Torres del Paine, Chile

[Peter Bakwin]

Paine Circuit plus the "W", Jason Schlarb, 16h20m, January 21, 2014.

The super-classic, 100+ km Paine Circuit is the premier backpacking route in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. It traverses some of the most spectacular scenery on Earth. The much shorter "W" is probably done more often as it covers much of the most best scenery of the Circuit plus allows close up views of the amazing towers & spires for which the Park is justly famous.

Buzz Burrell and Peter Bakwin ran Circuit in 15h39m on February 16, 2005. They started at Refugio Los Cuernos and ran the route clockwise, but did not complete the "W". There are more photos and info about Burrell & Bakwin's 2005 Patagonia trip here.

American adventure racer Andy Tubbs completed both the Circuit and the "W" in "18.5h" on February 28, 2007. This article reports the feat. Tubbs started at Refugio Las Torres and ran counter-clockwise in terrible weather conditions.

On February 27, 2012, North Face athlete Rodrigo "Canuto" Errazuriz went after Tubbs' record on the Circuit and "W". Like Tubbs, Errazuriz ran counter-clockwise starting at Las Torres. The North Face produced a video of the run. He completed the route in 17h37m. Errazuriz started his run at 4:00AM and first did the out & back section of the "W" to the Mirador Los Torres, arriving back at the Refugio at 6:18AM. He then completed the Circuit, plus the out & back up the Rio Frances, in 15h19m, beating Burrell and Bakwin's time for the Circuit alone. Clearly, a much faster time for the Circuit is possible (it appears to have taken Errazuriz nearly 3 hours to complete the out & back up Rio Frances). Errazuriz's time for the Circuit + "W" was 17h37m, also bettering Tubbs' time.

Jason Schlarb completed the Circuit and the "W" in 16h20m on January 21, 2014, as part of a 2 week running adventure and film project with Joel Wolpert. Schlarb started at 4:00am and went counter clockwise. He reported the following splits:
-Lago Torres (end of Valle Ascencio) 4.52 miles, 1:12
-Back down to start and finish/trail junction, 9.05 miles, 2:12
-Camp Seron, 19.54 miles, 3:46
-Refugio Dickson, 30.88 miles, 5:39
-Pass, 40.84 miles, 8:09
-End of French Valley 62.39 miles, 13:16
-Finish, 75.60 miles / 121.67 km, 16:20



Buzz Burrell above Glacier Grey on the Paine Circuit

[Pat Thurber]

Hey Peter. I moved to Chile a month or so ago to run and work. In October, I'll run the North Face's 80K in Santiago, which I'm sure will be fun.

What I've really been interested in is the Paine Circuit. Is the link below approximately the route that you guys ran back in '05?

www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=126523

I'd like to know because if i'm going to go run down there later this (Chilean) summer, I may as well go for the FKT!

Run on,
Pat.

[Peter Bakwin]

As best I can tell the loop part of that track is what we did. The out & back segments ascend the valleys & make up the "W".

[Patrick T]

Ah, thanks! i'll make a call on how to run it once i'm at those out and back sections. hopefully i'll have my magic satellite watch and can post my exact route.

Gracias por la rápida respuesta,

-Pat.

[Schlarb]

Ran the O and W January 21st in 16:20. Basic report here:http://www.jasonschlarb.com/?p=977
Video by Joel Wolpert and Trail Runner Magazine article in the works.

[migue]

I wanted to see the video but the link was broken, I've found the new link: Record Torres del Paine por Rodrigo "Canuto" Errazuriz

[John TIdd]

Hi Peter, any idea if the current record for Torres del Paine is supported, self supported or unsupported? Thanks!

[Peter Bakwin]

Jan 20, 2015 18:40:07 GMT -5 John TIdd said:

Hi Peter, any idea if the current record for Torres del Paine is supported, self supported or unsupported? Thanks!

No I don't know. But I don't see that it would make much difference on a route that short.

[Matt Maynard]

James Donald and I (both from the UK) had an excellent run in perfect weather last Wednesday at Torres del Paine around the "O" loop.

