Enjoy Patagonia hiking in this outdoor travel adventure: a different way
of travel to the Andes mountains of Southern Patagonia at the end of South
America in Chile. While hiking Torres del Paine National Park, now a classic
trekking trip when you visit Patagonia, this adventure tour offers a spectacular
view of the impressive Chilean glaciers coming from Southern Patagonia Ice
Field, Glacier Grey, Lake Pehoe, Cuernos del Paine (Paine Horns) and Torres
del Paine (Paine Towers), both hiking and from the campsite. You will be
trekking the 3 valleys of the classical Paine W: Ascensio river, Del Frances
and Glacier Grey. Hike among sharp granite peaks and patagonia glaciers
while enjoying our full campsites already mounted.Departures 2022/2023 & Prices:
7 days - 6 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 from there you are transferred to your lodging at the town of El Calafate. You get the rest of the day to enjoy the town and later at approx. 7 PM the group will meet and you will have your welcome dinner.
Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Lodge option: Inn Double or Single Room with private bathroom
Included meals : dinner (D)
Day 2: El Calafate - Torres del Paine National Park
We depart early in the morning (around 7 AM) from El Calafate to Torres del Paine for a 6 Hs drive through the spectacular landscape of the Patagonia steppe following part of the legendary Route 40, to get around Sierra de los Baguales, an impressive range in between Calafate and Paine. Choiques and flamingos are very common in this area. Almost 4 hours from starting our journey, we will be at the border crossing between Chile and Argentina called Paso Cancha Carrera - Cerro Castillo. We continue until we reach the Torres del Paine National Park. UNESCO gave to this park the World Heritage status, due to its unique wildlife and magnificent scenery. During our entrance to the Torres del Paine National 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 Sarmiento. A rich wildlife: guanacos, lesser rheas, condors and all types of wetland and buzzard birds, will be available for our eyes and cameras. We will stop at viewpoints for short 1 to 2 Hs. walks, to get familiar with the landscape, to finally reach our camp at the foot of Paine massif, after 6 hours of travel.arrive to the Camping Pehoe Lake Full Camp after 6 hs of travel.
Lodging at Las Torres Full Camp double or single tent(with bathrooms/showers).
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 3: Las Torres - Ascensio river Valley
We dedicate this day to one of the most spectacular and classical trekking in the park: the Torres Trail. Early in the morning we start walking towards the bridge over the Ascensio river, headtrail for the world famous Paine towers. We "warm up" hiking a steep one hour slope, ascending the slopes of the Almirante Nieto Mount, bordering the Ascencio river. to get inside the valley itself, a narrow "V" shape alpine valley coming from inside the Paine massif. A gentle downhill leads us to Refugio Chileno, a cozy and comfortable mountain lodge, which can be a good turnaround point for those not willing to make a full day hike. But we don't recommend it as the best is yet to come. From there the trail leads us through the beech forest walking in a gentle slope along the river side, in the middle of unforgettable landscapes, to Las Torres base camp. There the climbers wait good weather conditions to climb Las 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 mts from the glacier and reaching 2800 meters height above sea level. The lack of breath will be either because the climb or the sight. We go back to our camp on the same way we came. Walking time: 7 to 8 Hs.
Lodging at Las Torres Full Camp in double or single tent(with bathrooms/showers).
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 4: Pehoe Lake crossing Navigation - Del Frances Valley
Early in the morning a 1 h drive takes us to Port Pudeto to board the catamarán that crosses lake Pehoe twice a day. We cross sailing 45 minutes the Pehoe Lake and arrive at the Pehoe Refuge area in the far side of the lake. We leave unnecessary items in our tents and walk from there until reaching Del Frances (French) Valley.
