torres del paine for newbies

Hey there tornthree forum.

Me and my girlfriend, both 26, will try and hike/trek the w route, wherefore i have the foll concerns/questions:

We will arrive punta arenas/puerto natales saturday 14th feb with plane from puerto montt, i understand we should then catch the info meeting at the erratic rock, gear up as we need to rent everything required for the hike (tents etc as we have no bookings whatsoever in the park) and stay overnight to get into the park sunday 15th feb in the morning.

The thing is we have to catch a flight to santiago on either thursday 19th feb pm or friday 20th feb am, is it possible to do the w with only 3 or 4 night stays at the park?
Is it still possible to get campspace around the refugios as we wont be carrying any foods around?
Is it possible to get travel sorted to/from the park on the spot, and same question for punta arenas/puerto natales connection?
Which camps should we get to day by day, and what should our entry/exit point of the park be?

Is there any more questions i definitely need to ask? :)

We are NOT experienced hikers, but both well fit, doing other sports/running etc 4ish times a week - is the w in such short time too big of a mouthful?

I have of course read the forums and found alot of answers to my other questions, but in order to speed up things before we get there i felt the need of posting myself.

Best regards
Anders

Is it possible to do the w with only 3 or 4 night stays at the park?

Yeah. I did the W in 3 nights/4 days. We did the following (we had to as my friends also had a flight back and one flight cancelled on the way to Arenas):
Day 1) Boat to Paine Grande and set up camp. hike to Glacier Grey and back by dinner at Grande.
Day 2) Hike to Italiano Camp. Dump bags and visit French Valley. Then continue on from Italiano to Cuernos. Over night in Cuernos.
Day 3) Hike around to Campamento Torres.
Day 4) Sunrise at the Torres. And back down to Hosteria Las torres. Bus to Laguna Amarga. And then to Puerto Natales.

Is it still possible to get campspace around the refugios as we wont be carrying any foods around?

Yup. They seem to cram them in. Carry food if you can. Food in the park is expensive.

Is it possible to get travel sorted to/from the park on the spot, and same question for punta arenas/puerto natales connection?

Easy to organise in Puerto Natales. Do so with your Hostel as they will come pick you up from there.

trent84 youre the man, your input is much appreciated.

ive been comparing with this map (think it was even u linking to it):
http://www.torresdelpaine.com/img/secciones/02/a/iconos/TDP.pdf

when u say the boat, is that the one crossing lago grey or lago pehoé? furthermore cant find the camp paine grande, but in that area only seeing campamento paso, guardas (which i think is freecamping?) and then refugio camp grey/pehoé - which one shud we aim for ?

the rest of the hike i get, thanks for that - how much time on our feet wud u expect per day?

best regards, Anders

Yeah, when I say the boat I mean the Catamaran that leaves Pudeto to Paine Grande. Your bus from Puerto Natales will stop at Laguna Amarga, then continue to Pudeto. The boat leaves at 12 or 12:30 (from memory). So the one across Lago Pehoe.

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