When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee
— William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18
The Paine Horns, or Torres del Paine (directly translating to ‘Towers of Paine’), are three granite peaks in the eponymous Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. They come into sight at the end of the Mirador las Torres, or ‘viewpoint of the towers’ hike and is a fittingly stunning sight for the viewer that makes undertaking this journey across a varied landscape, including a lovely valley, worth every bit of the trouble. Torres del Paine is also sometimes referred to as the ‘blue towers’ as it overlooks a lovely turquoise lake, the sort that seems to be a specialty of the Andes ranges.
The sights along the Mirador las Torres hike are truly spectacular
To go for the Mirador las Torres trek, you need to fly into Puerto Natales, which is near the southern end of the country, buy the Torres del Paine National Park Pass, and take a bus to Torres del Paine, get the stamp and go ahead on the trail. It’s a 13-mile (about 18km) round hike and takes around eight to 10 hours to complete. The elevation of Torres del Paine extends up to 8,200ft above sea level. The three towers of granite, or the Paine Mountain range are individually known as Torres d’Agostini, Torres Central and Torres Monzino. The area is full of beautiful valleys, lakes and glaciers like Grey, Pingall and Tyndall — a part of the Southern Patagonia Ice Field.
Abhishek Chakraborty and Saptati Datta, who are doing their PhD in the statistics department of Texas A&M University, were in Puerto Varas, Chile, for a conference. Here’s how they describe their experience of the Mirador hike.
Abhishek Chakraborty (left) and Saptati Datta
Says Saptati: “The city [Puerto Varas] sits by the huge lake Llanquihue and beyond it on the horizon you can see the peak of an active volcano, named Osorno. We also booked a cruise at All Saints Lake. Abhishek was excited to give a talk at such a conference, but being avid travellers, both of us were looking forward to what was awaiting us at the end of the continent.
“So, as soon as the conference got over, we took a flight to Puerto Natales. Although we longed to trek the entire W-circuit in the famous national park which takes five-six days to complete, due to time constraints we had to pick two of the most cherished sub-parts of the trek — Mirador Las Torres and Grey Glacier. And if that weren’t bad enough, poor weather forced us to cancel the second, which was a bit disappointing.
“The entire W-circuit is worth the try — take a flight to Puerto Natales and invest four-six days on the entire region to complete it. While on the Mirador las Torres hike, what’ll mesmerise you is the constantly changing scenery throughout. The element of surprise always awaits a hiker — in our case it was the snowfall that we got on a day when the sun was shining brightly and which made the hike a 10-hour one instead of eight.
“Most of the way has an elevation of around only 900m. While some blogs say it’s tough, neither by contacting locals nor watching videos did we find evidence to support it. Now, after we have completed the hike we agree that it is long and, to that extent, difficult. But the hike itself is a fairly easy one that goes gently uphill for about four to five hours. On the trail we saw people between the ages of five and 80 years hiking along with us.
“When I finally completed the hike and reached the base [of Torres del Paine] — what I saw was a spectacle on its own. I was speechless and I really did not want to leave the place as I stared at the rocky towers that stuck out so steeply from the mountain base below that even snow couldn’t stick to them. The majestic beauty of the peaks made me feel like everything prior to that moment was rather insignificant”
Adds Abhishek: “I was enthralled and captivated by the majesty of the beauteous Torres del Paine — old people and kids alike managed to complete the hike and seemed perfectly energetic until the very end. It was truly an unforgettable experience and we’d both recommend everyone to hike their way to the spectacle we witnessed, reiterating the fact that this hike was not difficult. It was just long and a little windy. Don’t let the blogs frighten you!”