TdelP ‘O’ route is a trek of about 120 kms, done over 7 or 8 days. You can stay at Refugios on the way round, but a lot of people carrying all food and gear with them and do it as independently as possible, which is what we did. So with about about 18kg on your back, up and down a lot of elevations, it’s not the toughest route by any stretch but its no walk in the park either, and relatively long for a self-sufficient trek (depending on how you define it). Most importantly though, it has two iconic and unique vistas which are, frankly, mind blowing.
The first of these is Glaciar Grey on day 4 which greets you as you come over the John Gardner pass at 1200m after a 3hr ascent through some fairly deep snow. It is about 5km wide and stays with you as you walk down the side of it for most of the next day.
The second is Las Torres themselves, the unmistakable 3 towers on the last day. The day we went up, the glacial lake in front of it was glass-calm when we arrived, gloriously sunny with little cloud. This was quite lucky as the peaks are often shrouded in mist.
But every day was amazing in a different way. For example on day 1 a bunch of horses joined us on the trail and we walked with them for a few hundred metres like we were part of their herd.
For all that, I have to say that TdelP is probably no longer at its pristine best. It now has the mixed blessing of great popularity and doesn't feel very remote. There were quite large hiking groups on some sections and a lot of noise late at night on a couple of the campsites. A large number of casual hikers do the shorter W route or day walks in the area. But that definitely doesn't spoil it altogether.
And the camaraderie among those doing the whole ‘O’ is awesome. The lads in the group shot (and one of the women) all swam out to the berg in the lake the morning after the pic was taken. Nutters! They were a great bunch, composed of sub-groups from 3 or 4 countries and charming to run into a few times on the way round. And a few other places since. Biggest shout, though, to Christophe, Alexandra, Yolanda, Tai, Lu and Ben, who we will always think of as our TdelP buddies. Hope you guys are well and look forward to connecting again soon.
