Up early at Hosteria Lago Grey, at the end of a glacial lake, but the weather was not entirely cooperating and what there was of the dawn was fleeting. Cerro Paine Grande at the rear middle left, with Cerro Catedral behind to the left and Cuernos del Paine behind at the right.

Google maps link.

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The is two of the peaks of the Cuernos del Paine from the same spot, must be Cuerno Principal and Cuerno Este. The rock is visible because it’s autumn and the snow has melted through summer, so you can see how the rocks are stratified in different colours. This is due to different volcanic extrusions, some vertical, some horizontal and at the time underground, combined with uplift. The mountains are relatively recent and this is why they are jagged, the weather has not had sufficient time to wear them smoother.

At the right is Salto Chico, a torrent through a narrow gorge where Lago Pehoe flows through into Lago Toro. Right beside here is Hotel Explora, a huge and very ugly hotel costing thousands of dollars a night, proving perhaps that if you pay enough you’ll think anything is wonderful.

From here, we continued on a fairly short distance to Hosteria Pehoe, on a small island on Lago Pehoe with a walkway access. A small friendly place and we lucked out with the “photographer’s room” for a great dawn view. We were told that the island was a favourite place for pumas to come at night. We didn’t see one but Greg later told me he was sure he could smell and sense one when we were up at the top of the island that night.

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In the late afternoon, we went climbing up a hill trying to get images of condors and though we saw a few condors we weren’t so successful with those images. This is the best I managed to get, and it’s cropped down to 100% even though taken at 600mm (full frame sensor).