Jon Seddon's Photos - South America - Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine

We started by flying from Stanley to Punta Arenas, in the southern Patagonian region of Chile. We had a couple of days there, chilling out, getting used to cars, people, money and Spanish, and buying any extra camping kit we needed. Then we headed off by bus to the Torres del Paine National Park. The Park's famous for the granite Towers of Paine and is an incredibly popular stop with westerners on the "gringo trail" of South America. Because we'd spent the southern hemisphere summer working we didn't get there until May, which is definitely well into Autumn. As a result we missed the crowds, but did get to sample some of the weather.

View Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine on a map.

The towers in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile, seen from the lake at their foot, above Los Torres (?) campsite and refuge. There was lots of snow up at this height and I was slipping and sliding on my way up without crampons. There were a couple of Japanese buisiness men in suits up there too who had walked up during the break in their conference at the refuge. The towers in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile, seen from the lake at their foot, above Los Torres (?) campsite and refuge. There was lots of snow up at this height and I was slipping and sliding on my way up without crampons. There were a couple of Japanese buisiness men in suits up there too who had walked up during the break in their conference at the refuge. A lake just along the valley from the Los Torres (?) campsite. A lake just along the valley from the Los Torres (?) campsite. The towers seen from the next valley along from where they're normally seen from. It was quite wintery by the time that we were there - a couple of times I wished that I had crampons with me. Another view of the lake just along the valley from the Los Torres campsite. The Los Torres Hotel, Hostel, Conference Centre and campsite in Torres del Paine National Park - there's plenty of visitors to the park. We were lucky and went at the end of the season and so there weren't many people but we had good weather on most days. The river in the valley leading up to Los Torres. The path up to Los Torres heading up through the woods.

© Copyright Jon Seddon (jseddon@zepler.net) 2004 - 2013