On day 5 of my W Circuit trek in Torres del Paine National Park I got up really close to the glacier on Lago Grey and for me it was one of the most spectacular experiences you can find in the park.
At 1pm we got into a small dinghy at refugio Grey and sailed upto the boat, where we boarded the ferry. The ferry had been booked in advance as part of our guided trip. The boat can carry about 50 people maximum so during peak season, it’s important to book in advance. The ferry journey costs around £80 per person, which although may sound steep, it gets you from the end of the W Circuit across the lake to a lovely sandy beach and then you have quite a long but enjoyable walk (in my opinion) to the exit of the park. Your ticket also includes a glass of whiskey or pisco sour with glacial ice whilst you’re out on the top deck.
The wind and rain can be pretty chilly on the top deck but I stayed on it for at least 20 minutes to make the most of being so close to the glacier and also to get some great shots of the blue-tinged ice before we moved away. After this I went back onto the lower deck and promptly fell asleep for the remainder of the journey, I was shattered!
Once the boat lands at the lake’s edge, you hand back your your life jacket and hop onto a precarious-looking jetty and look back for amazing views over the lake, with the Paine Grande moutain in the background. I was particularly lucky to have done the trip on a warm and sunny day in peak season, when the views were great and there wasn’t any mist.
You can see a couple of trips that include the boat trip on Lago Grey here:
W Trek Torres del Paine and 4 Day W Trek
I would recommend doing this boat journey for many reasons. Firstly, it’s a fantastic way to reward yourself and finish your trip after spending 5 or 10 days hiking round the park. It enables you to see glacier Grey up close, you feel as if you could reach out and touch it… The park exit where you arrive is not accessible by public buses which means you have to get a private transfer back to Puerto Natales via a far shorter route.
A private transfer is also a far more comfortable way of travelling which enables you stop off at the fantastic viewpoints on the way back to Puerto Natales (stopping isn’t possible with the public bus). Even though the journey time from Grey to the exit is three hours, (this includes 1.5 hours circling the glacier), you still arrive in good time back in Puerto Natales, around 5pm whereas you might be waiting for the public bus for a while and it stops off in Cerro Castillo before Puerto Natales.
Did you know?
Did you know that Lago Grey is named after the grey colour of its glacial water where no plants or animals live due to a lack of sediments?
Did you know that only 1/3 of the glacier is visible from the park? The other 2/3 goes back for miles onto the southern ice cap.
Did you know that the glacier is a blue colour due to the fact that the ice absorps the red light but transmits and scatters the blue light through the ice?
You may have heard that it’s possible to do ice hikes on Glaciar Grey, well it was up until 2010, but the CONAF withdrew its license. Although it’s thought that another company will take over ice hiking there for the 2011/2012 season, so watch this space.