Our Great Adventure: Torres del Paine/Refugio Chileno Day 217 23/04/2015

And it didn't stop raining all night. All packed up we left the refugio when it got light at 0830 and headed out in the rain. To be fair it had lessened to only a moderate downpour but the clouds were really low and the ridge above us appeared in and out of the gloom. We wondered what the route in front of us had in store especially the many river crossings which would no doubt be even more swollen than the day before and every small streams could become an uncrossable barrier. After 5 minutes on the path we met our first major river and were mightily relieved to see a swing bridge crossing it. We walked across it quickly and found route finding a little more difficult as the path had water pouring down it on the uphill/downhill sections along with many rivulets of water either side. A further 30 minutes along the track we came across the next river. No bridge here. A Swiss guy who we spoke to at breakfast, and had come the other way the day before, advised us to look for a tree upstream which had a branch that hung over the river. "Climb up and then swinging across it like a monkey" was his advice! We found the tree but Simon decided it was better to inch across the branch on his feet as it looked quite sturdy. He did this successfully the only concern was dropping onto the other side onto what seemed to be slippy rock. Thankfully it was grippy and Diane followed across. We marched on wondering what would the next crossing be like. The next few water crossings were fairly benign compared to the tree climbing one and one which we feared we would not be able to cross as we heard it roar a good ten minutes before we reached it, had, much to our sheer relief, a swing bridge across it. We continued to squelch along the wet, muddy path until we reached a cross roads in the path. To the right along the lake was Refugio Torres and whilst that would see us safely out of the park, it would mean we would not have time to climb up to see the Towers of Paine tomorrow as we needed to get the 2pm bus out (weather permitting). So we turned left and slowly started to head uphill towards Refugio Chileno, which we kept thinking was either a really smart move if the weather improved tomorrow as forecast or really stupid if we couldn't get across the still numerous river crossings. It wasn't long before the next river raged in front of us. After walking up and downstream for 5 minutes we saw the least dangerous point and using some mainly submerged rocks kept most of our boots out of the water and so safely crossed without having to endure the force of the water. By this time anyway the inside of our boots were wet from water inevitably getting over the top as we hopped and slithered across the rivers. A flat section of the route meant we were squishing through mud, bog and water sodden grass as the misty peaks emerged before us. The next river didn't disappoint and after a 10 minute walk up stream we found another place we managed to soggily get across and as we climbed diagonally on, we could see the roof of Hotel Las Torres glistening below us. We reached the intersection of the paths with the route from Torres, turned left on steeper but drier ground and started to feel relieved that our destination was not too far away although still hoping we'd seen the last of the river crossings. After walking past some very loose rocks above us that indicated dangerous ground around (it was along drop down on our right) we could see Refugio Chileno ahead. We could also see two figures on the path coming towards us, one waving their arms. A couple of minutes later we met them and the one waving turned out to be the Guardian of the Chileno. He told us to turn back as they had closed the refugio as the river next to it was touching the bridge and it was too dangerous to cross. And in any case the bridge further up, which we needed to cross in the morning to get to the Towers, was damaged and not safe. Disappointed to be so close we turned around and headed back to the intersection and the hour descent to Torres. As we were walking along we reflected on our good fortune meeting the guardian on route, as if not we would have turned up at a closed refugio. We did ask him when they made the decision to close it and he said the night before; the park rangers had come up and asked people to leave. On enquiring why we were not told this he said the guardian at Los Cuernos was advised the night before and couldn't understand why he had not advised those staying there. Our relief was mixed with anger as we trudged towards the refugio now soaking wet and cold as we had turned into the wind and it was blowing the rain straight at us. However the conditions had one more 'treat' or test in store for us. We needed to cross Rio Ascencio, the huge river which comes down from the north of the park and has carved out a massive gorge through the valley, to get to the hostel. Noting the size of the river we reassured ourselves that there must be a bridge. Whilst we were correct in our assumption, what we hadn't reckoned on was that the river had breached it's bank by the bridge. Not sure how deep it was, noting we were already drenched with wet feet, Diane took a 'sod it' view and splashed across to the steps and marched across the bridge. Simon followed her fine 'example' and did the same, and we crossed looking agog at the fierce, raging water below our feet, hurtling past to smash into a rock cliff on the right hand bank, crashing across and doing the same on the left hand bank before roaring downstream to Lago Nordensjkold 2 kms away. Elated in a 'we've survived' sort of way we walked past the, closed for the season, hotel (the film 'The Shining' came to mind) and covered the last km to reach the refugio. We arrived just before the 2pm shuttle back to Lagunda Amarga to find the reception packed with people waiting to catch it; there was a mix of people who had got out of the park the night before and also people, like us, who had stayed in Los Cuernos the night before and had headed straight here (we were to subsequently find out we were the only ones who attempted to get to Chileno). Luckily the shuttle left on time, emptying the place, and so we checked into our dorm, stripped off all of our wet clothes and had the stove to ourselves so we could drape our clothes and boots in front of it. We felt very tired, wet and relieved but also strangely exhilarated. We had a very welcome hot chocolate and our packed lunch, revelling in being in from the rain and in nice warm clothes. We chatted with an Australian lady (who Diane found out used to work for RBS in London a few years ago) and a couple of 20 year old German girls who had just arrived at the refugio and were hoping to head out the next day. We tried to explain the challenge posed by the river crossings but think that they didn't quite understand the scale; maybe you just had to be there to get it! We had a 6 bed dorm to ourselves so we weren't too long to bed after dinner, falling asleep in the warm duvet with the same feeling of exhaustion, relief, frustration at missing seeing the Towers but reflecting on what an adventure the last couple of days had been. At least we had seen the Towers 12 years ago in brilliant weather and the photo of them is hanging in our hall at home!