Bus from Puerto Natales, the climb up to Camp Chileno, the rocky push to the base of Las Torres, noodles for dinner, and by 4:30am the next morning we were brushing our teeth outside the tent again, about to do the whole climb a second time before sunrise.

Back up in the dark

We dropped our big bags at reception and set off with just headlamps, back through the forest, across the same streams, over the same rocks. Hiking in the dark has a strange kind of meditation to it, no distractions beyond the small circle your headlamp lights up, just your own thoughts and the reflective trail markers guiding the way. The temperature did something odd too, freezing near the water, then genuinely warm higher up, jumpers coming off entirely on what was supposed to be a cold pre-dawn climb. Legs sore from the day before and running on almost no sleep, this climb felt noticeably harder than the first time.

Second time at the towers

We made it to the top in good time, right as the sun started to rise. Watching the line of light creep down the mountain face, then reflect off the glacial water below, it's genuinely one of the best sunrises I've seen anywhere, and doing this hike twice meant we had it almost to ourselves. Every few minutes felt like the best moment yet, and then it topped itself again.

Golden morning light on the granite towers seen from the trail near Chileno

The light kept getting better, right up until we forced ourselves to leave.

Back to Chileno, and the same breakfast

Slippery rock scramble back down as the wind picked up, and by the time we reached Chileno we'd been awake for five and a half hours, two up, two down, and about ninety minutes just sitting on a rock staring at the view. Same breakfast as the day before, oats with peanut butter, banana, raisins and dates, plus the genuinely excellent drip coffee. Reunited with our big bags, we set off again, this time for real, towards Camp Frances, roughly six hours away.

Bowl of porridge with peanut butter for breakfast at Camp Chileno on the W Trek

The same oats, peanut butter and coffee as every morning on this trek.

The turquoise lake that doesn't end

Back down the Ascencio Valley, this time in daylight and noticeably better weather, rolling hills that looked more like a painting than a real landscape. Then Lago Nordenskjöld opens up, one of the most beautiful stretches on the whole trek, an almost unreal turquoise against brown hills and snowcapped peaks. That colour comes from glacial flour, rock ground down to ultra-fine powder by the glacier above, fine enough to float in the water and scatter blue and green light back at you instead of sinking. We stopped for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with our backs against a rock, just watching it.

Hiker on the trail above the turquoise waters of Lago Nordenskjöld, Torres del Paine

Lago Nordenskjöld, so saturated it barely looks real.

Walking alongside a lake this size is beautiful, but it does start to feel never-ending, hours with the water on one side and the mountains slowly growing ahead until Los Cuernos, the horns, finally come into view up close. The sharp curved peaks look even more dramatic in person, a dark band of ancient sedimentary rock underneath a cap of pale granite, like the mountain's been sliced open to show its own geology.

Granite and sedimentary rock peaks near Los Cuernos at dusk, Torres del Paine

Los Cuernos, layered rock exposed like a cross-section.

Camp Cuernos, so close and yet not close enough

Reaching Camp Cuernos felt like the natural place to stop, the kind of spot where you just want to drop your bag and call it a night. In hindsight, if we'd known we'd end up hiking this whole stretch twice on a future day, this probably would have been the smarter place to camp. But our booking was at Frances, a short 2.5km further, close enough to hear the glacier cracking in the distance, ominous in a way that kept us moving despite the fatigue.

Camp Frances, at last

We reached Frances as the light was fading, 7:30pm, awake since 4:30am. Genuinely one of the happiest moments of the whole trip, just seeing a campsite. Frances turned out to be properly bougie for a trek like this, a glass-fronted central eating area, and the same pre-erected tent setup as Chileno, this time with an unexpected free drink voucher attached.

Glass-fronted dining area at Camping Frances on the W Trek, Torres del Paine

Camping Frances, glass-fronted and properly bougie for a trek like this.

Instant noodles from a bag with a spork, the usual glamorous end to a day like this, but with a proper drink to toast the longest day of hiking either of us had ever done, 23km, nearly 1,000m of elevation, and over 12 hours on the trail.

Bowl of instant noodles for dinner at Camping Frances on the W Trek

The glamorous life of noodles from a bag with a spork.

Raising a glass of wine to celebrate finishing the longest day of the W Trek

Cheers to the longest walking day of my life, well served.

Set up for the French Valley next, and the strongest winds either of us have ever faced. If you want to see how this whole trek started, or how it all ends up at the Grey Glacier, I've written both of those up too.