trekking guide book - Torres del Paine - Chile - South America

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Reviews
• Further Reading

The map ‘CONAF Parque Nacional Torres del Paine’, given free when you pay your park entry fee at Laguna Amarga or the administration office (CONAF Administración) by Lago Toro, is perfectly adequate for trekking in the national park (and is the recommended map for routes in this guide within the park). There is no scale, annoyingly (though it works out at roughly 1:130,000), but it has almost as much detail as any of the slightly larger maps listed below (including 250m contour lines), and has the advantage of being smaller and lighter. The fact that it is produced by CONAF should also mean that it’s the most accurate available – though this is not always entirely so. It is worth pointing out that this is not necessarily the map you’ll see, enlarged, at the reception desk of some huts.

Also widely available is ‘Torres del Paine Trekking Map’ (Mapas sheet 13, 1:100,000, 25m contour lines), which covers a larger area than the CONAF map, from the Balmaceda glacier and the head of Seno Ultima Esperanza in the south to Lago Dickson in the north. This is on balance the best map commercially available, and if you feel the need to buy a larger and slightly more detailed map than the free CONAF one, this is the one to go for. Another ‘Torres del Paine Trekking Map’ (Zagier & Urruty, 1:80,000) is simply a larger and bulkier version – in this case, a satellite view with some contour lines. A useful map for planning other excursions in the area is ‘Puerto Natales Calafate’ (Mapas sheet 21, 1:500,000), which includes the whole area from Puerto Natales to El Calafate. The Mapas sheets have various bits of fairly useful information on the back. None of these maps (including the CONAF one) is without its inaccuracies, however – including non-existent hosterías and campsites, and questionable hiking trails.
Chile is also covered by a series of military maps (IGM).

Good map shops in the UK include The Map Shop (15 High Street, Upton Upon Severn; 01684 593 146; www.themapshop.co.uk) and Stanfords (12–14 Long Acre, London; 020 7836 1321; www.stanfords.co.uk).