Los Perros to Campamento Grey

Trekking Day 5: Today was the big day, the John Gardner Pass. On paper the mountain pass was a bit scary; an 11 hour day that climbed 600 meters and descended 1,200 meters over very steep terrain. We had talked to lots of other trekkers but no matter who you talk to the descent was brutal on the knees. We headed out excited for the day. There was a small layer of snow on the ground. As we hiked up towards the pass it started snowing and the wind increased to 50km/hr! We were really glad to have the guide for this section but with so many other trekkers we could have easily done the pass without a guide. The higher we got the rockier and deeper the snow got. The snow drifts got to about 1 foot in depth. We trudged on in a long line up the steepest section. To our surprise, many of the other trekkers were unprepared and didn’t even have gloves! We finally reached the summit, HURRAY! As we were crossing the summit, Rebecca took a little spill on an ice patch and fell hard on some rocks bruising her knee. This turned into an interesting scene as the guide tried to take Rebecca's pack to lighten her load but Rebecca would have none of it and demanded it back. Once we were sorted out, we continued on the trail over the pass which opened up to beautiful views of Glacier Grey below. The descent was very steep and within a short time the snow had disappeared and the wind had died off. The trail continued on in an undulating fashion toward camp. We crossed suspension bridges that were quite long and had a lot movement in the middle.

At last we arrived at Campamento Grey after only 9 hours and 30 minutes. Low and behold, after 3 days apart, the first people we see are none other than Anne and Sean who had completed the “W” circuit. We enjoyed a nice dinner together and swapped stories. We enjoy the amenities of the Refugio on the site and treated ourselves to a well-earned beer. Exhausted, we went straight to sleep afterwards.Read more