Hikers say authorities should have closed popular trail due to horrendous weather conditions, and camp staff offered minimal assistance
About 100 metres below the most challenging summit in a remote nature reserve in Chilean Patagonia, Australian woman Emily Dong was among a group of hikers who thought they were going to die.
Less than a day later, five hikers would be confirmed dead in the Torres del Paine national park after winds hit 190km/h and temperatures plummeted to –5C. Taking into account wind chill, it felt like –20C.
Dong, a keen hiker from Sydney, remembers crawling across an ice sheet on all fours, the wind howling around her. She was unable to put on her spikes because of the freezing conditions.
The 24-year-old had walking poles, but every step she took the wind “battered you from left to right”, forcing her on to her knees, she says.
