Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the most famous glaciers of Patagonia. Not only because it is as huge as the city of Buenos Aires, but also stunningly beautiful. This is one of the few glaciers on Earth, which despite of the global warming is still growing instead of retreating.
Additionally, this is one of the few glaciers, where tourists can go on a trek on the top of the glacier. When we found it out, we knew that this is a must do activity in Patagonia. We booked our full day Perito Moreno tour with Hielo & Aventura. The tour cost about 115 EUR/ person plus we had to pay the National park entrance fee on top (~11 EUR).
The bus picked us up in the morning at our accommodation, the bus ride took about 1,5 hours and we had a nice view on Lago Argentino.
When we arrived to the glacier, we had one hour to go around the walkways opposite the glacier and explore the most beautiful views of Perito Moreno. We could easily spend there 2-3 hours to really walk along all parts of the walkway, however we had to reach the boat what took us to the other side of the bay.
There is a very special and unique phenomenon happening every 2-4 years with Perito Moreno Glacier. This is when the end of the glacier is reaching the land just below the walkways, and the ice is creating a bridge over the water. This unique phenomenon collapsed just 2 weeks before our visit.
Anyways, the glacier itself was already very stunning, and the best part just came.
The bus took us to the harbor, and we took a boat to go to the other side of the bay, just next to the edge of the glacier. The boat tour was around 15 minutes, and we could go up to the roof of the boat, and get the best view of the glacier.
Before starting the hike, we ate our lunch at the picnic tables with the perfect view on the glacier. After lunch we started the adventure. It began with a short walk in the forest, and our tour guide held a very informative speech about the glacier.
Then we got the must-wear equipment, the crampons, the helmets and the gloves.
TIP: Bring your own gloves, it is cozier and also more hygienic. And it is a must to wear them on the glacier, so if you forget to bring yours you have to wear the ones that they provide.
We have worn crampons for the first time, it was funny to walk in them, because we had to walk with our legs quite apart from each other, in order to not hurt our ankle with the iron spikes.
Then started the trekking. It was a super fun experience. We had to push our feet harder in the ice each time, to make sure that the spikes of our crampons are clinging on the ice so that we don’t fall.
The surface of the glacier was not like flat ice, but rough because of the airbubbles in the ice. The top layer of the glacier was white, again because of the airbubbles, but there were holes, where we could see that how beautiful king-blue were the deeper layers where the ice was totally compressed because of the weight of the new ice on top of the glacier.
The hike took more than 1,5 hours and we were wandering around the beautiful ice formations of the glacier. It was such a unique experience, everywhere we looked we saw only the massive ice. Some parts of it were dirty because the wind brought sandy dirt and soil from the land, but other than that the deeper layers and the water in the holes were crystal clear → so we even filled our water bottles from the glacier water.
As a closing of the glacier hike, we were invited for some whiskey of course with glacier ice in it, and some local sweets.
And for closing our beautiful and tiring Patagonian Adventure, in the evening we went for a walk in the nice city of El Calafate, and tried out the original Argentinian steak in the very cozy restaurant of Isabel Cocina al Disco.
Have a nice day,
Berni
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