All seasons in Patagonia

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This was published 12 years ago

All seasons in Patagonia

Bellinda Kontominas walks in sunshine and snow in the spectacular Torres del Paine National Park.

On the rocks ... Grey Glacier is 35 metres high at its face.

On the rocks ... Grey Glacier is 35 metres high at its face.Credit: Getty Images

Bellinda Kontominas walks in sunshine and snow in the spectacular Torres del Paine National Park.

The wind howls through the breakfast room, rattling the windows and my nerves. If it blows any harder, I feel sure the lakeside hotel could collapse into the Salto Chico waterfall below.

"This is Patagonia," laughs the manager of Explora's Hotel Salto Chico, Carlos Bragado, while trying to reassure me we're perfectly safe. "In one day it can be windy, you can get rain, it can turn warm or even snow. Usually we have two really good days and then, not so good."

It appears we have arrived at the hotel, in the Torres del Paine National Park, on one of those "not so good" days. But it doesn't deter us from heading off on a relatively flat six-kilometre hike.

Torres del Paine National Park is in Chilean Patagonia, about 390 kilometres north of the region's capital, Punta Arenas. It's a 242,000-hectare magnet for about 150,000 visitors each year who love to trek, mountain climb, horse ride, sail and fly-fish against the backdrop of the colossal Paine Massif.

A bushfire burnt 16,000 hectares of the park in December and January, sparing Explora's Hotel Salto Chico, which will reopen on February 23 after experiencing minor smoke damage.

There are countless hikes throughout the park - from easy strolls to strenuous uphill treks and expeditions, during which hikers can camp out or sleep at refuges (known as refugios).

On our walk to the Nordenskjold Lake Vista Point, we stop to take in the beautiful autumnal colours of the park and the roaring waters of the Salto Grande (the big brother of the Salto Chico downstream) while battling strong gusts.

The spectacular Paine Massif, the southern part of the Andes, looms ahead as the centrepiece of the park. But today its peaks are shrouded.

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The same can't be said the following day when we wake to its full, rugged beauty: the 3050-metre Paine Grande, the ominous, horn-like Cuernos del Paine and the iconic Torres del Paine, three towers pointing to the heavens. Hugging the base of the massif is the popular W circuit, a trail that can be done in part or in full over several days.

We're walking each day of our three-day trip. On one perfect morning, we set out for Ferrier Lookout, a strenuous uphill trek to 700 metres above sea level. The walk is only seven kilometres but it takes close to three hours to navigate the steep, narrow path, muddy in places and in others inundated with snowmelt.

We stop often, resting on our hiking poles. To the north, we can see glaciers named Grey and Pingo, which form the edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, a massive 16,800-square-kilometre shelf.

Below, at the shoreline of Lake Grey, icebergs glisten in the sunshine.

Near the halfway mark, we spy a female huemul, a near-extinct deer native to the southern Andes, which has stopped to graze. We're amazed by our luck - then incredulous when it's joined by a buck with impressive antlers.

As we near the top, the famously fickle Patagonia weather pattern is evident - fallen snow on the trees floats about in the gentle breeze. Further on, we're knee-deep in powder in a pretty forest and emerge into the sunlight to discover a fresh footprint in the snow. It's definitely feline but there's fierce debate as to which species. We'd been hoping to see a puma after hearing one was spotted earlier in the week but our guide, Sole, thinks the paw print is more likely that of the smaller Geoffroy's cat.

The hard trek is rewarded with 360-degree views at the top of Ferrier Lookout.

On the way back, we rest our legs at Explora's stables, towards the park's southern border, where gauchos prepare a hearty lunch of vegetable soup, pumpkin fritters, meat-and-vegetable empanadas and lamb, heated on a wood-fire stove, and followed by creme caramel.

We wash it down with yerba mate, a strong, bitter, herbal tea prepared with a special stirring technique, sipped through a metal straw and shared among the group.

The gauchos take us horse riding across the Pampa Serrano - a large, flat, grassy plain pierced by rivers. Within an 1½ hours I've fallen for my horse - a sturdy chestnut named Tandil. (Such is the character of the horses here that one guest in his 80s has visited every year for the past decade, simply to ride the same animal.)

True to form, there's a light snowfall as we head off the following day on a 10-hour hiking and boating adventure to Grey Glacier. A small boat takes us across Lake Pehoe to the western side of the W circuit. Here, we hike 12 kilometres from the Refugio Pehoe to the Refugio Grey.

Along the way, our guide, Julietta, points out condors' nests high in mountain crevices, each entrance marked by a white splash of bird poop.

Julietta has worked in the park as a guide for nine years and loves it best in autumn (March to May), when the leaves of the native lenga trees turn bright red.

"Spring and summer are also beautiful with all the flowers but it is very windy," she says. Winter daytime temperatures can fall to 2 degrees (even less with wind chill) but the park during this time has a serene quality with fewer tourists.

The first half of the W circuit is slightly uphill. Our lunch break - a picnic of sandwiches and coffee topped up with Baileys for extra warmth - is limited to 20 minutes so our bodies don't chill while we're resting.

We plough on, past waterfalls and deep gullies, sampling not-quite-ripe berries from the calafate bush, until we have our first close-up view of the Grey Glacier. Spanning 270 square kilometres, the glacier is a staggering 35 metres high at its face, though it's retreating noticeably each year.

A small ferry meets us at Refugio Grey and we're transported closer to the wall of ice in winds that are so strong we can barely stand on deck. Gusts can reach 170km/h (particularly during February) and we're told one hiker suffered serious injuries in 2010 after being blown off a mountain.

As we near the glacier, its height provides shelter from the gale. Out comes the pisco sour with a special ingredient to chill our drinks - slivers of iceberg.

Back at Hotel Salto Chico, we rest our aching muscles in the outdoor jacuzzi, so close to its namesake lake you can practically jump in. Just as I'm thinking I might do so, it starts to rain. Right on cue.

Bellinda Kontominas travelled courtesy of LAN Airlines and Explora.

FAST FACTS

Getting there

LAN Airlines has a fare to Punta Arenas from Sydney and Melbourne for about $2320 low-season return, including tax. From Sydney fly to Santiago via Auckland (about 17hr including transit time), then to Punta Arenas (3hr 30min); see lan.com. Melbourne passengers fly Qantas to Sydney to connect and back via Auckland. Torres del Paine National Park is a five-hour drive from the airport. Australians are issued a multiple-entry tourist card on arrival in Chile for 90 days and pay a $US95 ($89) reciprocity fee.

Staying there

Explora's Hotel Salto Chico has a minimum four-night stay with packages from $US2780 a person, twin share, to an eight-night package for $US4920 a person, twin share. Prices include all meals, beverages, daily activities, park entry, explorations with English-speaking guides and return airport transfers; see explora.com.

When to go

Torres del Paine National Park is open year-round. In summer and spring (October to April) the park gets less rain and more than 16 hours of daylight a day.

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