Perito Moreno Glacier, Glaciares National Park

March 22, 2011

An ice blue glacier wedged up into a panorama of surrounding mountains and forests, fronted by a large lake, Perito Moreno glacier is one of the more iconic natural scenes in Argentina, and that was the next stop on my journey. Perito Moreno was an important fighter in Argentinian history, but now the name is more well-known, at least among tourists, as the huge glacier in Southern Patagonia.

I spent one more day in Ushuaia, taking time to relax and hang out with the members of our Antarctica group as we all began to head our separate ways, including a late night meeting at the obligatory Irish bar that graces any tourist town these days. Leaving Ushuaia, a combination of buses and border crossings took me up into Chilean territory, then back across to Argentina, arriving just in time to Rio Grande to miss one connecting bus, leaving me stranded at the bus station in the middle of nowhere for another four hours before the next bus came to take me to El Calafate, arriving a little after dark that night. The 15 hours of bus rides and connections was a bit tiring, but it was still interesting to see the flat, wind-blown landscapes of this region of Patagonia, mostly filled with long stretches of yellow grasslands and farms, dotted with just a hint of windswept trees, leaning hard to one side as a result of the unfettered gusts that blow across the land.

El Calafate is another of Argentina's tourist hubs, the gateway to the iconic Perito Moreno glacier. The small town is lined with wooden buildings and cottages, restaurants, souvenir shops and a few travel agencies. Despite the commercial leaning to the place, it still maintains a pleasant feel among its grid of 10 or 20 square blocks that make up the tourist center of the city. To me, similar to my thought in Ushuaia, it had the sort of feel of a ski resort town during the summer, friendly and laid-back with plenty on offer for the tourists visiting the place. Nevertheless, I had come for the glacier, so I hopped on the short bus ride that morning and headed off for Los Glaciares National Park. Moving out of the city, we skirted the edge of a large, dark blue lake, moving through a wide, shallow valley, closing in on the imposing mountains along the horizon. Small yellow and green bushes dotted the valley, though the majority was just a scenic prairie, eventually sprouting trees as we got closer to the mountains. Just as we entered the park, we came upon the next major lake, following along the edge of the water, looking across to a small series of jagged ridges with bits of snow capping the tops. Clumps of clouds came and went above us, and I hoped for the best as we soon arrived at the boat launch along the lake's edge.

Some visitors opt first for a boat tour of the glacier, heading up to the face without getting too close as to where the falling ice and resulting waves would affect the boat. I decided to just take in the view from the walkways, so I continued on with the bus, up the winding road leading to the main parking lot. Once there, it was an easy 10 minute walk down the boardwalks and stone paths through the green forest to the series of lookouts over the glacier. Shining back at me, the iridescent blue of Perito Moreno glacier was revealed, wedged between two dark green wooded mountainsides. The face of the glacier stretches widely in a semicircle, dropping off into the lake below. At the apex of the semicircle, the mass of ice reaches quite close to shoreline, closing the lake down to a narrow flow of water and ice, not much wider than an ordinary creek, though the icy lake widens back out into two huge reservoirs on either side of the glacier, forming Lago Argentino, the largest lake in Argentina. Soaring up to 60 meters high (200 feet) at the face and stretching 30 kilometers deep and 5 kilometers wide, this is a truly spectacular glacier.

The massive piece of ice is stunning in its own right, and coupled with the backdrop of slivers of the Andean ridge that separates Argentina from Chile, the setting is pretty remarkable. Walking further down the boardwalks, I got a closer view of the imposing ice wall, fronted by mini icebergs broken up by their recent fall from the glacier into the lake below. Staring at the light blue wall, I followed the cracks and pillars, noting the strange lines and shapes formed by the ever-changing ice. The beautiful silence of the natural setting was interrupted occasionally by a passing tour group but more often by small pieces of the glacier calving away, producing a sound akin to that of thunder, following by a loud clap as the ice hit the still water below. I watched for cracks, trying to predict the next piece to fall and witnessing a few awe-inspiring moments as the dynamic landscape dropped a few huge pieces and even one whole column of ice, pounding into the water below as it broke away into a few large pieces of ice that would very slowly float away into the lake before melting. Small arches, caves and pinnacles form precariously here, crunching together to form something slightly resembling a bottom row of very crooked teeth. Perito Moreno glacier is also one of the fastest advancing glaciers in the world, sometimes moving forward at a rate of 2 meters per day (over 6 feet), meaning that there is almost always plenty of action to be seen as the front of the glacier falls away into the water, just before reaching the other side of the valley.

With the clouds overhead and hints of rain and wind, the day had the potential to be very cold, though fortunately, the sun popped out often from behind the clouds, warming up the surroundings and illuminating the omnipresent glacier in its varying spectrum of blue and white. The interesting thing about this portion of the park is that the parking lot is so close to the glacier that there's really not that much to do in terms of hiking, so I decided to take the boardwalks around the side of the glacier, leaving the view of the ice behind and finding another nice mountain lake, ringed by the high ridges and blown by the strong winds coming off the water. After a while of relaxing away from the other tourists, I headed back for a few final looks at the glacier, noting even more chunks of ice in the water as pieces continued to fall in the warmer daytime temperatures.

Glaciar Perito Moreno is definitely an incredible sight, a true masterpiece of ice and mountains juxtaposed together, though I can't help but think I would have been even more impressed if I hadn't come straight from Antarctica, a land filled with massive glaciers. Even so, it was definitely worth the time spent though, but in hindsight, I probably should have visited this spot first to give it its proper due. I made my way back to El Calafate on the bus, getting ready to cross back over to Chile the next day on my way down to Puerto Natales and the stunning national park of Torres Del Paine.

(A small part of the blue face of Perito Moreno glacier. This wall of ice is nearly 60 meters high in most parts.)

(Nestled in between a few mountains and a green forest, the setting of the glacier is amazing. The melting water also forms Lago Argentino, the largest lake in the country.)

(The front of the glacier stretches around 5 kilometers wide, so this is just one side of the U-shaped front. At its peak, the glacier almost touches the near side of the lake, leaving just a tiny channel of water in between the glacier and the forest.)

(The glacier is one of the most accessible and fastest advancing in the world, moving forward about 6 feet per day, meaning that there is plenty of calving/falling ice action to be observed.)

(A few massive columns broke off while I was watching, sounding like thunder as the ice cracks and breaks, creating a huge splash and resulting wave in the water below. Here you can see the spray coming off the water after a fairly large piece fell off. If you wait for the sound, it's already too late to see the carnage. I guess that could be a life lesson.)

(From the parking lot are a few easy trails/boardwalks taking you down to the incredible views only 10 or 20 minutes away, one of the reasons why this place is so popular.)

(Me and the glacier. I was lucky to have decent bits of sunlight during the day, mixed in with some rain and cold wind, just to keep us guessing. This glacier was spectacular, surely one of the best in the world, though I couldn't help but think that I would have been much more awed if I hadn't just come straight from Antarctica. Still, it was a fantastic place.)

(Looking off to the other side of the glacier. At times, there are huge ice arches stretching almost to the other side, but they frequently collapse. Boats also run up to this edge of the glacier, but I didn't think it was worth the extra money, as you get almost as close from the boardwalk, without the package tour groups.)

(Though most people just sit and stare in awe at the glacier, the short trails around the backside offer some pretty nice mountain and lake scenery, with far more solitude.)