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Published: November 25th 2011
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Day 15- Perito Moreno Glacier
Well all we can say is "there are Glaciers and then there are Glaciers". We were totally blown away by what we saw today and i suppose that's why the Perito Moreno glacier is one of the most famous glaciers in the world. In our humble opinion rightly so, and by now we had seen a number of galciers on our trip. The Perito Moreno glacier is special not just because it is the only glacier in Patagonia that is still advancing and that is impressive on it's own, but as a spectical it is just about as awe inspiring as you can get and there are bigger glaciers out there but not quite like this one. There is the pyramids at Giza and the Taj Mahal in Agra, but this isn't man made, it's a natural phenomanon and therefore right up there with the best of them.
The day started with yet another early start but one that we welcomed for a change, having read all the guide books and booked a trek on the Glacier, we hoped we were going to be in for a good day. We joined the rest of
the group on the bus to the National Park which was about 70km from El Calafate. We were the only people from our tour doing the trek, as a number of the group failed the age limit test. Some, however, had in their youth done similar trips on different glaciers, all of which gave good reports, which boded well.
On the way to the Park, our guide for the day gave us background information on the National Park, and the current state of the glacier. The glaier forms part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which is the third largest water At the present time, it has grown and blocked the entrance to one of the rivers, meaning that as the ice melts, the level of the lake rises. At the moment it has risen 3m. At some point the force of the river water will breach the glacier causing it to rupture which it does about every 3 or 4 years, the last time being in 2008 so it's due anytime and for those lucky enough to have witnessed the last rupture, saw it go in spectacular fashion.
As we reached the waterside, the rest of the
group left to go on a catermaran to the glacier, whilst we waited for a smaller boat to take us over to the start of the glacier walk. They certainly packed them onto the catermaran, and there didn't look to be much room to stand outside and take pictures. Our boat arrived, and it was quite small, but we had plenty of room at the back to stand. As we approached the glacier, we could see where the glacier has made landfall, and the boat pulled in before the glacier face. We disembarked, and there were guides waiting to split the group into non English and English speakers. We followed the guide up the beach to the small huts where we could leave our bags, before carrying on. We went down onto the beach, where the guide showed us how the level of the water had risen on a previous occassion by 29m, and this was why there was no trees growing round the bottom part. We then made our way to some small tents, where guides put our crampons for us, and we were gathered together for final instructions - don't walk with your feet too close together, or
too close to the person in front, and when going down hill, don't use your edges, head up and bend your knees.
We set off in a long crocodile, taking it easy to start with. The main guide went first to ensure that the ice was stable, as it is moving beneath your feet all the time - 50cm a day - and a second guide accompanied us to check we were all okay. We edged up the first of the uphill sections where the ice was quite slushy, and as we did the guide come over to tighten one of Kathryn's crampons which was a bit loose. We slowly continued, the guide going before us all the time and tellingus where was safe to go. We were stood on clear ice in places that had water running underneath it. Every now and again, we could hear a faint "boom" sound, as the glacier crept forward, ever advancing. We were able to stop at regular intervals to take photos, and admire the view. The second guide spent more of his time trying out his ice climbing skills as a bit of a sideshow, than watching the group, and he
was very daring using his ice picks to dangle upsidedown from sheer ice faces. The intense blue colours were spectacular, and we could see right into the crevasses. At each stopping point the guide made sure that everyone was happy, was able to get good pictures. We made our way to a high point on the ice, beyond which the ice got too difficult to traverse as there is more pressure in the middle of the glacier than at the edges, meaning the pressure causes fissures to form. On our way to the edge of the glacier, there was a giant "boom", and the water running in a crevass next to Kathryn suddenly began to gurgle more that it had done and we wondered how close it was to where we stood. We hoped that the rest of the group had managed to see some of the glacier face fall into the water, and maybe this is what we had heard. At the edge of the glacier face we all had a Famous Grouse with glacier ice in it before making our way to the edge and off the ice. We had been on the ice for over 2 hours
in total, and whilst it wasn't as strenuous as we thought it was going to be, we certainly could feel that we have been using some muscles we didn't normally use.
Once off the ice, we took our crampons off, and went back to where we had left our bags to eat lunch. We picked a spot on the top of the rocks to watch the glacier face and see if we could see any ice dropping off. It kept on teasing us with little bits, but nothing we could get a picture of.
After lunch, we caught the bus back to the dock area, and hopped on the bus which was to take us to the balconies from here the views are spectacular. The balconies had been built several years ago to protect the public from the falling ice as in the past, spectators had been killed when falling ice had caused a mini tidlewave or a large piece of ice has spayed off on impact into the crowd. We only got an hour to walk along the balconies, and to be honest, we could have stayed watching all day. These are walkways at different levels with
different viewpoints to give you different perspectives on the glacier face. From here, this is the middle of the glacier, where the action happens. We stood for a long time watching, and were rewarded with the "boom", and around 10 seconds later a deafening crash when the lumps of ice impacted on the water. Tantilisingly, we could see that further round the glacier face there had been several ice falls by the ripples in the water, but it was too far round for us to see.
We made our way back to the bus for the journey back into town, and were dropped off at the hotel. We had enought time to shower and change before we caught the little shuttle into town, we decided to try an italian restaurant as we had had enough meat for the time being. It wasn't bad but not as good as the pizza place we found in Puerto Natales earlier that week. We finished our food with just enough time to catch the last shuttle bus to the hotel. We were a bit suprised to see that two of the other couples on our trip were on the shuttle bus too, so
we swapped stories from the day on the short journey back. One of the other couples John and Vera, who were in their more discerning years lets say, had another full day excursion planned for the next day and we did wonder how they both would cope. We however had a rest day or at least no excursions planned.
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