Perito Moreno is one of the wildest and most remote national parks in Argentina and is named after Francisco Moreno, a naturalist and geographer who explored unknown areas and became an expert (perito) adviser.
Perito Moreno glacier drops into lake Argentino offering spectacularly roaring ice breaks. The rugged ice wall is visible from far away but discloses its full beauty only when accessed via tour boats and crampons…
Accessing the Perito Moreno Nationalpark is easy. A 75 km drive out of Calafate in Argentina’s Santa Cruz district will do. But if you wouldn’t know better you would think the street is taking you to a desert excursion or similar. The landscape doesn’t look at all as if it was to reveal a huge glacier around the corner.
But a few curves later, there it is…. A majestic and rugged wall of crackling ice.
Skip the first mirador (lookout) if you drive by car. It will probably be very busy because tour buses can easily stop there. A few hundred meters further down the road there’s an even more spectacular mirador. And it’s much less busy.
If possible, book the glacier climbing tour (Mini-Trekking). Bring a picnic, solid shoes and warm clothing and gloves. The crampons will be provided.
The tour begins by embarking for a 20 minutes navigation across the Rico Arm, enjoying breathtaking views of Perito Moreno glacier’s front wall.
From there it’s a 15 minutes walk to the ice field.
A short instruction later about walking on crampons you will find yourself clambering on Patagonia’s second largest glacier…
Attentive and knowledgeable tour guides will show you different routes through the ice, explain the existence of blue water holes, small lagoons, ice formations of the most incredible blues and more.
And eventually they even come up with a whisky on the rocks! How cool is that?!
Tour guides Luis and Charly from tour operator Hielo & Aventura will take you there and back safely.
Thanks a lot, guys!
We wrote about all our highlights in Patagonia in a separate article.
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7 Comments
Wau…it looks irreal, beautiful, hugh and cold! The guide on the right side looks like Feli…
Your pics are amazing! And you got an action shot of the glacier falling into the water – so money!
Thanks! I got even two action shots! Too bad I was not taking a video the second time around… As you know the roaring is intimidating!
These pictures look fantastic and it seems you had superb weather for your ice hike!
Yes ;-)
And the warm temperatures had the ice melting and crackling all the time, what a spectacular hike!