Patagonia glacier

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Despite hiccough at airport - no-one to meet us, we have a lovely hotel and have just spent the day walking on the most amazing glacier - Perito Moreno. Frozen Planet doesn't come near to the reality of a glacier but still expected David Attenborough to pop up any minute! Crampons on our shoes made us feel like real explorers until we saw how easily the guides moved across the ice. The glacier moved 2m per day and it was very noisy when a piece broke away - like a crack of thunder. A nice surprise at the end of the treck was a whisky (12 years old) with 500 year old ice. Took about 70 photos of ice but don't worry they are not all on the blog - just wait til we get home for the other 65.

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Photos

There goes another one!
Despite language barriers, many photographers were impressed with this shot.

Blue ice
Scientific explanations please?

Intrepid explorers
Moved on from Tango! Difficult with crampons.

Comments

[Henry]

Blue ice
All ice is blue, just like water. The reason most of it looks white is because of air bubbles. In glaciers the air bubbles can get squeezed out by the enormous pressure. If it is brown or red that means penguins have been pooing on it.

[woodsinsa]

Blue ice
Thanks for the science bit and the warning about penguin poo although the colour will depend on what the penguins have been eating and whether they have introduced air by farting!

[Emma]

gorgeous
And even more so with the scientific explanation -- thanks Henry! (If it was anyone else I'd say you'd just Googled that, but I reckon that's exactly the sort of trivia you have on hand for exactly moments like this.) I don't even like whiskey and I'm jealous of that drink at the end of it. xx

[woodsinsa]

Science and whisky
Henry probably excels in both! We have just drunk a bottle of Chilean Santa Ema wine - very tasty.xx

[Emily]

amazing photos, would love to be there with you to see this. v impressed with your blog so far, could you be the next 'geeks'?

[woodsinsa]

Geeks
We've just had a week of eco-poos - hardly geeks.

[Malcolm]

Wow - looks amazing. The picture post card photos look really professional, but also a bit unreal because you sort of expect to see snow on the green bits!! Do they get any snow?

[woodsinsa]

Snow
It's summer don't you know!

[Twinnie]

blue ice
Henry is not entirely right, blue ice is specially made by the good lord to compliment bombay gin, another of the good lords beautiful provisions. Miss you both loads already, I'll join you back at the blue ice, I'll bring the Bombay

[woodsinsa]

Blue ice
keep drinking blue ice cos it's hard to find here. Suzy is in 'Pisco sour' but we have found a new Chilean wine - Carmenere! xxx

[Anna]

Wow!
What amazing photos!! The blue ice is stunning, have you found out why it's blue yet?

[woodsinsa]

Blue ice
Yes - ask your husband and brother-in-law xxx. hope you are all well.

[woodsinsa]

Blue ice
Yes - ask your husband and brother-in-law xxx. hope you are all well.

[woodsinsa]

Blue ice
Yes - ask your husband and brother-in-law xxx. hope you are all well.

[Fay]

Cool!
I remember the whiskey and it was a bit gritty too! How fantastic to walk on it. Cant wait for your next post...Ushushia next?

[woodsinsa]

Ushuaia
Yes - see next Blog xxx

[Hannah Bunt]

this looks amazing - sounds fantastic - Christian is particularly interested in the 12 year old whisky on 500 year old ice - a nice touch - beats Bells on ice! can;t wait to read more. just catching up on all your posts - loved the strictly picture - its typical you go all that way and see some amazing sights and its the silly strictly pic that gets us waylors all commenting!!! xxxxx

[woodsinsa]

Waylors
Whatever it takes!

[Becky]

I'll leave the science to Henry, instead I'll just say wow! Amazing photos! I can picture exactly where you are but our photos aren't a patch on yours. Glad you are enjoying yourselves. xx

[Lucy]

The blue ice looks beautiful.

[woodsinsa]

Blue ice
Thanks Lucy, Hope you like next Blog xx

[dr James of geology]

Blue ice
Ice absorbs the red end of the light spectrum better than the blue end by a factor of about x6 so red light absorbed blue light reflected. Snow is flakes so light is all reflected not like compacted ice.

[woodsinsa]

Dr James
Your science seems to be the equal of Henry's. We've just seen geology to die for here and have seen an active volcano across the lake. xxx

[James Wood]

Good photo
Love it. Am increasingly jealous

[James Wood]

Good photo
Love it. Am increasingly jealous