"W" Torres del Paine Guided (Winter)

Day 1

2 hours by private transfer / 5-hour hike (10 miles) / night at refugio Paine Grande (BL-D).

Your private transfer will pick you up early in the morning and drive you to Torres del Paine National Park’s administration area, where our first hike will begin. This is a 6-hour hike along Las Carretas trail to the shores of Pehoe Lake, tucked at the base of the Paine Massif. The Grey River will accompany us along the way and we’ll have a picnic lunch before arriving at our Refugio. Once there, you’ll settle into your dorm before meeting again for dinner.

Day 2

8 hours hike (13 miles) / night at refugio Paine Grande(B-BL-D).

Today our destination is Grey Glacier: a stirringly beautiful ice giant ending abruptly in the glacial lake of the same name. We’ll set out early, ascending 200 meters through the winding path that takes us to Ducks Lagoon. Here, we’ll see sections of the massive Southern Patagonian Ice Field, a geological phenomenon that still guards many unexplored sections. You’ll continue on to Grey Glacier’s lookout point, passing forests and rivers, with possible sightings of the spectacled and flying steamer ducks that call them home. We’ll have lunch at the lookout with the mammoth Grey Glacier at our feet, and might be lucky enough to catch sight of ice calving from its huge walls into the freezing waters. We return along the same path, accompanied by views of Paine Grande and the muscled granite walls of Cordon Olguín, to our Refugio where we’ll spend a second night.

Day 3

7-8 hours hike (11 miles) / night at refugio Paine Grande (B-BL-D).

Today’s hike is a challenging trek to heart of the Paine massif. Our destination, the French Valley, is a spectacular natural basin surrounded by peaks and hanging glaciers. After breakfast we’ll set off on a 2-hour hike through firebush and beech forests to the suspension bridge over the French River. At the entrance to the Valley - a glacial moraine - you’ll scramble over huge boulders and catch the first sight of the hanging glacier atop the valley. From this point, you’ll ascend for an hour through a dreamlike Japanese garden landscape before arriving at the French Valley viewpoint (the “Plateau”). Your reward is a heart-stirring bird’s eye view of granite peaks and hanging glaciers. To one side, the French Glacier and Paine Grande (3050 m); while to the other, La Espada, La Hoja, La Máscara and the main and north “horns” of Los Cuernos arch upwards. In the upper section of the Valley, Cerro Catedral and Cerro Fortaleza loom like turrets above the landscape. We’ll have lunch at the viewpoint, surrounded by these imposing peaks and open skies, then return to our Refugio via the same route for our final night there.

Day 4

5-6 hour hike (10 miles) / night in a cabin (B-BL-D).

Today we’ll make our way across the park, hiking the Las Carretas trail to the park’s administration area. Here, we take our transfer to Rio Serrano where we’ll stay the night in a cozy cabin.

Day 5

1,5 hours by private transfer / 8-10 hour hike (13 miles) / 2 hours by private transfer (b-bl).

In the morning, we take a transfer to Las Torres area to begin our hike to the three Towers base. The trail takes us through beech forests and past views of glaciers and waterfalls until we reach a gigantic terminal moraine (the ridge formed at a glacier’s end point). We’ll ascend this boulder-strewn moraine and be rewarded by the arresting sight of the three Towers themselves. At this lookout point 900 meters above sea level, we’ll rest, take photos and have lunch. Our descent is along the same path, then on to Estancia Las Torres where we’ll board our return transfer to Puerto Natales.