The W Trek or more appropriately the double L

The flight to Punta Arenas was pretty uneventful till the landing which was kinda hairy owing to the crosswinds. The views though were fantastic. Flying along the andes was amazing and we could see all the peaks. Further south we flew over the south pantagonian icefield which seemed to stretch for miles and miles in every direction. There were tongues of glaciers reaching out from this tremendous icefield towards the fjords.

Spent a couple of hours in punta arenas, basically a simple town but we stumbled upon a wonderful restaurant. It's housed in the old home of some famous lady of punta arenas. will check out the name later. Anyways the restaurant is in a glass enclosed part of the house with creepers along the walls. Really beautiful, allows in the sun but keeps out the wind which can be really chilly down here.

Attached is a quaint old bar named shackletons bar. You could almost imagine shackleton relating his story of woe and courage among friends in the bar.

After a 3 hr bus ride to puerto natales we bought the last of our groceries packed our gear and slept in excited expectations of the walk ahead.

The 1st day of the hike was a glorious day with wonderful sunshine. we took a 2 hr bus ride into the park and were greeted by the torres standing out in all their majesty. From administration it was another 30mins to Lago pehoe for the ferry ride to the start of the trek from the western side. We tracked up hill from lago pehoe heading for refugio grey. It was bright sunshine but up at the top of the ridge the winds were crazy. As we decended the winds abated and suddenly crossing a rise the sight of glacier grey greeted us.

Huge tongues of ice reaching out into Lago grey with icebergs floating about the lake. What a wonderful sight!

Unfortunately it was at this juncture that I noticed something was amiss. There was this persistent flapping sound as I walked and a dreaded thought crossed my mind. I looked down and sure enough the sole of my 8yr old boots was shearing off! I tried to jury rig some string to tie the sole on but by the time I got to our campsite the sole had completely ripped off.

Of course this wasn't the first time that things had gone wrong on one of our adventures. The first adventure race we took part in shawn's running shoe had also almost lost the sole but we managed to slavage with tape. The second race he slashed open his knee and I had to stitch it back. So I guess it was my turn.

What now? I'd just crossed a really rocky and muddy pass and treked 12km? Should I attempt to trek back to lago pehoe in slippers?