Trek · Sample expedition
Five trekking days through the best mountain scenery in the Americas — glaciers, granite towers, and wind you'll tell stories about.
Duration
9 days
From
$3,900 pp
+ air, double occupancy
Season
Nov–Mar
Trail days
5 days
11–19 km/day + optional side trips
Nights
Refugios
Daypack only
This is a starting point, not a package. Every Cannon trip is rebuilt around you — your dates, your legs, your budget. The numbers here are from itineraries we've actually priced.
The W is the most famous trek in South America for a reason: in five days you walk beneath a calving glacier, up a valley ringed by granite walls, and finally to the base of the towers themselves, ideally at sunrise when they go orange. "Properly paced" is our contribution — west to east so the biggest day comes last on trained legs, refugio beds booked the day they open, and a buffer day placed where Patagonian wind actually cancels plans.
Why Level 3: five consecutive trekking days of 11–19 km (side trips extra), with the towers day climbing about 900 meters — much of it on moraine. You carry only a daypack; the weather carries everything else.
Day by day
South, then further south. Fly to Santiago, connect to Puerto Natales. Gear check, trekking-pole rentals if needed, and the best lamb in Chilean Patagonia.
Into the park → Grey Glacier. Bus in, catamaran across Lago Pehoé, then 11 km up the shore of Lago Grey to the glacier lookouts and the night's refugio. First lesson in leaning into the wind.
Grey, from the other direction. The 11 km back to Paine Grande — same trail, opposite light, and the icebergs you missed yesterday. A deliberately gentler day between two big ones.
The Francés Valley. The middle stroke of the W: up into an amphitheater of granite and hanging glaciers — to the Británico lookout if legs and weather allow — then on to the refugio under Los Cuernos. 13 km, up to ~23 with the full side trip.
Along the lake to Central. A gentler 13 km under the horns of the massif, turquoise water on your right the whole way. Legs recover; camera does not.
The towers. The big one: ~19 km round trip and ~900 m of gain, the last hour on boulders, timed to reach the lookout for the morning light. This is the photo, and it's better in person.
Buffer day — by design. If wind closed the towers trail, today is the retry. If not: a horseback estancia day, or the puma-watching excursion with a local tracker.
Out and home. Puerto Natales, a real shower, the flight north, and the slow realization that your screensaver is now a place you've stood.
Included
Not included ($)
Honest notes
Add the full O Circuit, a Fitz Roy extension across the border, or swap refugios for the park's fancier lodges. Tell us your longest day on foot and your dates.
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