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Patagonia, Chile: Trekking the Paine Circuit As seen in the March 2007 issue of Vogue Magazine! Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park is one of the great scenic wonders of the world—one of those places to which all serious mountain-lovers must make a pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. Here, in the wilderness of southern Chile, glaciers of millennia past have receded from the granite rock of the Cordillera Paine, leaving a massif of craggy peaks protruding a near‑vertical 6,000 to 8,000 feet from the surrounding rolling grasslands. Our trek—which we pioneered in the mid-1980s—is a full circuit of the Paine massif, and takes you through the kind of wild rugged terrain you’d expect to find at the ends of the earth. The jaw-dropping vistas of monolithic rock spires and jagged snowy peaks, the huge expanse of the Patagonia Ice Field, tranquil azure lakes, and golden grasslands bright with wildflowers make this unquestionably one of the all-time “Great Treks” of the world. TRIP HIGHLIGHTS
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 Itinerary: Trekking the Paine Circuit
Day 1 - Arrive in Punta Arenas on the northern shore of the Strait of Magellan. Days 2-3 - Drive to Paine National Park, followed the next day by a ten-hour roundtrip hike to the awesome granite needles of the Torres del Paine. Days 4-6 - Hike through beech forests and open grasslands past beautiful glacier-fed lakes of incredible hue. Day 7 - A challenging day: cross Paine Pass (4,000') and descend steeply through rough terrain to Lago Grey, skirting the enormous Grey Glacier emanating from the Patagonia Ice Field. Day 8 - Hike to the face of the Grey Glacier, then on to Lago Pehoe. Optional half-day hike on the Grey Glacier using crampons. Day 9 - Hike into the French Valley, with views of tumbling glaciers and the jagged peaks of the distinctive cuernos (horns), and along the shores of Lago Nordenskjold. Day 10 - Take a catamaran across the lake and drive to an hosteria for overnight. Day 11 - Drive to Punta Arenas and depart. Detailed Itinerary - Patagonia, Chile: Trekking the Paine Circuit 1. Download detailed itinerary in a PDF format Winter 2007-2008 Detailed Itinerary Winter 2008-2009 Detailed Itinerary (PDF files require that you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. This program can be downloaded for free from the Adobe Website.) 2. Or email us your itinerary request at sales@mtsobek.com 3. Or call us at 1-888-831-7526 (USA and Canada) or (510) 594-6000 We’ll email you a copy (Word or Acrobat document), fax, or mail you the itinerary as you prefer. For more information and reservations, please contact: Mountain Travel Sobek 1266 66th Street, Suite 4 Emeryville, CA 94608 USA Toll Free (USA and Canada): 1-888-831-7526 Phone: +1-510-594-6000 Fax: + 1-510-594-6001 Email: info@mtsobek.com |