9. When maps don't tell the whole story

26th Nov 2013

     If yesterday was an easy day today proved to be anything but, the day started out with everything going to plan with us on the trail by 7.30 and heading down to Grande enjoying beautiful views and stunning cloud formations along the way.

Grey to Italiano via Valle del Frances highlighted in red - 31km

Looking back for a last glimpse of Grey Glacier

Over the rise to Grande

Paine Grande Lodge and Camp Ground on the left by the lakes edge, you can just see the roof

A picture we found in Puerto Natales showing how busy Grande gets in peak season

     Grande camping area looked very exposed and uninviting ( glad we didn't plan to camp here ) It was very cold and windy so we headed into the Refugio to see what was on offer, Andrew spied a coffee machine and thought all his X-masses had come a once but no, it was not to be the joyous occasion Andrew envisaged, the coffee was bad - really bad. Ok surely a machine can make good hot chocolate, no, no it can not, this was the 2nd worst hot chocolate I have ever had. The worst hot chocolate ever was in a French cafe, just chocolate coloured liquid sugar, blerk, just thinking about it makes me cringe. After that most unsatisfying experience we continue on our way to Italiano, seeing more people in this 7 1/2km than we have see in the last 3 days combined. 

This massif is just screamed out to be photographed...repeatedly...sorry there are more

Dandelion on Steroids?

Some of the amazing cloud formations 

Camp Italiano

       When we reached Italiano and consulted our map we decided to continue on up the valley and camp at Britanico which was shown on the map as green - signifying a free camp  CONAF run camp like Paso . We thought that most people would set up camp at Italiano, hike up to the mirador ( lookout ) and then back down to Italiano. So up we went lugging our full packs looking forward to a quiet camping spot in the mountains.

The wind began to pick up as the afternoon wore on as was evidenced by the water being whipped off the lake surface

        About a km from Britanico we met 2 rangers who told us we couldn't camp at Britanico, it was closed and they wanted us to turn around right now. What! We showed them the map and tried to explained that there were no signs saying it was closed, I suppose that no one is crazy enough to carry a pack all the way up so they didn't need to advertise the fact that it was closed. After much negotiation we convinced them we could get up to the lookout and back to Italiano before nightfall and they reluctantly let us go. I think the only reason they let us keep going was because we explained we were doing the 'O' and told them which camps we had stayed at so we were fit enough to do it quickly. We dumped our packs and headed up to the lookout and were rewarded with spectacular views with not a soul around which judging by the number of people we passed that were heading back down would not have been the case an hour earlier.

Camping at Britanico is fairly primitive - I would have loved it!

Much needed rest on the way down

     Italiano, also a CONAF run free camp, is a sprawling site with lots of campers, after checking in with the Rangers we wander around and eventually settle on an almost flat site at the edge of the camp ground as far away from the cooking shelter, toilets and other campers as possible ... I like my privacy and dislike crowds and noise intensely. We get the tent set up before a gentle rain begins giving Andrew perfect opportunity to try cooking in the vestibule of the tent which proves to be achievable as long a he has a good back rest. Tonight we need warming up so it's the all time family favorite Classic Beef Curry for dinner. As dusk comes we settle in for the night but despite doing a 31km day I get almost no sleep as the wind is gale force and I can hear the trees around us groaning ... loudly, I keep thinking about the advice we are regularly reminded of in Queensland  " never take shelter under trees in a storm " and here we were camping in the middle of a forest in what seemed like a cyclone. Luckily the worst that befalls us is one of the tent pegs getting pulled out of the ground leaving the vestibule to flap around but this was easily fixed with a big rock of which there are always plenty on hand in the campsites having been left by other campers who have experienced the same conditions. The next day we spoke to a number of people ended up with wind damaged tents after spending the night at Los Cuernos, which being at the lake side and more exposed than Italiano.

Back at Italiano and it's raining at dinner time so Andrew does the cooking in the vestibule of our tent and I make my self useful being his back rest.