It’s a beautiful mountain valley descending from the middle of the massif towards the Nordenskjold Lake. Flanked by The Horns to the east and by the impressive Paine Grande (3050 meters /10006 ft) to the west. The trail skirts Paine Grande south slopes and lake Skottberg, to take us after 2 hs and a half of continuous ups and downs, to the hanging bridge upon the French River. This breathtaking location is at the foot of both the 2700 mts south east face of Paine Grande (to the west) and the Horns, with its characteristic black sedimentary topping, to the east. We continue ascending the valley walking 1 hour further by Italian camp until we reach the upper viewpoints located in a natural amphitheater surrounded by some of the most wonderful needles and walls of the massif: Cuernos, Espada (Sword), Mascara (Mask), Hoja (Blade), Aleta de Tiburon (Shark Fin), Catedral (Cathedral), Fortaleza (Fortress) and Paine Grande. The forest and the suspended glaciers that cause continuous ice and snow fallings, give us a unique scenery to this walk. We descend the same trail and turn west rounding Skottberg Lake until we arrive to our Camp for this night at Pehoe Refuge area. Walking time for those who reach the upper viewpoints: 8 to 9 hs. For those reaching the lower viewpoints: 5 to 6 hs. Lodging at Refugio Pehoe Full Camp in double or single tent (with bathrooms/showers).
Included meals: breakfast (B), box lunch (BL) and dinner (D)
Day 5: Grey Glacier Viewpoints
Another unforgettable day dedicated to the Grey Glacier, impressive glacier with 300 square kilometers of surface (115 square miles) and 25 kilometers long (16 miles). It overflows 60 km from the Patagonia Ice Field falling into Grey Lake. The Glacier produces enormous amount of blue icebergs that sail over the lake pushed by the wind towards the south, given the characteristic feature to this lake. Lake Grey trail leads from Pehoe Valley across ridges to reach Grey valley. The trail skirts the lake, going up and down the westerns slopes of Paine Grande, offering some of the most impressive sights of the Park, leading us to a wonderful viewpoint where we can appreciate the whole lake, the glacier and the mountains that emerge from the west of the Ice Field. From the high sections of the trail, many different viewpoints allow us to see the south end of the lake where the blue icebergs gather, the mountains rising far in the distance above glaciers Grey and Tyndall, and of course lake and glacier Grey. Two more hours walking and we arrive to another viewpoint just in front of the Glacier. All the trek is done between Andean bushes and lengas forest, at the shadow of the ice blocks that drape the Paine Grande Mount. We come back along the same trail, crossing bogs, shrublands and forest. At the end of the day we sail back again the Pehoe Lake to the south shore and then we go to our accommodation in Puerto Natales, a picturesque fishermen town located in the shores of the Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope) fjord. We walk this day about 8 Hs. To the half way viewpoints, round way from our camp, 4-5 Hs.
Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Lodge option: Inn Double or Single Room with private bathroom.
Included meals: breakfast (B) and box lunch (BL)
Day 6: Puerto Natales – El Calafate
In the morning, as our fellow travellers are going south in a long drive today, our guide will say us goodbye and we depart from Puerto Natales by regular bus crossing the border to return to Argentina. We arrive to El Calafate where another person will be waiting for us and transfer us
to the lodging. The rest of the day is at your own to visit the town. Lodging at Hostel shared room & bathroom
Lodge option: Inn Double or Single Room with private bathroom
Included meals: breakfast (B)
Day 7: El Calafate - El Calafate Airport
After breakfast we transfer to El Calafate Airport. End of the Adventure Trip.
Included meals: breakfast (B)
Included Services: Bilingual tour leader during all the trip, trekking/mountain guide while on trek, cook, buses (combined private & regular), 3 nights hostel or inn and 3 nights full camping (igloo tents double base with sleeping bags, interior sheets and insulating mattresses, dinner tents with table, benches and kitchenware, cooking tent), 6 breakfast (B), 4 box lunch (BL) and 3 dinners (D), all transfers in Patagonia and trekking activities. Pehoe Lake Navigation (in & out). 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 ea.), medical covering, tips, services not detailed in the program. More information
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Adventure Trip