March 10, 2017
The magnitude takes your breath away. The photos don’t do it justice! Covering more than 180,000 hectares, snow covered mountain peaks, glaciers, beautiful lakes and valleys makes for stunning scenery. You will also experience the madness of the Patagonian weather. The first day was sunny and 80km winds that would blow you over, followed by a perfect mild, sunny wind free, only to be greeted by fog, wind and rain the following two days. The guides will tell you to not trust the weather forecast and expect all four seasons in one day. They are correct!
There are three main way that people people tackle the pack: base camp with day hikes, the W trek (5 days), or the O trek (10 days). I opted for a base camp with day hike to the towers and French Valley. That said, I want to go back and to the full 10-day hike. Camping at Salto Grande on Pehoe Lake, there are views of Paine Grande Hill and Cuernos del Paine.
The towers hike is a full day hike taking about 8 hours. The trial slowly winds upward becoming steeper as you near the top. The coolest thing about this hike is you can’t see the towers at all until you crest the summit. Then your breadth will be taken away. The scale of the towers shooting into the sky can’t be captured in a photo. Find a place to sit, have some lunch and sold it all in.
The French Valley hike is another full day hike that starts on Pehoe Lake. To start, cough up $50 for the boat transfer to get you to the start/finish (expect to pay double what you should for everything in Patagonia). The beginning of the hike is a rolling up and down with views of the lake below. Then you walk through the burned forest and the white trees give it an eerie feeling especially with the rainy weather. Hike up to Britanico for views of the valley and glacier.
To see Grey Glacier, take the boat trip from Lago Grey Hotel for $110. The boat trip takes about 3 ours and brings you relatively close to the glacier. For the price, I wish they had spent more time allowing us to enjoy it versus rushing by it. Personally, I thought the Perito Moreno Glacier was more impressive. Stop in Lago Grey Hotel for a drink after and enjoy the beautiful views of the lake (or splurge and get a room).
