Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park, tucked into wild and icy Patagonia, hosts around 250,000 to 300,000 visitors each year. Thousands of them are trekkers, aiming to complete the park’s iconic routes. But on 17 November, a sudden, violent blizzard struck the remote O Circuit trail, killing five trekkers and leaving dozens stranded in whiteout conditions for hours.
Though caused by unfortunate weather conditions, the tragedy has shed light on the state of Patagonia’s parks and the problems with their safety measures, an issue that has been widely criticised in recent years.
