Jorge Newbery Airport

- We did East to West which we loved 😍

- Night 1 in Chileno, Night 2 in Cuernos, Night 3 in Pain Grande.

- Full board at all 3 campsites which was decent. On day 2, we forgot to collect our lunches at Chileno before we left to hike so thankfully we had brought some food from El Calafate 😆 we brought trail mix, pot noodles, tuna, rice cakes & a tub of dulche de leche 😋 The fruit got taken off us when we crossed the border from Argentina en route to Puerto Natales!

- In hindsight, the only thing we would change is staying in Frances campsite on Night 2 so that the day 2 hike was a bit longer as we found day 2 hike very easy & we would have liked to hike for a little longer.

Day 1 - Central - Base Torres - Chileno
- Bus from Puerto Natales - Laguna Amarga where we showed and had our park pass scanned.
- Got on a shuttle bus to Central Torres where the hike begins. $5usd.
- Had a lovely juice and protein bar in the welcome centre to chill and get organised before starting. So nice and we were glad we did this to let the 2 bus loads go ahead before us.
- Amazing sunshine for us as we began the upward climb from Central to Chileno 5.5km. Steep but manageable and fabulous views 😍
- We gladly arrived at Chileno and hung around for about an hour to have a bit of lunch (tuna wraps 😋), fill up on water, check in & leave our bags before taking on the Base Torres climb, another 4km.
- Such a lovely start going through a wooded area and accompanied by the river flowing throughout. Base Torres climb wasn't too challenging, however, the crowds that day were huge. We were constantly stuck behind people also trying to summit which made the climb a little less enjoyable. Hindsight, we wouldn't have stopped for the hour and kept going though I'm not sure how much that wouls have helped either. There seemed to be lots of day trip group tours and these in particular seemed to slow everyone down so if you can beat the tours getting here, you will enjoy the hike so much more.

- Base Torres is sensational. The colours and the vastness of it all 😍 we forgot to bring snacks so we hung around for a while before realising we were starting to get hungry and made our way down again!!

- It was salmon for dinner and it was amazing 😋 3 course meal and we were content! We enjoyed celebratory pints too🍻

Day 2 - Chileno - Cuernos
- Our breakfast was scheduled for 7am so we woke early, enjoyed the breakfast and got on the road again around 8am. We were determined to beat the crowds!

- Note to self: don't forget to collect the lunches before heading off next time!

- Chileno - Cuernos. We had the route to ourselves for the most part which was a real treat. Walking in the sunshine along the lakes, just fabulous. A real highlight for both of us ✨️

- Cuernos - Pain Grande - Lago Grey (37km)
We were so excited for a big hike. We set off early at 6:30am buzzing for the day despite the fairly heavy rainfall. It had been so lovely the past 2 days so we didn't mind and thought it would blow over pretty quickly but unfortunately it didn't!

- We easily got to the Italiano campsite where the Mirador Britannica trek starts to discover that the route itself is closed due to the stormy winds and snowfall at the top. We hung around at Italiano with the other disappointed hikers but it was getting a little cold standing around and so we decided we were going to keep moving towards Pain Grande and try to do Lago Grey today instead with the idea to do Mirador Britannica tomorrow if the weather allowed.

- We made the most of walking through the rain and within 2 hours, we found ourselves at Pain Grande. It was fairly flat the whole way so we zoomed on!

- We checked in to the Refugio and had our lunch and got into warm clothes. I had got a real chill as I had naively dressed for the day thinking the rain would clear off!!

- We hung here for about an hour before taking on Lago Grey. Weather had cleared a little and we made the most of what we had. A lovely incline and having not done much research on lago Grey or the w trek in general and what to expect, we were so taken aback when we reached the first Viewpoint of the Grey Glacier. It was like nothing we had ever seen before! We took some quick pics in between the strong winds and got going again towards Grey campsite.

- 11km later we arrived at Grey campsite and continued for another 10 mins to the viewpoint. Absolutely class and we were able to have a lunch with the Glacier as our backdrop! Unbelievable 😍

- We got back around 5:30pm wrecked and so excited for a warm shower. It was a big day but I think our favourite day despite the weather!Read more