Refugio Grey to Refugio Paine Grande, The O Circuit, Torres del Paine National Park - November 2012

Our morning was spent relaxing around Refugio Grey and taking this short walk up to a lookout below Glacier Grey.

With a relatively easy day today ahead of us we enjoyed a late breakfast in the refuge this morning. After brekky we all got together for a short walk to another lookout over Glacier Grey. It was nice to take an easy stroll this morning and loosen up my leg muscles a bit as I could feel the effects of yesterday's effort. The lookout looked back towards the south-eastern face of the glacier, the glacier here is split in two by a large rocky outcrop called a Nunatak. We had been blessed with the weather again today so we lingered at the lookout for awhile soaking up both the view and the sun.

We got lucky with the weather again today.

Returning to camp we sorted out any gear that the porters were carrying and then headed to the refuge for lunch. The porters are obviously represented by a good union as we had to weigh all the gear we were giving them and it was all carefully divied up. A couple of times I opened my dry bag that the porters had carried to find some one of the ladies that I was walking with, gear inserted into it. I presume the porters re-distributed the gear to even out the load. Interestingly I was only giving them a couple of kilograms to carry (we were allowed to give them 7 kg) which I'd always have in a cinched down waterproof compression sack however every time my gear came back the compression sack was undone to maximum loft - my theory here was that the porters were keen for their packs to look as bulky as possible as it seemed to impress the ladies... it's just a theory though! Lunch was another relaxed affair in the beautiful refuge. After finishing lunch we reassembled on the deck before heading off on our afternoon walk down to Refuge Paine Grande, Fred and Petra using the opportunity to catch a bit of sun on the deck while we waited.

After lunch at Refugio Grey we regrouped on the deck before our afternoons walk down to Refugio Paine Grande.

It was early afternoon when we eventually set off towards Refuge Paine Grande. We were now walking the 'W', the 'W' is a condensed version of the trek we were doing and it is one of the most popular treks in the world. From now on we would be sharing the trail with many other trekkers from all over the world and from now on the standard of the trail and infrastructure also improved a lot. The trail this afternoon headed south along Lago Grey, slowly gaining height as we headed south. Around 30 minutes after leaving Refugio Grey we had a beautiful Salta Olguin up to our left, we then followed above the gorge of the Rio Olguin for awhile before crossing it on a half collapsed bridge.

Salta Olguin

Looking up Lago Grey towards Glacier Grey.

The trail continued to climb, generally pretty gently however occasionally via switch backs and before long we were way above Lago Grey. Unfortunately a large section of the park was burnt out by careless trekkers a couple of years ago and we would spend most of the day walking through the scared landscape. After passing the small Laguna Los Patos we started to descend into a long valley, in the distance the amazing turquoise coloured Lago Pehoé had also come into view. Dropping gently down the valley the huge Refugio Paine Grande also come into view on the shore of Lake Pehoé.

The track stayed relatively close to Lago Grey as we headed south.

Lago Grey

We passed a few nice sized tarns today.

There was a little bit of wildlife around.

We all regrouped at the back entrance of the refuge, some of the group decided to pay for the luxury of a roof over their heads for the night while others of us settled for the dubious comforts of a tent. So once again after organizing my tent and having a hot shower it was off to the bar for afternoon drinks (seems to be a pattern developing here). The view of Paine Grande from the bar was impressive as the sun lowered in the west it lit up the huge rocky spires making them even more impressive.

Once again there were a few opportunities to fill our water bottles this afternoon.

We passed by this reasonably sized lake on our right as we dropped down towards Refugio Paine Grande.

We were dropping down towards Lake Pehoé (in the distance).

Dinner was in the cafe in the refuge, yes I was getting used to the privations of trekking the W, hot meals, alcohol, hot showers, flushing toilets. It was tough, but we battled on! After dinner we again retreated to the bar, toasting each other well into the night (Salud!). Once again it was fairly late by the time I crawled into my cold tent, my mate Fred got the hardcore award though because instead of going to bed he stayed up to get some long exposure shots of Paine Grande under the stars.

This area of Torres del Paine National Park was severely burnt in a bushfire a few years earlier.

Paine Grande from Refuge Paine Grande.

The Dirt.

We walked around 12 kilometres today and climbed around 150 metres on what was a fairly easy day. Over the 5 days of my Torres del Paine adventure I've walked around 73.5 and climbed about 2650 metres. The track today was a very easy path to walk, there were no real steep climbs and all the water courses are bridged. Refugio Paine Grande was a massive (well relatively) complex. Apart from a café and seperate bar there was also marble (well it may have been fake) benches in the bathrooms along with flushing toilets and hot showers. I used the notes and basic map out of Cicerones Torres Del Paine - Trekking In Chile's Premier National Park.

Relevant Posts.

Day 4 of this walk, 2012.

The substantial Refugio Paine Grande.

My nights accomodation might have lacked a few creature comforts however the view somewhat made up for that!