We started at 2:06am from Camping Torres running anticlockwise around the massif under a full moon. At 3am we came across the remains of a horse on the trail who had been stripped to the bone by a puma. We were at Camping Perros at 8:45am - 1:15 before the 10:00am cut-off imposed by the park for crossing the 1140m pass near Glacier Grey.

A little more info here at my site and a link to James' Strava data for the run.

We ran the route fully self sufficiently in a time of 17:28minutes.

Thanks to Jason Schlarb for the info. he shared with us about running in the park. Thanks to the previous FKT record holders for sharing so much useful info and to Peter Bakwin for giving a home to so much of it on this site.

I live in Santiago Chile and have run in many of the Patagonian and Chilean ultras. I will be happy to share info. regarding future runs.

[sunny]

I am currently in Puerto Natales and was hoping to post a women's time for the O Circuit. Given increased park regulations since the 2016-2017 season (and my own recent permit near-SNAFU while setting a women's FKT on Aconcagua's 360 route) I decided to request official authorization from the park rather than attempt to fly under the radar. The current park regulations relevant for distance runners are:

1) trail closure times at each camp, to prevent hikers from being benighted
2) a morning cut-off time for Paso John Gardner, and the rule that solo hikers may not cross the pass - must be in a party of two or more
3) the mandate that the backside of the O circuit must be completed in counter-clockwise direction (clockwise makes for nicer running!)

As a sponsored athlete I wanted to ensure to be compliant with park regulations, and asked for permission from CONAF. Sadly, I was denied permission for reasons beyond my comprehension - the ones the park administration quoted in their letter to me certainly did not seem like big issues. For anybody hoping to run this loop in the future, please note that you should request permission with plenty of lead time (at least one week, if not more) from Elisabeth Munoz, Regional Director of CONAF in Punta Arenas, who can be reached at [e-mail]. I am attaching the letter I received from CONAF below, in case it's helpful for future FKT candidates. [Note: I had originally received permission to run the W instead of the O, but then that permission was rescinded at the last minute as well.]


"Estimada Suzanne:

Junto con saludarle y respecto a su solicitud presentada para correr en el Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, informo que esta mañana se ha vuelto a analizar la situación, junto a otros funcionarios de la Corporación y se ha decidido no autorizar tu solicitud por el circuito Macizo Paine, ni por el circuito W, anteriormente propuesto.

La principal razón dice relación a que los sectores de Montaña del PNTP, en temporada estival (Octubre - Abril), se encuentran con alta demanda de visitantes por lo que su actividad no será compatible con la calidad de la experiencia que ellos buscan. Asimismo es necesario agregar que los guardaparques deberán estar atentos a su presencia por los sectores, procurando que no existan choques o impactos hacia los visitantes por la velocidad de desplazamiento (el sendero W es solo para trekking), lo que los distraerá de otras acciones de seguridad y además acrecienta el riesgo de accidente de los demás visitantes.

Por lo anterior, es que estaríamos dispuestos a analizar su propuesta, dada la especialidad de corredora de montaña, en otra oportunidad; donde se deberá presentar esta solicitud con la debida antelación, para ser realizada en temporada de baja afluencia de visitantes en montaña (mayo -agosto), acreditar su especialidad deportiva, junto a las demás condiciones expuestas por la Srta Ximena Alvarez en su respuesta anterior."

[andrea]

Four chilean women, Daniela Navarrete, Veronica Lobos, Valeria Collio and Andrea Lopez did the "O" circuit (without the "W" sections) counter-clockwise in 26 hrs 59 min, starting on March 9th, 2018 at 11:50 pm, and finishing on March 11th, 2018 at 2:49 am. We made it to the 10:00 am cut-off time of Camping Perros with only 3 minutes to spare. Weather conditions were pretty bad, with rain, snow, and very muddy sections. This was unsupported except for a can of Coke and Pringles we bought at Refugio Grey.

We had some issues with tracking, but these two combined show the correct start and finish time:


www.strava.com/activities/1448073338
www.strava.com/activities/1448034255

And this one shows the complete circuit in one track, but was stopped later:


www.strava.com/activities/1448030928