Torres del Paine. Rudolf Abraham

Their white glaciers, with the white clouds resting on them, were all mirrored to marvellous perfection in the motionless lake, whose crystal waters were of the most extraordinarily brilliant blue I have ever beheld.’ Baquedano Santiago Zamora, Tomás Rogers and Carl Skottsberg all visited the area during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The great Swedish explorer Otto Nordenskjöld visited the area in the 1920s, followed in the 1930s–40s by the Silesian priest and mountaineer Alberto de Agostini – hence the names Lago Nordeskjöld and Torre di Agostini.

      A cattle ranch was established in Torres del Paine in 1896, running until the 1970s, and a large area of the national park on the eastern side still lies on private land. Part of the area was declared a national park in 1959 (although not before large tracts had been cleared for livestock), this being enlarged over the following years until reaching its present size of over 240,000 hectares. It was declared a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve in 1978.

      Climbing expeditions to Torres del Paine began in earnest in the late 1950s, following on the heels of several expeditions to the Fitzroy area of Los Glaciares national park in Argentina a few years earlier. These included Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone on Fitzroy in 1952; Walter Bonatti on the western side of Cerro Torre and the Adele Cordón, and on Cerro Mariano Moreno, in 1958–59; and Cesare Maestri’s much disputed climb on Cerro Torre in 1959. Torres del Paine’s North Tower (Torre Norte) was first climbed by Guido Monzino in 1957–58; the Central Tower (Torre Central) by Chris Bonington and Don Whillans in 1963; and the South Tower (Torre Sur) by Armando Aste, also in 1963. Fortaleza, at the head of the Valle Francés, was climbed by a British team in 1968.

Getting to Chile

      The most direct route is to fly to Santiago (17hrs from the UK, 11hrs from New York, 13hrs from Los Angeles, 16hrs from Sydney, 12hrs from Auckland), and from there to Punta Arenas (3hrs 30mins), from where it’s a 3hr bus trip to Puerto Natales, the ‘gateway’ town for the Torres del Paine national park. Chile’s national carrier, LAN (www.lan.com), tends to offer the best fares, and (at least in my experience) in-flight comfort and entertainment aboard LAN is way ahead of the main competitor on this route, Iberia (www.iberia.com).

      Approaching El Chaltén, Los Glaciares national park, Argentina (Walk 8)

      Fares are not cheap – expect to pay at least £900 for a return flight from the UK or the US to Santiago in season, and a further £300 for the return flight on to Punta Arenas. LAN sometimes offers promotional fares on domestic flights, but these are not usually available very far in advance, so if you are tying in domestic flight times and dates to an international flight, it’s safer to just book the whole flight (international and domestic) at once (unless you are flexible with your itinerary). Check the individual airlines’ websites, as well as search engines such as Opodo (www.opodo.com) and agencies in the UK (see ‘Agencies and tour operators’ below) to find the best deal. Book as early as possible, particularly for travel in January/February (when flights between Santiago and Punta Arenas often become fully booked).

      The majority of flights from the UK and elsewhere in Europe to Chile are routed via Madrid (TAM flies via Sao Paulo), and include a fairly lengthy transit time to get from one terminal/gate to another – however, Madrid airport is huge, and the time taken to get between terminals and gates (which usually includes passing through another security check) should not be underestimated.

      Alternatively, you could fly to Santiago and continue from there to Puerto Montt (14hrs by bus, 1hr 40mins by plane), and from there take the Navimag ferry (www.comapa.com) down the Chilean coast to Puerto Natales (3 days). The ferry trip provides a spectacular cruise alongside the Chilean fjords, passing glaciers, icebergs and the occasional whale en route. There is one section of the route which passes slightly further out to sea, however, and if the weather’s rough, you can expect a heaving swell.

      Another option is to fly to Argentina – via Buenos Aries (17hrs from the UK) and El Calafate (a further 3hrs), which gives you the opportunity to visit Los Glaciares national park (in particular the Fitzroy area near El Chaltén, which unlike the Perito Moreno glacier cannot be visited as a day trip from Puerto Natales), before continuing to Puerto Natales by bus (5hrs), passing through Río Turbio before crossing the border at Dorotea. It is also possible to take a more direct route from El Calafate to Torres del Paine, via the border post at Cerro Castillo, thus completely bypassing Puerto Natales – although in this writer’s opinion it would be a great shame to do so. Note that public transport on the latter route is much more limited, and involves changing buses at Cerro Castillo. Airlines flying from the UK to Buenos Aires include Aerolinias Argentinas (www.aerolineas.com.ar), Iberia (www.iberia.com) and British Airways (www.ba.com, via San Paolo).

      For the majority of people visiting Torres del Paine from the UK and Europe, travelling to Chile by air will be the only practical option. However there are a number of cruise ships operating around the coast of South America, including between Buenos Aires and Santiago.

Transport within Chile

      Travelling within Chile is a refreshingly straightforward affair. LAN (www.lan.com) covers the country with a comprehensive network of domestic flights, and there is another private airline, Sky (www.skyairline.cl). Buses are comfortable, frequent and reliable, and fares very reasonable; and ferries connect various ports along the coast.

      Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales