Argentina Guide
Patagonia
Glaciar Perito Moreno
Argentina's two greatest natural wonders couldn't contrast more: the sub-tropical waterfalls at Iguazú and the immense pack-ice of the GLACIAR PERITO MORENO (also called Ventisquero Perito Moreno). It's not the longest of Argentina's glaciers – nearby Glaciar Upsala is twice as long (60km) – and though the ice cliffs at its snout tower 50m to 60m high, the face of Glaciar Spegazzini can reach heights double that. However, such comparisons prove irrelevant when you stand on the boardwalks that face this monster. Perito Moreno has a star quality that none of the others rivals.
The glacier sweeps down off the icecap in a great motorway curve, a jagged mass of crevasses and towering, knife-edged seracs almost unsullied by the streaks of dirty moraine that discolour many of its counterparts. When it collides with the southern arm of Lago Argentino, the Canal de los Témpanos (Iceberg Channel), the show really begins: vast blocks of ice, some weighing hundreds of tonnes, detonate off the face of the glacier with the report of a small cannon and come crashing down into the waters below. These frozen depth-charges then surge back to the surface as icebergs, sending out a fairy ring of smaller lumps that form a protecting reef around the berg, which is left to float in a mirror-smooth pool of its own. Generally speaking, it advances about 7cm a day in winter.
That said, it's more likely you'll have to content yourself with the thuds, cracks, creaks and grinding crunches that the glacier habitually makes, as well as the wonderful variety of colours of the ice: marbled in places with streaks of muddy grey and copper-sulphate blue, whilst at the bottom the pressurized, de-oxygenated ice has a deep blue, waxy sheen. The glacier tends to be more active in sunny weather and in the afternoon, but early morning can also be beautiful, as the sun strikes the ice cliffs.
Most people visit on guided day-tours, which are offered by virtually all agencies in El Calafate and allow for around four hours at the ice face, the minimum required fully to appreciate the spectacle, and cost around $90, plus park entrance fee.