After we had spent the night in our campervan in the heart of the Torres del Paine National Park in Pudeto, we enjoyed a good breakfast with some coffee to get ready for a day full of hiking. In order to arrive at the starting point, you gotta take a catamaran from Pudeto to the other side of Lago Pehoe (check out the timetable HERE). The hike starts at the Refugio Paine Grande and leads you about 10.5 km (6.5 miles) along the Torres del Paine massive to the Refugio Grey, where you get to enjoy a great view on the Grey Glacier with the icebergs floating in the Lago Grey.
Since the last catamaran back to Pudeto left at 6.30pm we didn’t lose any time and started Walking right away. The path takes you through some wonderful landscapes and spectacular view points. You hike through the woods, climb over rocks and walk over lush green grass. We did not take too many breaks as we always kept our return time in mind. So we arrived pretty hungry at the Refugio Grey after around four hours. We really enjoyed the snacks we had brought, overlooking the glacier and the icebergs in the bay.
The return was quite tough, as we had already walked over 10 km (more than 6 miles) and had to go the same track back to the catamaran pier (with over 250m / 800ft of altitude to cover). But fortunately it’s not about the altitude – it’s about the attitude and so, we made it back early, which gave an hour to enjoy a tasteful ice-cold Pisco Sour – THE national drink in Chile … tired but happy!
Our advice: in case you are not in physical condition you should not try to do the full round trip. The hike is quite demanding so we recommend only hiking till the viewing point that you reach after about 6 km (4 miles). From there, you already get a great view on the glacier and you will not face any problem to return to the catamaran on time.
