There are many places in the world that are beautiful but the Perito Moreno Glacier is simply breathtaking, imposing, wonderful.
We had promised to divide this adventure into two parts:
The first part is covered in this article and related the journey from the time we left El Calafate to the Perito Moreno Glacier:
and the second part we will tell you in this article.
There are two options for trekking on the glacier. One is 3 hours and is called Mini-Trekking and the other is 6 hours and is called Big-Ice
We opted for the second since it includes navigation and trekking. To hike up the glacier you have to take a boat that will take us to the starting point. Which is where the Los Glaciares National Park begins.
These are the first images from the ship.
We start walking through the forest. It is a 40 minute journey before reaching the glacier.
The Glacier is located within the limits of Los Glaciares National Park in the province of Santa Cruz
We get closer and see what awaits us. The landscape changes abruptly. The stones and pebbles later become ice.
Two duly distanced groups go ahead of ours.
Observing the glacier from the top before starting to descend towards it is a fantastic, exciting and unforgettable feeling.
Properly equipped and with the appropriate footwear we begin to travel through a surreal world of ice. We are very careful when walking to avoid slipping.
The hits are very hard. You have to firmly put your feet on the ice so that the crampon sticks into it.
Endless ice dunes. They look like the desert dunes. Only instead of the soft sand we have the hard ice underfoot.
Ice dunes in the foreground.
The tour we are doing (Big-Ice) is the most demanding and only people from 18 to 50 years old can participate
The ice does not have color as the guide explained. Actually the blue color that we see in cracks is because in those parts the ice is more compact, more condensed.
On the surface the first 30 cm the ice is porous, with the formation of crystals, due to the external temperature.
In depth, as the ice becomes more compact it acts as a light filter. Absorb all the colors of the day. These colors quickly bounce back and forth on solid ice, thereby producing an optical illusion. It is the famous blue color that we see.
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A break on the ice halfway is not bad. We have to walk almost 4 kms on the ice!
The water runs between some crevices of the glacier on the surface and falls into deep wells called "sinks".
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In this sector it is a little softer than in the mini-trekking area where you can see very high walls. But later we see a similar landscape where a "step" occurs on the glacier, a very steep slope that causes the glacier to accelerate.
When ice accelerates, as it is not elastic, a tension occurs. The tension causes a fracture in the glacier. And the fractures produce the cracks that we have seen throughout our journey. Like this one that the guide shows us.
And that it gradually widens over the years. The glacier advances at a speed of up to 2 meters per day in the center.
This is produced by the action of the water that runs between the cracks and lubricates the glacier and makes it more mobile. In this way the glacier slides down the mountain.
It is a unique experience. The cost is quite high but the experience is worth it. It is something unique in everyone's life.
And we come to the end. Taking as a souvenir a bottle of water from the glacier. Original. Unpayable.
A great contribution with impressive pictures. I also like your descriptions very much and the idea with the souvenir is certainly a great memory of the time in the glacier.