W Trek Survival Guide

Patagonia is an area in the south of South America and is shared between Chile and Argentina. To fly into Patagonia within Chile can be cheap as long as you fly in-country (e.g. we flew from Santiago to Punta Arenas within Chile).

We chose to explore Patagonian mountains by foot through the famous Torres Del Paine National Park following the world renowned ‘W-Trek’.The trek is nearly 100km starting from ‘Administration point’ or 86km starting at Paine Grande, taking a catamaran across the lake to the starting point as can be seen on the route map below:

When to go:
In our opinion the best time of year to do the trek is the first or second week in September before the peak season starts from Mid-sept onwards until early in the year. If you go later on in the year you will need to book flights, hostel in Puerto Natales and, refugios in the park well in advance. The only downside of going early is the unknown weather conditions, which can change by the hour.

How to get to the National Park:
From Punta Arenas airport there are mini bus transfers into town which will drop you at the bus station. From the bus station you want to get a bus to Puerto Natales where all trekkers stay before going to the National Park. Up to 6 BusSur coaches leave daily to Puerto Natales between 7am and 7pm.

What next ?
If you are lucky you will be able to stay at Erratic Rock Hostel (its awesome and has EVERYTHING you need for the trek)! If not the Singing Lamb as well as other hostels in the town are comfortable and close to rental shops etc. If you are not staying at Erratic Rock then get yourself there on arrival for a free briefing on the trek, and you can hire all the gear you will need at a reasonable price too as well as buying your all important bus ticket to the National Park which leaves from the bus station at 7am daily.

Planning the W trek?
On arrival do a 5 day weather forecast check and you can set your dates for the trek. 5 days is the minimum time you can take to complete the W and if you have time to be flexible you can take more time. Go onto the Torres Del Paine website to check if there are any fees required for camping sites or if you are staying in refugios you will need to check for availability (otherwise you have to camp in tents they provide if beds are full).

What to take?
If you have space when traveling to do the trek you may bring the flowing items with you, but we hired and bought most of the equipment on arrival to Puerto Natales.
Must- haves: Walking boots, thin layers, thick socks, head torch, hat, gloves, big rucksack and water bottle/flask, map (collect on arrival at park).
Hire: tent, 4 season sleeping bag, sleeping mat, poles and mess kit (large water bottle, stove, pot, plate, mug, spoon).
Buy: Lighter, gas canister (enough gas for your trip), waterproof trousers, light rain coat and bin bags!
Food: Enough food for the trek plus some more… buy sandwich bags to separate food into days to avoid eating too much on day 1 and to get rid of unwanted packaging and allow for resealing. You can prepare by making day 1 lunch night before as well as pre cook some pasta, and boil some eggs. Best advice we had was to break a few eggs into a plastic bottle and squeeze air out and seal -cook for breakfast or dinner for; scrambled eggs on the trek! You must take rubbish with you hence bin bags…

Breakfast: Porridge oats, powdered milk and jam
Lunch: Pack of wraps, pack of sliced cheese, chorizo, dried fruit and nuts for snaking throughout day.
Dinner: Pasta, super noodles, instant soup, tea/coffee, packet sauces and chocolate LOTS of CHOCOLATE!!!

Water: The water in the park from rivers, streams and waterfalls is very drinkable, take water from areas upstream of campsites.

Camp Sites and Refugio’s
If you choose to camp every night you will be camping at a minimum of 4 campsites during the trek and most are free (some are not!). The first site that will cost will be ‘Grey’ on night 1 (should you choose to stay there) it will cost 5000 Peso if pre-booked (this can be pre booked in Puerto Natales) or 10,000 Peso if you are a ‘walk in’. The refugio at Grey will vary in cost depending on the level of board you choose.
The second campsite that must be noted as one to PRE-BOOK is Los Cuernos . If you wait to pay on arrival you will have to pay to camp (a considerable bit more than any other site)!

 

We hope that this guide is helpful as we could not find a ‘how to guide’ online for the trek and picked up the information along the way as we explored the park. Please feel free to comment, share and feedback on the blog. Argentina and Chile blog to follow!