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.