Torres del Paine W Trek - Day Two

I was really worried about the weather being a problem but we had no rain and very little wind the night before. We woke up to clear skies and the mountains were all visible.

We decided to try breakfast in the refugio and it was a pretty standard American breakfast with eggs, toast, meat/cheese, oatmeal, and coffee. We set off for Grey Glacier around 9:30 AM. The hike was mostly uphill until we came to an incredible panoramic view of Grey Lake. We continued on the trail which was partially rocky/burned trees and forest until we got to the first Grey Glacier overlook. It was incredible – the glacier stretches as far as you can see and the lake is filled with small icebergs that have fractured off. The ice itself is split apart in massive chunks with smaller systems of glaciers feeding into it.

After about 7 miles we arrived at Refugio Grey where we had a lunch from the store since refugio lunch was over. We found cheese, crackers, dried fruit, pringles, and “kuky’s” chocolate chip cookies! We setup camp and took a day hike towards the glacier. We first headed down towards the ranger station and stopped at a kayak/trekking service called Bigfoot where we decided to book spots on a Grey Glacier hike for the next morning!

We also hiked up to a glacier viewing point nearby. We were able to get down to the water and pick up iceberg pieces! We hiked back to the main trail and headed north until we were parallel with the glacier face. On the way we crossed a terrifying suspension bridge with incredible views of the glacier. I can’t imagine how that thing would be in the wind!

After the day hike we tried out the Grey Refugio bar and had dinner, which was actually a sit-down meal with multiple courses – more asparagus soup, bread, chicken, potatoes, and a desert tart. We finished the night with a beer on the refugio porch enjoying a view of the mountains.