(Sarah writes) Another day, another breakfast of yogurt and cornflakes with a hot cup of tea before hitting the trail. Today we faced a relatively short hike - 11 kilometres - up to Refugio Grey and then a bit past for a closer look at the Glacier Grey, at the tip of the western arm of the W.
We were lucky to have a fantastic, mostly clear day. The wind, however, was still blowing like crazy, making the first leg of our journey up a canyon the equivalent of staggering through a wind tunnel. At least the nice weather meant my pack cover was stowed and not adding to the drag!
About 45 minutes into the hike we reached our first viewpoint over the little Laguna Los Patos. The whitecaps show the wind had not really abated by then. It would later, though, and when it did the day was incredibly warm and sunny.
And just a few minutes past Laguna Los Patos, our first views of Lago Grey - a big grey lake with blue icebergs floating in it, ringed by more fantastic, snow covered peaks. Amazing!
Glacier Grey sits at the head of the lake, and that's where we were headed. You don't have to wait for great views of the glacier, though. Those started about halfway into the day.
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| Glacier Grey |
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| Chad and glaciers |
I may look jaunty in the photo below, but I have actually dug my poles in so that the wind doesn't blow me down the slope while Chad takes this picture!
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| The trail had an occasional steep drop-off |
After about four hours we arrived at Refugio Grey - our home for the evening and our last bed on the trail. This new refugio opened in September/October this year (after the original burned down in the forest fire last year when it was barely a month or two old). It's not as big as Refugio Grand Paine but is even nicer.
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| The view from the balcony, with Tibetan flags fluttering in the breeze. |
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| One of the many weird blob-looking clouds we saw in this part of the world. |
Instead of heading immediately to the glacier after unloading our packs, we spent a lazy hour or two soaking up some rays with Roz and Oliver.
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| Yes, this rocks |
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| The dining room, where we would eat our first hot meal in days! |
The viewpoint (mirador) for the glacier is only about a fifteen minute walk up from the lodge. We were rewarded with closer views of the glacier itself, but also a bay in the lake filled with blue icebergs!
But this wasn't enough for us. We scrambled up and over huge glacier scraped rocks to get down to the edge of the lake.
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| The album cover for our Patagonian rock band. |
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| Not lunch - not sure what kind of berries these are, but they were in full bloom. |
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| Roz and Sarah about to descend |
Life at the edge of the lake was very, very good. The day was warm and sunny, the wind had mostly died down, and we got to play with icebergs! We spent a few hours there, remarking regularly how lucky we were and what an amazing afternoon it was.
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| My first iceberg! |
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| Oliver and Roz hold a brief photo shoot |
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| Crystal clear |
It was definitely one of the best afternoons of our trip so far. We headed back to the refugio for lukewarm showers (for the girls - for some reason the guys got all the hot water) and a beer before dinner.
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| Hey, we just hiked past those mountains yesterday! |
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| Roz, Oliver, Chad and Sarah |
That night we ate our only refugio meal of the trek, and it was not really that good - particularly not for $21 USD each. The veggie option was spinach quiche while Chad got some kind of wooden meat, both served with what could have been mashed potatoes or rice, but is probably best (and generously) described as instant risotto. However, it was nice to eat with our friends, to have a meal cooked by someone else, and most importantly not to be having cheese sandwiches for dinner for the fourth day in a row!
Another great day on the W, and only 11 more kilometres back to Grand Paine Lodge the next day standing between us and successful completion.
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