Читать книгу Torres del Paine. Chile's Premier National Park and Argentina's Los Glaciares National Park онлайн

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Climbing expeditions to Torres del Paine began in earnest in the late 1950s, following on the heels of several expeditions to the Fitzroy area of Los Glaciares national park in Argentina a few years earlier. These included Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone on Fitzroy in 1952; Walter Bonatti on the western side of Cerro Torre and the Adele Cordón, and on Cerro Mariano Moreno, in 1958–59; and Cesare Maestri’s much disputed climb on Cerro Torre in 1959. Torres del Paine’s North Tower (Torre Norte) was first climbed by Guido Monzino in 1957–58; the Central Tower (Torre Central) by Chris Bonington and Don Whillans in 1963; and the South Tower (Torre Sur) by Armando Aste, also in 1963. Fortaleza, at the head of the Valle Francés, was climbed by a British team in 1968.

Getting to Chile

The most direct route is to fly to Santiago (17hrs from the UK, 11hrs from New York, 13hrs from Los Angeles, 16hrs from Sydney, 12hrs from Auckland), and from there to Punta Arenas (3hrs 30mins), from where it’s a 3hr bus trip to Puerto Natales, the ‘gateway’ town for the Torres del Paine national park. Chile’s national carrier, LAN (www.lan.com), tends to offer the best fares, and (at least in my experience) in-flight comfort and entertainment aboard LAN is way ahead of the main competitor on this route, Iberia (www.iberia.com).