Day 5 Glacier Grey - Refugio Paine Grande & Celebration drinks in Puerto Natales

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The catamaran from Refugio Paine Grande leaves at 1230 so we made an 0800 pre dawn departure from Ref. Grey this morning. In the gloomy light head torches were necesary to negotiate the initial rocky upward trail. After a couple of hours we caught up with the 2 American girls who had left even earlier than us. Jon caught a snippet of their conversation which was apparently an intense discussion/debate on plant biology in the Torres region. On sharing this with us we all pondered on how this compared with our own conversations over the last few days. Certainly the 3 of us have also had some searching and insightful discussions during our trekking days. Such curiosities we have pitched to each other include 'what's the difference between a puddle and a lake?' and 'when does a hill become a mountain?'. Profound stuff.

The catamaran across Lago Pehoe gave us some tremendous views again at the head of the French Valley before dropping us at Pudeto where we boarded the mini bus to Puerto Natales. A large herd of guanaco lama´s blocked our path briefly before we were on our way and departing Torres Del Paine National Park. We have had a hugely enjoyable 5 days in the parkwith fantastic weather, tonight we will have a farewell dinner with Marty and almost certainly some local beverages before we cathch the bus tommorow morning to El Calafate, Argentina.

Marty will return to Canberra, Australia before heading to Hobart, Tasmania for a debrief and to reporton his activities over the last few months in Antarctica. The current scientific 'holy grail' on the ice continent for a one million year old peice of ice will continue next summer. As well as doing the trick in a JD & coke this ice will also give some crucial data on long term climate cyclesand perhaps tell us if we really are warming the planet or if in fact it is simply part of the planets long term cycle. Interesting stuff.

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Photos

Pre dawn trek back to Ref, Paine Grande
Fashion sensibilities long since departed.

Lago Grey
Return to Ref. Paine Grande

Refugio Paine Grande
Overlooking Lago Pehoe

Catamaran to Pudeto
Across Lago Pehoe

French Valley
From Lago Pehoe

French Valley
Goodbye to Torres Del Paine