January - to Perito Moreno Glacier

Hi:  I told you I booked a trip to the glacier.  They pick you up in a bus, take you out there giving all sorts of commentary (in Spanish & English), and you have a great time.  Well, that's the theory.  It rained (gatos y perros) all night and I figured today would be a washout.   But the rain stopped just after breakfast, the day improved rapidly and it turned out very well.

 A shot of one of the other (gazillion) tour buses on the way out.  We are looking in a direction south of where today's glacier is - it's actually towards Torres del Paine, where I was last week.











More of the dry rolling countryside.  When they do get rain, the wind dries it out very quickly. 

Yikes!  Here's our full sized bus passing another full sized bus on a narrow winding road in the park. We survived.  I think they all know each other, so it is a bit of a game.

One of the first views of the glacier.  It is massive and is a confluence of (I believe) 5 glaciers up in the hills.  I took a ton of photos, but I'll only bore you with a few.

Facts.  This glacier travels 2 meters per day - a phenomenal rate (I don't know where this rates in the world).  The result is lots of calving at the toe.  All day long there were explosions and thunder as chunks of ice fell off, or the glacier was rupturing and stressing internally.



I didn't try to get a photo (or movie) of ice falling.  

This is a view of the left side of the glacier.  Note the narrow channel of water just between the main glacier and the chunk of ice on the other side of the channel.  The water is flowing quickly through here.

Regularly (every few years) the ice advances and / or collapses so as to block the flow of water.   The water builds up on the left side, flooding that arm of the lake, apparently as much as 25 feet deep.  Eventually, the water collapses the ice dam and things return to normal.

A view of the right side of the glacier toe.   This area is not stressed as much, so it has a much more regular form.  There were some spectacular "calvings" on this side as well.

 A closer look at the area in the middle of the toe, called the "Rupture Zone."  The forces on the ice must be enormous.

I took a picture of this print (in the men's bano if you must know).  It is old, but shows the later stages of a collapse, after the water has worked it's way through the ice dam.


That's it for today.  Tomorrow it is back on the bus to travel to El Chalten.  I stay one night in a hotel there and then head out for a few more days of hiking, hopefully to get some good views of Mt. Fitzroy.

On one of my earlier posts, some smart aleck implied that I might not be carrying a full pack.
To put that rumour to bed, here's a selfie of me in the mirror of my room.  See, I am lugging a full pack.
I bought a beer before I started writing this.  A one litre beer costs just over $4 Cdn.  And it's cheaper during happy hour ($3.50).  I shared it with the fellow working the desk.  The beer is fine, but the wine is superb.

Last night I had dinner at "Rick's" (no, not Rick and Sue's).  The hunk of grilled beef they gave me would normally feed Laura and I for two meals.  But it was good.

Will try to get a post from El Chalten tomorrow.  Off to downtown, now.