Advertisement
Published: December 6th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Ushuaia airport
Leaving by a jet plane Ushuaia in the distance Calafate sits on the edge of Argentina 's largest lake 1600 sq kilometre of milky blue glacier water, as our bus drove past the lake we could see icebergs floating in the lake. Our main reason here is to visit the glacier Perito Moreno which is a couple of hours by coach away from Calafate and to travel onto El Chaltèn to see the mountain Fitz Roy.
We took the coach to the glacier, first it stopped at the glacier to allow those people who wanted to spend all their time on the walk ways in front of the glacier face, though we did have a chance to get a quick glimpse of this huge light blue glacier which creaked and groaned on occasions, as we stood there transfixed by its size and beauty. We then travelled by bus to the other side of the glacier where we took a boat ride which took us closer to the face of the glacier, the boat was full of eager tourists like our selves who all wanted to take photographs of this amazing sight. As the boat drew closer to the face there was the usual rush to the side of the
Taken from plane
The Straits of Magellan boat to get the best picture, we did have to say many times excuse me can I just get in to snap off a picture or 2.
After the boat trip the bus took us back to the walk ways which are approximately 150 metres away from the glacier face . As we walked along the walkways you could hear the glacier groan and creak and then hear the occasional splash as a piece of ice left the face and fell into the water, at this point we and everyone else near by would rush forwards to see if the glacier had calved.
We stood and watched the glacier Perito Moreno for several hours it was so fascinating to watch and listen as it moved forwards. We did see several small pieces of ice break away from the face. The water in front of the glacier was filled with pieces of ice and icebergs just floating there, what was amazing was as we stood there, twice we saw two huge pieces of white ice slowly roll and turn themselves over so they were upside down, this caused a very loud groaning and splashing sound. I imaged this is
Glacier Perito Moreno
Our first glimpse from the walk ways what a submarine would sound like as it surfaced. The icebergs exposed their translucent blue/green tinged undersides, where they continued to float like surreal art sculptures in the water. It was so exciting to see a glacier, where normally the only time we have seen anything like this is on the television.
The following day we caught another bus to El Chaltèn which lies within the boundaries of the national park Los Glaciers. In the park there are two mountains the granite spires of Cerro Fitz Roy( 3405m) and Cerro Torre (3102m) . El Chaltèn means smoking mountain a name given to mount Fitz Roy by the Tehuelche people, this is probably because there are usually whispery clouds floating around the summit of the mountain.
On our arrival the bus stopped at the park's entrance where a extremely official looking man wearing the uniform of the park's wardens invited us all to go into the information centre.
Here he introduced himself as the head park warden then he insisted ladies moved to the front and gentlemen at the back please he asked us to form a semi circle around him, under one of his arms he held
Taken from the boat
The face of glacier Perito Moreno a black cane. The warden began to to explain that this park is the only one in Argentina to have free entrance, he then explained the rules of the park to us which are in most cases common sense. He asked people not to touch or pick any flora and fauna or feed any wild life and not to encourage the dogs which roam freely around the town into the park because the dogs can kill the wild deer in the park which are quite rare ( in fact if you were caught doing any of these things he would personally invite you back to the bus terminal) as he spoke he began to hit with the black cane an information board which was behind him with the relevant information he spoke of. He reminded us to leave no trace of your visit in the park and to take" All our litter home with us" We did leave there feeling we had been back in school at the headmaster' s office for a good old talking to, however as we walked through the park we did have to pick several pieces of litter up.
On our arrival we walked
to the waterfalls Chorrillo del Salto 4 km from our hostel, as we walked through the town chatting and laughing about General El Chaltèn as I named the chief warden guess who should drive past and wave to us but yours truly we did feel guilty as we had got caught red handed.
The following day we followed the path to mount Fitz Roy and Laguna de Los Tres the path went through wind battered forests where some trees were bent from the strong winds they had shinny silver bark and long strands of lichen clinging to the branches it felt you were walking through an enchanted forest in a fairy tale, we passed two large lakes and crossed one of the fast flowing mountain rivers. The stream water was drinkable and tasted delicious, some of the terrain we trod was quite boggy and deep with peat. Once we reached the start of the climb up to the viewing point for mount Fitz. Roy the terrain and path became steep with large rocks where we had to climb over to continue the walk it became quite strenuous and we meet many people who were returning from the view point,
Taken from boat
The rock has been smoothed by a glacier moving over it. they all gave positive encouragement as we puffed and struggled onwards, one guy said once you get there even though you will feel exhausted but go a bit further, down a steep slope and up again to another view point it will be well worth it. As we neared the summit the terrain was snow covered and to two guys had walked up carrying their ski gear and were in the process of skiing down the mountain side.
Once we got to the top we were meet with really strong winds and the fantastic sight of Fitz Roy standing there in his glory, one side had cloud cover, which came and went so the peaks were not clearly visible all of the time. We could see a path through the snow which went steeply down to the bottom of a large rocky outcrop so after taking a little while to get our breath back and to take in the spectacular views surrounding us we continued down the slope and up to large rocks above. Once we managed to climb up to the top we were meet with very strong winds and the fantastic sight of the end of a
The glacier face
Taken from the boat glacier in between Fitz Roy and another mountain and below a glacier lake the Laguna de Los Tres the extra effort it took to get there was well worth it
The walk back down the mountain side is as nearly as strenuous as the upwards journey and after 9 hours walking and climbing we arrived back in the village where we had a meal of grilled Patagonian lamb, this is where a whole carcass of the lamb has been stretched out to its full shape over a frame and is placed over hot wood and the meat is barbecued, this was washed down with a well deserved bottle of red wine.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 8; qc: 26; dbt: 0.042s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
sue
non-member comment
Fantastic scenery all looks amazing. Both of you will be so fit by the time you come home with all this mountaineering!Have fun lots of love X