Lake Grey
Having a day and half ahead of us we decided to go for some paddling in the most emblematic places of the region. For months I had been lobbying for authorization to paddle the famous National Reserve Torres del Paine, but without success. In spite of this we decided to take a punt and make the six hour trip up there anyway. Travelling with an inflatable Mana Air and considering there are lakes and fjords everywhere in the region, I was confident we would find somewhere to play. The next morning with only one day available we decided to go straight for one of the most beautiful spots of Patagonia: the Lake Grey. Fed by the melting of millenarian ices from the gigantic glacier “Campo de Hielo Sur” – one of the major reserves of fresh water on Earth – you need to trek though the hills to get to the lake. I was already enjoying the relative comfort of the inflatable board.
Good weather was swinging our way. After a great downwind session between the icebergs at the southern tip of the lake, we took a small boat toward the edge of the glacier. There the weather conditions really turned to an unexpected calm for the region. So calm it made me forgot the danger of the glacier. Paddling along the cliff of the Grey glacier, the deep blue tones of the ices were becoming more and more intense as I got closer to it. Suddenly some ice blocks collapsed from the top of the glacier to remind me that despite the apparent peace this was still a very treacherous place. We later heard that sometimes huge Icebergs emerge from the bottom and would be able to overthrow a 40 ft boat. Still, the glacier had shown us his best face and it was hard to get out of the water. Even Philip could not resist. He dropped the camera for a while to borrow my SUP, and today he still has a big smile on his face when we talk about it.
That night, despite the unbelievable day we had had, I was a jangle of nerves again. It was 1 am when we got a place to sleep and we were six hours drive from where we would cross the Straits twelve hours later.
