Torres del Paine and Fitz Roy: How to Combine Them

Two hard walks, two countries

The W Trek and Laguna de los Tres are the pair people mean when they say “Patagonia” and have one holiday. They are both graded hard. They both want the Patagonian summer, November to March. They are not in the same country, they do not share a trailhead, and a first trip that treats them as one park will spend its spare day on a bus it did not schedule.

This page is how to put them together. The December roundup, where to walk in December, lists both among other continents, because December is early summer south of the equator. That list is the month. This is the trip. The month page itself is December.

The W Trek is in Chile

The W Trek is 4 days, 75 km and 2,500 m of ascent, graded hard, in Torres del Paine National Park. The season is the Patagonian summer, roughly November to March. The page says to book refuges months ahead.

The walk traces the three valleys in the shape of the letter: the granite towers, the French Valley, and Grey Glacier. Waymark’s itinerary runs east to west. The days are long. One arm, the towers, is about 20 km out and back. The lakeshore link is about 17 km. The French Valley day is about 20 km. The Grey Glacier arm is about 18 km. Daily distances of 15 to 22 km on rough ground are why the grade is hard, even though the trek stays below about 900 m. It is long-distance walking, not a high-altitude climb.

You reach it through Puerto Natales, then a park bus of about 2 hours to Laguna Amarga. Park entry is booked online in advance. Every night needs a reserved bed or campsite at a refuge run by the concessionaires. In summer those nights sell out months ahead. Arrange the chain before you fly. Weather on the page is violent and hourly: wind, sun, rain, and cold on the same day. Full waterproofs are the packing list, whatever the forecast says the night before.

Four days at this grade is already a trek. It is the Chilean half of the trip, and it is the half that cannot be improvised.

Laguna de los Tres is in Argentina

Laguna de los Tres is 1 day, 20 km and 1,100 m, graded hard. The season is November to March. December to February is the peak. The page says strong wind is possible year-round. The trailhead is at the north end of El Chalten, in Los Glaciares National Park, walkable from town. Buses from El Calafate take about three hours.

Fitz Roy rises to 3,405 m on the Argentina-Chile border. You do not climb it on this route. You walk to the lagoon at its foot. For 9 km the trail is rolling. From Campamento Poincenot it turns up, and the last 400 m is loose moraine in about a kilometre. That last hour is what takes a moderate-feeling walk and makes the day hard. Allow 8 to 10 hours. There is an entry fee for the park. Streams above Capri are drinkable. Nothing is for sale on the trail.

Wind is the hazard on the final climb and at the rim, including on a blue morning. Locals plan by the forecast. If the peak is in cloud, the page’s swap is Laguna Torre another day, then a second try at Fitz Roy. Free camping at Poincenot, first come, turns the day into two and buys the sunrise, when the towers go orange. A day-walk plan can skip the camp and keep a spare day in town instead.

El Chalten is a different country from Puerto Natales. The border is not a scenic extra on the W. It is a travel day.

How to put them in one trip

Count the walking first. Four hard days and 75 km in Chile, then one hard day and 20 km in Argentina, with 2,500 m on the W and 1,100 m on the lagoon day. Add the travel the pages actually name: Puerto Natales and the park bus on the Chilean side, El Calafate to El Chalten on the Argentine side, and the crossing between those systems, which is its own day and not a walking day. Add one spare day in El Chalten, because the whole Fitz Roy day lives or dies on cloud, and the page tells you to come back tomorrow rather than force a socked-in view.

A first trip that does this has already used the good weather window. November to March contains both. December to February is the peak at the lagoon and the heart of the refuge crush on the W. Book the Chilean beds months ahead, then place El Chalten on either side of those four days, with the spare day protected. Wind does not retire in January. The Fitz Roy page says it is possible year-round. The W page says one day can hold wind, sun, rain, and cold together. Pack for that on both sides of the border.

Direction is a preference, not a rule. The W page runs east to west and notes that many people walk the other way. Either way, the nights are reserved before the flight. On the Argentine side, an early start from town is the page’s advice: better light, fewer people on the moraine.

What a first trip should not add

The combination is already two hard routes. The things to leave off are specific.

Do not add another multi-day trek. The W is 4 days, 75 km, 2,500 m, graded hard, with a bed chain that sells out. Laguna de los Tres is a separate hard day of 8 to 10 hours. A third trek turns the transfer days and the weather day into walking days, which is how a first Patagonia trip loses the lagoon to a timetable.

Do not add a summit of Fitz Roy. The route is the viewpoint. The peak is 3,405 m, and the walk stops at the lagoon. The last 400 m of moraine is already the reason the day is graded hard. A summit is a different objective, with different skills, and it is not this page.

Do not add a second hard hike on the lagoon day. Eight to ten hours, with a kilometre of loose moraine at the end, is the day. If the mountain is hidden, the spare day is Laguna Torre or another attempt, not a second big walk after you come down.

Do not add walk-up beds on the W. The page says summer refuges sell out months ahead, and park entry is booked online in advance. Arriving in Puerto Natales to “see what is free” is how the Chilean half collapses.

Do not add the hope that December to February means calm air. Peak season is the crowded, long-day season. Wind stays on the Fitz Roy page all year. The December list can show you Tongariro or Table Mountain as other places that are good that month. Those are other trips. They are not evenings you bolt onto this one.

A first Patagonia trip that holds the W and one honest attempt at Laguna de los Tres, with the beds already booked and a day in hand for cloud, has used the holiday. The next valley can wait for a return.