Help with Patagonia Trip Gear - Dec/Jan

Brian BPL Member

PostedOct 5, 2012 at 12:54 pm

I am going to Patagonia over Chirstmas and New Years. We will be doing the Torres del Paine circuit (7-8 days) and the Fitzroy hikes. This is the first time we would be camping in conditions with potential 60 mph winds, very rainy nights and possibly snow as we usually only backpack in pleasant conditions in the summer. Could anyone recommend a lightweight tent that could stand up to such wind conditions (I've read that tents regularly fail on the hike)? Right now I just have a tarptent but I feel that would be ripped to shreds.

Also, I may have to get a new backpack since the new tent would be significantly bigger than a tarptent. So could you also suggest a reasonable comfortable backpack (no need for other bells and whistles though) for a 7 day hike given the pack size of the tent you suggest?

Last, I only have a 40 degree bag so if you could also suggest a good bag for conditions where it averages 43 at night but taking into account the 60 mph winds?

Sorry for all the questions but the wind factor is new to me, so I'm completely inexperienced as to the tent/bag/sleeping bag combination would make sense for an 7-8 day hike.

Jennifer Mitol

PostedOct 5, 2012 at 2:47 pm

We completely lucked out and had the best weather imaginable. I used a big Agnes fly creek UL 2 for myself and it was more than adequate. We did have a few nights of some pretty impressive winds and it held up just fine, and a few days with some impressive sleet/wind combos for hiking, but all i had were some REI rainpants and a Marmot Precip and was toasty and quite comfy. There are tons of Trekkers who rent their gear from the shops in PN and that gear is pretty crappy…and those guys do just fine. Although we did watch a tent or two fly away cause they didn't know how to actually stake it down.

I also carried my 15 deg BA down bag…it was just fine as well. Maybe even a bit overkill.

Don't bother with a rain cover for your pack…it will just get blown away. That's where the garbage bag inside the pack comes in handy.

I have a trip report on my nascent and unorganized blog (backpackerPT.com). We did the whole Torres circuit and it was simply amazing. PM me if you want some other information…I love to talk about it.

Have a great trip and don't sweat so much about gear. Whatever you'll bring will be way better than most of your trail mates…and just bring lots and lots of stakes and guy lines.

Cheers,
Jen.

Jennifer Mitol

PostedOct 5, 2012 at 3:24 pm

Most of the actual backpackers on the hike (by far the majority of the Trekkers were VERY inexperienced and very laden kids) had just regular 3-season tents (I didn't see any tarps, but in hindsight I would have taken my hexamid). You will camp in very established campgrounds with a lot of shelter…especially if you're only doing the W. The circuit only has 1-2 kind of exposed campgrounds…the first and the second. Campsite 1 Camp 5 Campamento Italiano Campamento Chileno