National Geographic Traveller UK 10.2019

100 Miles

ALERCE ANDINO

HORNOPIRÉN

PUMALIN

CORCOVADO

MELIMOYU

QUEULAT

ISLA MAGDALENA

CERRO CASTILLO

PATAGONIA

LAGUNA SAN RAFAEL

BERNARDO O’HIGGINS

TORRES DEL PAINE

PALI–AIKE

ALACALUFES

ALBERTO DE AGOSTINI

YENDEGAIA

CABO DE HORNOS

Puerto

Montt

Chaitén

Puerto

Williams

Puerto Natales

Route

National park

Punta Arenas

Coyhaique

ARGENTINA

CHILE

CHILE

ATLANTIC OCEAN

PACIFIC OCEAN

Getting there & around

British Airways lies nonstop from Heathrow to

Santiago. LATAM lies daily from Santiago to Puerto

Montt. ba.com latam.com

Average light time: 14h30m.

Car hire is essential to see the Route of Parks as public

transport is limited and unreliable. A 4x4 and a good

paper map are highly recommended. Puerto Montt

airport has rental ofices.

When to go

Patagonia is a vast region, so the climate varies

considerably. Broadly speaking, the northern zone is

semi-arid, with an annual average temperature of

12-20C. The southern zone has a cold, dry climate,

averaging 4-13C throughout the year.

More info

chile.travel

rutadelosparques.org

How to do it

PURA AVENTURA’S 21-day Route of the Parks

Uncovered trip costs from £5,987 per person,

including internal lights, accommodation, 4x4 hire,

guided excursions and some meals. Excludes

international lights. pura-aventura.com

ESSENTIALS

hit by icebergs is the price you pay for coming to this
remote wilderness.
But nothing compared to the drama of Jorge Montt
itself. On our last day, we boarded a small, open-sided
rigid inlatable boat that had been towed behind the
main vessel, weaving through a bay of icebergs until we
came to a rocky peninsula. We moored and scrambled
on all fours to a viewpoint above the ice; Jorge Montt
sparkling in the sun like glitter. Noel turned to me with a
look of surprise, explaining he’s never climbed this peak
despite a lifetime exploring these waters.
That’s why you make the journey to this far-lung
spot. Doug Tompkins called national parks “the gold
standard of conservation... preserving the masterpieces
of a nation for all of its citizenry”. But as I stood on the
edge of that great iceield, surrounded by some of the
last unexplored corners of the globe, I realised that
the Route of Parks is something more than that too. In
Europe and America, national parks are cultivated for
human recreation. That’s not entirely the case here. The
vast majority of terrain the Route crosses has never been
explored, there are countless unclimbed peaks, endless
miles of unchartered terrain. There’s something right
about that. In this ordered world of progress and industry
and cement and steel, there should be places that remain
untouched. There should be places where nature is still
king. That’s the solitude that moved Darwin. That’s the
lag in the ground. IMAGE: AARON MILLAR. ILLUSTRATION: JOHN PLUMER

Jorge Montt Glacier

110 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel

CHILE