pitched our new home for the first time. After a brew and a snack we decided to head up to the viewpoint at the foot of the Torres, a further hour up a glacial moraine over some pretty big rocks!!

This was the real killer of the day, I found it really difficult, and poor Hel really struggled at this point. We were buoyed on though by meeting some people we’d met in Puerto Natales and them telling us that it was pretty clear up there, and the view was just stunning!! It’s amazing that although the Torres stand around 5,000 ft above the glacier and lake below them, it’s not possible to see them until you are almost at the top of the moraine. When we did finally crest that last section and they came into view though, my jaw almost hit the floor, and any pains in my legs just disappeared!! This was a truly magnificent sight, one of the mountain highlights of our entire tour for me!! The wind was

howling around the top of the Torres and the clouds just seemed to dance around them!! At the bottom there was a slate grey lake into which a glacier flows. The afternoon sun was shining onto the surrounding mountains, and reflecting a pinkish glow from the snow and ice. The Torres themselves were just magnificent. Although not as pretty as the mountains around El Chalten, what they lacked in charm they made up for in sheer size and presence!! I literally could have sat there for hours just gazing at the wondrous sight in front of me, but the howling wind and Patagonian temperatures said otherwise. Poor Hel feels the cold much more than I do and by this point she was literally shivering, even with all of her possible warm clothes on!! The walk back down was just as much of a killer as the walk up there, and we were glad to arrive back at the campsite for a hot meal of soup and filled cheese pasta!!