Torres del Paine Day 3 January 26 2012

Foreshadow of things to come

Today was a ´rest´ day which meant we didnt have to carry the backpacks anywhere. A side trip up to the reportedly majestic Valley Frances was the objective, we got an early start at 8:00ish.

A beautiful rainbow was seen across the lake midmorning.... should have known it wasn´t a good thing.... The walk is around 11 kms one way to the Mirador in the upper valley. Its a decent trail for 5 kms to Italiano camp, then gets rugged as the ascent to the upper valley begins.

Paine Grande

The upper trail is well marked but pretty much scrambling over rocks and roots. Rain started just after we left Italiano camp,we got about 2 kms up valley to a viewpoint, on leaving the relative shelter of the trees we were instantly soaked by the rain driven by winds of 100 kms or more that were very difficult to keep upright in. Was not a good day to leave the rain pants and gaiters at camp.....

Valley Frances

We chose to call it a day there and headed back to camp. Of note the Italiano camp and the other camp in Valley Frances (Britannica) were closed to camping, not because of the fire but due to parks (CONAF) doing maintenance work on the toilets.... it looked like it was overdue....we could see from a distance that the fire had burned areas west of Italiano camp and on islands in Lake Norgenskjold. But no fire damage in Valley Frances or east of it on north side of the lake. It took the better part or 2 hours to retrace our steps to camp, we were almost dry when we got back as the rain, but not the wind, had stopped once we exited the Valley Frances.

Back at Los Cuernos camp, we are treated to a most amazing Patagonian wind storm, definitely the fiercest winds I have experienced. Just kept getting stronger, the waterfall on Cuernos del Paine would blow upward with the gusts. The water on Lago Norgenskjold was picked up by the wind gusts and blown 50 to 100 feet in the air, absolutely amazing. A short video is attached which ends with the wind blowing me over....! This did afford a good test for the Stephenson tent, purportedly rated to over 160 kmh winds (these gusts were likely close to that strong). We hooked up the wind stabilizers and the tent held up well, even as it was buffeted and deformed by the gale. A few others were not so lucky as their tents were blown down. The wind blew hard until the sunset, then abated.... definitely a life experience being a witness to this awesome natural force.

With the big winds, and not wanting to risk house arrest for starting a fire like the israeli guy who was fingered for starting the December 28, 2011 blaze, we elected to not start the stove and to forego another tuna dinner(woohoo), having to be satisfied with a peanut butter and cheese wrap....mmm mmm