The Circuit

My Lonely Planet trekking guide calls the Paine Circuit, the long hike I just completed, ¨truly one of the world´s classic treks.¨ Unfortunately, I can´t give you a complete assesment as to whether this claim is justified. The clouds just would not go away. But first, let me start at the beginning....I arrived at the park on a brilliantly sunny day. The sky was a deep blue, only obscurred by the jagged peaks forming as abruptly beautiful skyline. Instead of starting directly on the circuit, I was seduced into heading straight for the Torres (the uniquely formed sheer rock towers for which the park is named after). The trail that links the campground and viewing area at the base of the tours was short but quite steep. My legs were quickly unhappy with me as I was lugging 9 days of supplies on my back. The trail eventually leveled out and the fire in my calves lessened to a simmer. Soon I was setting up my tent and scrambling up to the viewpoint. By then clouds had begun to roll in from the west, behind the towers, but the views were still stunning. My aplogies for not providing the appropriate photos at this point.

The following day I returned down the valley and began the circuit proper. I will spare you all the details but in short, I had a nice hike. It took me about 6 days to complete the 75 or so miles. Most of the trail was moderate ups and down, nothing too severe. The most interesting part of the hike was the John Gardner Pass, the only point on the circuit where you were required to cross a high mountain pass. The pass had been closed the day before due to heavy snow and near white-out conditions. There was talk of the pass being closed for an additional day and some impatitent groups were reversing course, heading back to the start of the circuit. The next morning a group of 16 of us (Chileans, Germans, Americans, and others) began the ascent. We resembled an Everest climbing party as we trudged single file through increasingly deep snow drifts and fierce winds. At places the snow drifts reached my knees and I was thankful for the foot holes in the damp powder that those ahead of me had produced.

Once at the top there was no snow remaining, the gale force winds had made sure of this. The wind was so strong that if you extended your arms out to your sides you were guaranteed to be blown over. Though it was hard to enjoy it, the pass provided grandstand views of Glacier Grey, a massive glacier that stretched for 20 km into the distance until the view was obscured by the heavy clouds on the horizon. The remaining days were uneventful, filled with cloudy days and rainy nights. The momentary gaps in the clouds were thrilling as you were treated to great vistas of the lakes and mountains that you knew were all around you. The last morning I awke to clear skys and caught a great sunrise amongst the mountains before packing up and surging over the final 12 miles to my awaiting bus. It felt great to return to civilization and take a hot shower, removing the weeks worth of accumulated grime.