When I visited Glacier Bay in Canada I really thought I has seen it all, but today’s excursion to Perito Moreno Glacier was far more outstanding and made Glacier Bay look very small in comparison.
After breakfast, we head by bus to Perito Moreno where, after a short walk, we obtain our first glimpse of the glacier. Standing at over 100m high, it is one of the few glaciers in the world still advancing, and we will have a chance to watch it ‘calving’. This park has been declared as Mankind Heritage by UNESCO. Those glaciers that named it (about 47) show us a 10 thousand-year-old world: cold and wild. The most famous one is Perito Moreno Glacier in the southwestern end of Argentino Lake at 80 km away from El Calafate. This glacier is so-called due to a great Argentinian explorer from last century and is one of the few glaciers that is still moving in the world. That is why it has become one of the most spectacular natural shows in South America. From time to time its 60-m-high snout releases some ice walls as huge as
buildings that fall into Rico Bend or Canal de los
Témpanos (Ice floes Channel) and then they continue sailing along the channel to the main area of the lake. However, that is not all. The glacier, while moving forward, comes closer to the Magallanes Peninsula, in the opposite lake bank as well as footbridge and viewpoint area. This cycle takes from 4 to 6 years and it eventually separates the lake into two areas. Rico Bend is dammed up and it increases about 35 m over its average level. Its water slowly pierces its way through the glacier snout until it makes it fall down. After this exhilarating experience, we return to El Calafate.
Filed under: Adventure travel