The "W" walk.I have never completed a trek this difficult and strenuous before but it was one of the best i have ever finished as well. 3 days, 75km (46 miles) of up and down mountains. Its called the "W" walk as this is the shape of the treks from a birds eye view on the map. There are many different ways you can tackle this challenge in which way you go, what camps you stay at and what you want to see. Basically i did an arm of the walk up and down each day back to back. Throughout i saw Glacier Grey which is such an amazing site (pic), as well as iceburg beaches (pic), enormouse mountains with smaller glaciers cracking and screaching all throughout the walk, forests and rivers with "Indiana Jones" style wooden bridges as the only way to cross them. Blisters, aching muscles, falling over twice and a freshly 7 hour cooked spit roast lamb to come back to eating it in front of the Torres del Paine mountains with a half moon popping out from behind it and a starry sky.
Day 1 was a rainy day where climbing to the top overlooking a mountain lake was spectacular but also hard to see as we were in a cloud (pic). To get here was quite dangerous and tough on the knees and ankels as the rock bolders you needed to climb were slippery and some were unstable. However with ankels moving in every direction and knees copping the full impact as all you could do was jump down from rock to rock, i was back safe and sound stretching as much as possible so i could walk tomorrow.
Day 2 we decided to see Glacier Grey while i was still able to walk. This walk was a lot easier but twice as long. 90% of it was through the forest that was nowhere near as strenuous as yesterday. We spent a while scrambling down the rocks to get to the closest front position looking at the Glacier (pic). A 30km day today and we got back during the dark.
Day 3 was a fantastic day with moments of peril. Not a cloud in the sky and another 30km day. Aqua blue lakes, green trees, snow/glacier capped mountains as i walked through the middle valley. Slightly tired from the last couple of days i pushed on once again climbing boulder rocks to get to a lookout that was absolutely breathtaking. I fell twice today hurting myself but was ok. Tired, swearing at myself, hungry, thirsty, in need of suger and the annoying pain of my falls quickly evaporated when i had that spit roast lamb in front of spectacular scenery and a hot shower. My clothes absolutly stink, and there is nowhere to wash them for a few days, he he he.This is great practice to the climbs that are coming up, epecially Machu Pitchu in 8 weeks or so. More glaciers, mountains and volcanoes to come!
