Christof's Blog: Ice Age in El Calafate

As mentioned in my previous post, I count myself among the ignorant Europeans that mostly associated Argentina (or South America for that matter) with nice hot temperatures and the Gauchos just short of being as barely clothed as the stereotypical Brazilian samab dancer (just with a different hat). Well, to say the least, I am now impressed by the microclimate in this region as you can actually get four different seasons in just one day.

My trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier today showcased all this petfectly. Yes, I was going to hike on a glacier and yes, I was dressed for the ocasion, but still this was the second time in two days that I was extremely happy I had bought my first pair of long underpants since kindergarden (thanks Pennies). The way from El Calafate through the national park led me right into a full-blown snow storm again. The driver had to stop as the road two metres ahead was not visible anymore. I already thought about what use the hiking would be if I wouldn't even be able to see the glacier. From time to time there was a sign announcing a viewpoint - the view was always white noise - snow, wind, nothingness. Would I really be at the sunny Iguazu Falls in just a day?

Luckily enough, as soon as I was on the boat that brought an excited crowd of tourists toward the glacier over Lake Argentino, it started to clear up. Perito Moreno is part ofnthe third largest ice mass in the world stretching over parts of Chile an Argentina. This is especially astonishing as El Calafate -according to the knowledgeable guide - has about the same latitude as Berlin or Glasgow in the Northern hemisphere - and I remember being spring in Berlin to be a lot warmer and without a glacier slowly moving along the Kurfürstendamm and calving loudly at the Brandenburg Gate every once in a while. The area is also only around 100 metres above sea level, which usually isn't where you would look for a glacial area as well.

The glacier here has stayed more or less stable ever since the last Ice Age due to the special microclimate made possible by the cold air flowing over the Andes from the west. The front of Perito Moreno is stationary and the whole thing does not move a lot, which keep the upper and lower area in balance. The glacial area used to be bigger in the past, also stretching over the lakes such as Lake Argentino we had just crossed. In the pictures, you can see the end of the glacier meeting the lake. The top is between 50 and 70 metres above the level of the lake and below the water it stretches for another 80 to 100 metres. At the core, the whole thing is up to 700 metres thick and there it moves around 2 metres a day, which obviously causes friction with the rather stationary end parts and leads to frictions and large parts of the ice breaking off - the last time this had happened in March. It is definitely a humbling feeling to see this huge mass of ice and to hear it cracking when it calves smaller bits.

Now I am ready for a warmer climate and want a few days of summer before returning to what the Bay Area calls winter soon. Next post will be from Iguazu in subtropic climate. Hasta Pronto!