Following a rapid filled glacial river up the valley we encounter more steep rockslides, bigger more ancient looking conifer forrests and glacier capped mountains (it did’n’t matter where you looked on this part of the trek, every view from 10m to 10km was out of some kind of fantasy land). This is an epic hike right into the heart of the Paine. We head up into Valle De Frances (French Valley). Also makes me wonder how 80000 people crammed into 12th century London raining filth down upon each other could stand it… We only had to deal with 50-100 people… I digress… We hit the trail. Our experience with the smells of treking camps makes us appreciate the wonders of modern waste treatment. We pass through the camp and run face first into a wall of human stench. Next day we wake up refreshed and ready to go. Before that is another dorm with a totally different breed of snorer and another patchy nights sleep.
After a total of about 13km we’re back at our refugio feeling tired but warmed up for the next day. After a couple of hours Jak dragged me away for the descent back to the refugio (it’s hard to leave a place like that knowing that you may never return). These gigantor formations are fronted by an ice cold glacier lake (it was so cold that I could only put my feet in for like 10 seconds… people were swimming in it) which we hung out around eating lunch and absorbing the scenery. The highlight at the end of the climb is the famous spires of Torres or Dragon Spine.
The first day of trekking is an ascent up through a grassy valley to our next refugio, then continue up though crazy a old conifer forest and finally the steep,rough terrain of a massive rockslide with boulders as big as houses. After grabbing breaky and lunch we were off. Next day we crawl out of bed bleary eyed (dorm mate still snoring away peacefully) but excited to get moving.
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