Greetings!

I want to hike to the base of the tower from Las Torres hotel for sunrise (in end Novemeber) and had a few questions.

1. When should I leave las Torres hotel?
2. Is it safe to hike in the dark?
3. Do we need a guide or can we do it on our own?
4. What do we need? Basic hiking equitments are enough?

Thanks in advance.
John

Hi, the key thing that springs to mind for me here is how set you are on seeing the 'sunrise making the rocks turn red' thing and how much flexibility you have. Essentially if you start hiking in the dark and find that when the sun comes up and it's cloudy you may find yourself disappointed even though the scenery is great anyway. Thus if you have a number of days and can watch the weather you'll have less of a problem.

Closer alternatives to the hotel are to camp about an hour from the viewpoint or stay in one of the refugios (Chileno) maybe 2-3 hours from the viewpoint.

I'll try and address the other stuff later if no one else has once I've dug out my maps but basically:

1) 5-7 hours depending on fitness and navigation skills, the entire thing is uphill.
2) I'm not aware of danger from people or animals but you would be walking alongside a massive ravine for a part of the way and the bit up to the viewpoint is scrambly and generally poorly marked though lots of other people will be going up at the same time from the camp.
3) Depends on your navigation skills but the path is pretty clear though you would need a good map and maybe GPS to mark your route and backtrack if you get lost. If there's a good moon out that would help.
4) If you're confident you can make it up and back in one day then sure but particularly in the dark it's easy to get hurt and lost so be prepared, first aid, extra torch batteries, extra clothing etc.

sm176811 wrote:Greetings!

I want to hike to the base of the tower from Las Torres hotel for sunrise (in end Novemeber) and had a few questions.

1. When should I leave las Torres hotel?
2. Is it safe to hike in the dark?
3. Do we need a guide or can we do it on our own?
4. What do we need? Basic hiking equitments are enough?

Thanks in advance.
John

We are going in January, so would love to see a TR when you get back. We are staying in one of the Refugios

Thanks guys! I will write up something when I head back.

Also, I will be driving into the park and plan to drive around the park. Are there any gas stations in the park? Will gas be an issue?

I don't recall seeing any gas stations there when I was there 2 years ago, to be honest there's not that much driving you can do though it helps to get to some of the more out of the way trail heads away from the main circuit. It takes maybe 1.5 hours to drive to the park from Puerto Natales so it would be a function of the capactiy of your vehicle, mpg, how much driving you expect to do etc. Could carry an extra fuel can if you're worried I suppose.

Having just looked at this site though they mention a place in the park where you can buy cans of fuel but perhaps more than outside the park: http://www.fodors.com/community/south-a ... -paine.cfm

Note also the comments on road condition so make sure you pick the right vehicle.

Thanks Baarb!

Hi, i give you some helpful informations:

1 – From Hosteria Paine it takes about 3,5 hours to “Campamento Paine” and further 1 hour to the “Mirador”, from where you can enjoy a stunning wiew of Torres del Paine East face. So, you can program your trip start according to your favourite arrival time. It’s a good idea previously taking information about sun rising time in your date trip.
2 – No particular danger hiking in the dark (the path is not exposed), if you are experienced an use a powerfull lamp.
3/4 – The trip is not difficult for a confirmate trekker. The path is always well marked from human passage (but not signed with paint, till some years ago). But you have to consider that whether is extremely various and can change suddendly: visibility ad temperature can dramaticaly decrease while wind increases, requiring an additional experience and adeguateequipement.

Have a good trip!

alberto rampini

Thank you!

OK, further to the other info the CONAF leaflet has the sunrise for 20th November as 05:29 and sunset at 21:17, with twilight having duration of 42 minutes. For the 30th November it's 05:19, 21:33 and 45 respectively. It may be a little different when you go due to marginal orbital variations etc. but you get the idea.

The leaflet also says the distance from the hotel to the mirador is 9.5 km, medium difficulty, taking 3.5 hours or 4.5 hours depending on whether you read the info on the map or in the table. Again that's for daylight. Not sure what assumptions have gone into fitness or carrying load. Getting down is much quicker though as it's generally a good path and you can jog it if you like.

I suppose there are some 3D visualisations or Google Earth views you can use to get a better idea of the route and terrain.

To clarify all of the above is for the mirador by the lake next to the Torres which gives you the classic view. To actually get to the Torres and stick your hands on them you would have to start wandering along the moraine there, longjump the outflow from the glacial lake or head round via the Japanese or British camps or Valle Bader. Little bit of info here.

http://www.summitpost.org/torre-sur-tor ... ine/151366
http://www.summitpost.org/torre-central ... ine/713293

This is the map I used when in the area, big and with proper topography and extra routes marked beyond the usual. It's maybe too much if you're just doing the one quick hike which the CONAF leaflet would probably do you for. Got mine in El Chalten but can probably get them in Puerto Natales or a few other places. http://www.chalten-outdoor.com/paine.html