Patagonia, a land of snow-capped mountains, glacial lakes, frosted woodland and iced beauty. Stretching through southern Chile and Argentina until the continent’s end, Patagonia attracts travellers from all over the world.
The summer season, from December to February sees trekkers, photographers, wildlife enthusiasts and many more making the long journey south to explore this frozen tip of South America.
Come winter, however, and there is a different story to tell. From June to September, sub-zero temperatures, few sunlight hours and reduced transportation ward many travellers off. We were met with incredulous remarks and worried glances when announcing plans of a wintertime trip to Patagonia.
Doubts placed firmly at the back of our minds, we set off anyway. It seemed like too good a trip to miss, and indeed it was.
Torres del Paine National Park in Chile is one of Patagonia’s many highlights. Images of the iconic “torres” grace countless guidebooks and a three-to-four day trek through the park, dubbed the W Circuit, tops many trekkers bucket lists. This was to be our destination, and the trek, our challenge.
Incredulous remarks and worried glances lingering in our minds, we were careful to take extra special care to ensure a successful trip. The following tips were catered specifically to our experience of the W Circuit, but can be applied to any wintry Patagonia trip.
Transport In Patagonia
It’s no lie that many tourist services shut down during the winter period. Transfers from the town of Puerto Natales to the W Circuit starting point can be expensive and hard to come by. Having patience and a little extra time on your side just in case is advisable.
Lack of snow chains on our under equipped but overloaded transfer vehicle nearly made us fall at the first hurdle. It was time to push. Half an hour of puffing and panting later and we had made it to the starting line. Just don’t expect first class service.
Camping Gear
During winter, all but one of the refuges along the route are closed. Camping is unavoidable, but sleepless nights are not. Thick sleeping bags (up to -9 degrees Celsius) and mats do well to keep out the cold and the wet, but many more layers are still needed.
I found this out the hard way. Having stripped down to my thermals and t-shirt upon entering the toasty two-man tent (home to three of us) I awoke a few hours later. Teeth chattering, I scrambled around the tent locating my remaining jumpers, coat and hat. Unpopular among my fellow tent dwellers to say the least.
Down Jackets
Believe it or not, a heavy-duty jacket is not needed during the daytime. A nice, highly waterproof (just in case) wind breaker on top of your other layers is enough. Walking for long periods of time, bag on back, you will break into a sweat.
Sweating in the snow is certainly one of life’s more incongruous situations. However, once you make it to the night’s campsite, you will want to strip off your sweaty outer layers and wrap yourself in a nice down jacket. Light, warm and often brightly coloured, down jackets will now feature on every one of our Christmas lists.
Plenty Of Food
Bring plenty of it. It needs to be light, quick to prepare and calorie-ridden. Wraps are good, as are instant rice and noodles. Plenty of chocolate bars and other tasty snacks also go down a treat. Some words of advice however: change it up a little bit.
The prospect of eating instant rice and frankfurters three evenings in a row didn’t seem like a bad idea, but it was. Frankfurters, an item definitely not making an appearance on anyone’s Christmas list. As for the wraps, pay that extra £1.50 for the better quality meat or cheese filling, you’ll thank yourself later.
Reusable Water Bottles
Nalgenes (reusable water bottles) are a must. Fill with ice-cold water from Patagonian streams (best water in the world, they say) and easily attach them to your backpack during the day. At night, fill with hot water and pop it into your sleeping bag. Perfect.
Friendliness
In a hostile environment, a non-hostile attitude is key. Scared away by the wintertime horror stories, the park was much emptier of tourists but park rangers, refuge keepers and the odd maintenance worker still populated the campsites.
You never know when a bit of friendliness can lead to the offer of a floor to sleep on or a chicken soup to slurp on.
Leave Behind Any Negative Thoughts
Within our group we made a pact: grumpiness was banned. Anytime one person made an overly cutting comment or snapped at another, they owed the rest of the group a beer after the trip ended. High-spirited for (almost) the entirety of the trek, this method worked rather well.
So we bought the beers anyway. And some wine. We deserved it, after all, we had defied those incredulous remarks and proved wrong those dubious looks. We had survived a Patagonian winter.
We hope that this article has inspired you to visit Patagonia! If you have any questions about the destination or have your own travel tips to share please leave these in the comments below.
Read Next
- Torres Del Paine, Patagonia: Complete Visitors Guide
- 6 Reasons To Add Valparaiso, Chile To Your Bucketlist
- 5 Must Do’s For Solo Travelers in Atacama, Chile
By We Are Travel Girls Contributor Anna Grace
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Vanessa Rivers says
Congrats on trekking through Patagonia in the winter Anna! This is epic!
Anonymous says
Well done and thanks for the advice. Fabulous pictures. Everything looks so crisp and bright.
Jennifer says
Wow! Patagonia looks great. I enjoyed reading about it. :)
Leigh Taylor says
Heading there this year for a Patagonian winter. I have winter boots from climbing in the Alps, do you think I’ll need them or just a standard pair of waterproof hiking boots?
Sylvie says
Hey guys, loved this blog post! Me and my boyfriend are planning to hike the W trek this upcoming June. However, we’ve been getting a lot of comments saying we’re not allowed to hike it without a guide. How did you go about this? There’s not a lot of information on the internet about the Patagonian winter, and the sites that offer tour guides are WAY out of our budget so any advice is well appreciated!
Mathilde says
Hi guys! Same question here! My boyfriend and I would really like to do the trek in July/August, winter time. But we’ve read a lot of comments saying you cannot camp/trek during this time of the year on your own and only guided tours take you there in the winter months. Do you have any info on this?
Brian Ellerbe says
Enjoyable Read; We Are Nature Too!
Mary Anderson says
Loved this! I’m headed to Punta Arenas on the 16th with my mom for her 60th birthday! This has restored the faith that we are only 70% crazy for hiking in June! It’s going to be a massive temperature change from my semester in Arica… gulp :) Gracias Chicas
Cindy says
Hi Mary! Did you end up going and do you have any tips? I’m in the same position now with minia info available online still, I can’t make a call on whether to go to Patagonia in winter or not!