Day 4 on the W Trail: Those Paine Grande Peaks are Creepy Stalkers!
So, picture this: day three of the W Trail, and I'm chilling in French Valley. Boom! There it is – the French Glacier, hanging out on the west side of this gnarly mountain called Cerro Paine Grande. This beast is, like, 10,006 feet tall (3,050 meters, for all you metric folks). Crazy high! Fast forward to today, day four, and guess what? I'm on the east side of that same mountain, feeling way closer than I probably should be. Those peaks look totally climbable, but trust me, they're not. These things are gonna be stalking me for the rest of the hike, I swear. Speaking of stalking, turns out Cerro Paine Grande is the highest peak in Torres del Paine National Park, and apparently one of the biggest climbing bummers in Patagonia. It's got this giant glacier on top that's basically permanently hiding under a cloud blanket, and the wind never seems to take a vacation on that ice and rock monster. On the bright side, the west side's got some pretty sweet hanging glaciers, and French Valley offers a front-row seat to a whole lot of epic avalanches (don't worry, I watched from a safe distance!). This whole mountain range is actually four separate peaks – Cumbre Principal (the main one, obvi), Punta Bariloche, Cima Central, and Cima Norte. You can see them all from the west and east sides of the park, but let's be honest, the views from here (east) are way more dramatic. And speaking of dramatic views, the best spots to check out Paine Grande are the Pehoe Lake area and the Grey Lake/Grey Glacier area where I am now. Trust me, it's worth the hike! *** West side and the French glacier: flic.kr/p/2pYUVej From Lake Pehoé and southeast side of the mountain: flic.kr/p/2q1qXLA