As I mentioned in my last post our tour company Hielo y Aventura have a monopoly on this glacier trekking trip and they sure made you were a part of the circus. After some gimmicky chat from our tour guide on the bus he paused just before we got our first glimpse of the glacier. They actually cued up a cresendo of orchestral music to emphasize the grandeur of the glacier. This was by far one of the worst things that I have witnessed a tour company do.

Our first stop was at the the catwalks across from the northern face of the glacier. The face can be as high as sixty meters and changes in colours from deep blue to ice white. Huge jagged columns are twisting and jarring their way towards the skies. The glacier face is the culmination of two giant glaciers meeting several kilometers back from where I was standing. The main point of going to the catwalks is to see the glacier calving. The noise is similiar to a shotgun except with a bit more of a hollow sound. It is so quiet there and all of a sudden there is a thunderous crack, huge chunks of ice are falling, splintering into fragments and crashing into the icy lake below. It is just incredible.

Hiking is on the southern ridge of the glacier so after about and hour we were heading towards the dock to get the boat to the glacier. Once again I was treated to magnificent views of the glacier and from lake level you get a true appreciation of the height of the glacier face. After a quick debrief on the camp we were split into groups. Once again we lucked out and managed to get a small group of about ten people including the two guides. We walked through the woods that run parallel to the glacier for about forty minutes until we reached the another little camp. Here we were given our harness and our crampons. We were not actually tethered together, it was just in case one of us decided to fall into a crevasse. This way it would be easier to send a rope down and rescue the person. As it was summer there was a considerable melt occurring on the glacier. (Note the Perito Moreno glacier is not retreating due to this so called global warming). As such there was no real path on the glacier as its topology is constantly changing. It is a lot safer at this time to go trekking too as there are no snow deposits on the glacier that cover up crevasses The tour is more of a stroll around, trying to find new formations and to see what is going on. Due to the melt there were some pretty decent rivers forming. It was textbook river formation, it was pretty cool. The refraction from the sun and the speed of the flowing water made it look so awesome. Several times we has to jump over these streams and clamber up the other side. I will admit that I did put a bit too much faith in my crampons and thought I would never fall or slip. In fairness, I didn't actually fall but it is never too good to be over confident in your equipment. It was scheduled to be a three plus hour walk over the glacier including a glacier top luncheon. We crossed over rivers, avoided crevasses, walked towards the jagged center where the two glaciers met and started in awe at the erosion and the resulting valley. I also got a good chuckle when the piece of ice Peter standing trying to cross the river broke and he started to sink a bit. It was in the last twenty minutes of exploring that really blew my mind away. We had been walking for about three hours at this stage so it was a bit tiring and I was ready to leave. That was until our guide found a tunnel that had been created by one of the glacial rivers. The river had long passed through it but it left a tunnel about three feet wide, a few inches short of six feet in height and about twenty feet long. Hence I was almost able to stand upright in it - Yay! It was unreal - at the start of the tunnel it was a light blue colour but the further you moved down it became a purple haze. The guide has only heard about this cave and had not actually been in there himself. Everyone in the group was like a group of giddy schoolkids. Delighted with our tunnel adventure we set back towards the camp full of enthusiasm and chat. We were treated to ice cold scotch and panoramic views of the glacier as we made our way back to the mainland. It was a real memorable experience and one of my "must see" of the trip - to witness the glacier calving - was a success. Win win I reckon