Mirador Ferrier

by Martin Mergili

This viewpoint offers, in case of good weather, an excellent panorama of the Cordillera del Paine and its eastern forelands with its various Pleistocenic lakes. The Mirador Ferrier is accessible through a two-hour ascent (600 vertical metres) on a marked trail, starting directly at the parking at the end of the road to the Lago Grey. But be careful: this viewpoint is exposed to extremely high winds.

The play of clouds above the Cordillera del Paine

The Mirador Ferrier is - like the entire national park - frequently exposed to very high winds, making it difficult to stand in upright position.

This video shows a 40-fold accelerated time-lapse video of the clouds moving in from the western (Pacific) side, largely disappearing through foehn effects at the eastern slopes of the Cordillera del Paine.

Click on the arrow to start the vieo. Afterwards you are invited to visit the contribution on the Southern Patagonian Andes to learn more about the climate of southern Patagonia.

Time lapse video: Martin Mergili

Altenberger, U., Oberhänsli, R., Putlitz, B. & Wemmer, K. (2003): Tectonic controls and Cenozoic magmatism at the Torres del Paine, southern Andes (Chile, 51° 10'S). Revista Geologica de Chile 30(1): 65-81 [Access source]

Fildani, A., Romans, B.W., Fosdick, J.C., Crane, W.H. & Hubbard, S.M. (2008): Orogenesis of the Patagonian Andes as reflected by basin evolution in southernmost South America. Arizona Geological Society Digest 22: 259-268 [Access source]

García, J.L., Hall, B.L., Kaplan, M.R., Vega, R.M. & Strelin, J.A. (2014): Glacial geomorphology of the Torres del Paine region (southern Patagonia): Implications for glaciation, deglaciation and paleolake history. Geomorphology 204: 599-616 [Access source]

Leuthold, J., Müntener, O., Baumgartner, L.P., Putlitz, B., Ovtcharova, M. & Schaltegger, U. (2012): Time resolved construction of a bimodal laccolith (Torres del Paine, Patagonia). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 325: 85-92 [Access source]

Wikipedia article on the Cordillera del Paine [Access source]