• Sun protector creme for skin (factor 30) and for lips (balm),
• Thermo or plastic bottle,
• Wide adhesive tape (cloth athletic),
• Personal hygiene kit,
• elements reduced to minimum necessity,
• Swiss Army knife, Victorinox or similar,
• Headlamp (miners type, like Petzl) with batteries,
• Personal documents (passport, visa if needed) to cross the Argentina-Chile border,
• Personal medication.
Included Services: Bilingual tour leader (Spanish – English), experienced mountain guide qualified by the Mountain Guides Argentine Association, tents, campsite equipment and the necessary security equipment, all ground and lake transfers in Patagonia (combined private and regular), 12 breakfasts (B), 10 box lunch (BL) and 11 dinners (D), 5 nights Expedition Camp, 5 nights Full Camp and 2 nights hostel with private bathroom. More information
Not included: international and domestic flights, airport taxes, transfers in Buenos Aires, nights in Buenos Aires, drinks, foods not detailed, ticket entrance to 1 National Park (5/10 u$d), medical covering, tips, services not detailed in the program. More information
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Adventure Trip