Tag Archives: Patagonia

Above Argentina – Part 1: Patagonia

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The flight from El Calafate to Mendoza via Buenos Aires (like most domestic flights in Argentina) provided opportunities for aerial photos of all three locations. I’ll share aerial views in this and the next two posts.

We flew out of El Calafate’s airport on a morning of sunshine and dramatic clouds. Our path crossed Lago Argentino, the large fresh-water lake whose source is the Andean glaciers. We had good views of the lake and the Andes beyond.

We then tracked the valley of the Santa Cruz River, which runs from Lago Argentina to the Atlantic Ocean.

Next: On to Buenos Aires for a change of planes!

Upsala Glacier

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After the track petered out and the 4×4 vehicle could go no further, we walked about half a kilometer over desolate Andean glacial moraine to reach a stunning viewpoint over the Upsala glacier.

In the picture above, you can see one of Upsala glacier’s three branches sitting above the lake, while in the foreground the glacial moraine is visible. Below, one of two tributary glaciers feeds into the second branch of Upsala glacier.

Upsala is one of the many glaciers that is shrinking. This one is shrinking rather dramatically–at about six meters *per day*. In the above two photos the high-level mark of Upsala glacier on the rock mountains is dramatically evident.

Estancia Cristina

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Because of the icebergs, we could not approach Upsala glacier from the lake, and so we booked a trip to Estancia Cristina on the far side of the lake and from there took a four-wheel drive vehicle to an overlook site. Estancia Cristina was once a sheep ranch of over 50,000 acres, with over 27,000 head of sheep. Everything had to be brought into the estancia by boat, and prices for wool made these costs prohibitive. Eventually the estancia  with its magnificent scenery was taken over as part of Los Glaciares National Park.

The 4×4 vehicle bumped and jostled over some of the most magnificent countryside Dan and I have ever seen.

We also saw some of the wild horses that roam the estancia–escapees of several generations ago that are now completely feral. And lovely. (Horses now used on the ranch are geldings, so no chance of new blood in the herd.)

In the next post I’ll discuss and show what we all came here to see: the Upsala glacier.


Land meets sea meets sky on Lago Argentino – December 25, 2010

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The largest body of fresh water in Argentina, Lago Argentino is the terminus of several southern Andean glaciers. As you might expect, it’s surrounded by mountains.

As the day went on, the views became more and more dramatic.

Clouds developed, until the interaction of sea and sky and mountain was heartstoppingly beautiful.

When the ship reached the dock at Estancia Cristina, we debarked and took a four-wheel drive vehicle over truly beautiful countryside to reach a viewpoint of the Upsala Glacier. The next post contains views of that countryside.


Beautiful ice, part 2 – December 25, 2010

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I wanted to go see Upsala Glacier by boat, along with some of the other glaciers that are part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Unfortunately, a large part of the glacier’s front broke off several years ago, and the channel is now blocked with icebergs. And so the boat traveled to view, not the glacier (that comes in a later post, my friends) but the icebergs. Can you say, “Titanic?”

It turns out that icebergs are just as beautiful and perhaps even more surreal than glaciers.

At first, we saw just a few icebergs here and there in the lake, like ships on their own courses.

But as we headed up the channel, we got much closer to them. And they were bigger.

And yes, in case you’re wondering. They really do look blue. Depending on the light, sometimes glistening white but at other times, in the shadows, a blue so intense it hurts to look at and yet is impossible to look away from.

Soon the glaciers filled the channel.

Each, more beautiful than the next.

The landscapes and seascapes of this excursion were particularly magnificent. Next, I’ll post some seascapes (with mountains), and then we’ll move to the views on land.

Beautiful Ice, Part 1 – December 24, 2010

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Besides for its jagged peaks and spires and startling crevasses, the most amazing thing about the ice is its color. Wherever it folds in on itself, the ice is blue–often the stunning aquamarine of the clearest tropical waters, but also in places a rich deep blue that wants to hold onto your eyeballs and never let go. Here are some pictures of glacial ice, as true to shape and color as I could get them.

The next post will talk about icebergs. Which, it turns out, are also beautiful.

Fun with crampons – December 24, 2010

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Let me just say, for the record, that I don’t like ice. I don’t like walking on ice. I especially don’t like walking uphill and most especially downhill on ice. (See walkers below, tiny compared to the ice.)

So what am I doing here, crampons strapped to my rented hiking boots, preparing to set out on the ice of this glacier?

That’s me, second from the right, back to the camera, contemplating death via uncontrolled slide into the frigid waters of the lake below.

No, actually, what I’m doing is preparing to have some serious ice-stomping fun. Crampons are great. For an hour and a half, the group marches firmly (this is how you have to walk, wearing crampons) across a landscape of ice that seems to be part of another planet.

We edge around bottomless sinkholes, ford rivers flowing over ice, gape at overhangs of vivid cerulean.

The ice is beautiful, and ultimately, that’s why we’re all here. But more on the sheer beauty of it in the next post.

Big Ice – 12/24/2010

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The thing that neither words nor images convey adequately is the sheer size of the Perito Moreno glacier. But of course I’m going to try.

First, the words. Perito Moreno’s front on Lake Argentina is three miles wide, with an average height of 240 feet. That’s about the height of a twenty-story office building. It’s also about twenty miles long, one arm of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the third largest reserve of fresh water on the planet (after Antarctica and Greenland). And Perito Moreno is one of only a small handful (three?) of glaciers that are growing. It advances about six to ten feet a day.

Distances are large here under the Patagonian mountains and sky. So the glacier may not look like much from a distance.

But when you’re on a tour boat in front of the glacier, you feel small. Really small. The whole boat full of fifty (more or less) people feels small.

Well, actually, compared to the glacier, the boat *is* small. Here’s a photo from the shore, with the boat about halfway across the lake in front of the glacier. I circled the boat in red. I had to, because otherwise you might miss it.

This is A WHOLE LOT OF ICE.

Next post: Trekking on the ice, or fun with crampons.

Jagged Mountains – 12/24/2010

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“I’ve been cut by the beauty of jagged mountains…”

“…and cut by the love that flows like a fountain from God.”

Thanks for the lyrics, Bruce Cockburn. They surely apply to the ice mountains of the Perito Moreno glacier. More in later posts.