Glacial Day-Glo: the ice of Perito Moreno!

Though our first attempt of getting up close to a glacier on our LatAm-2026 tour didn’t go quite to plan, our second sure made up for it. And so – introducing (to most of you, I think, dear readers): the Perito Moreno Glacier! ->

And here it is on Google Maps:

Glaciers in sunny weather are just oh-my-gorgeous: a wonderful, luxurious sight. But even when clouds partially block the sun’s rays – still not bad at all:

Every now and then a chunk breaks off the edge of the glacier with a powerful thud into the lake:

By the way, the Southern Patagonian Ice Field (which includes the Perito Moreno Glacier) is, if you believe the internet, the largest non‑polar ice formation in the world:

The viewing platforms for the glacier area are around 75km from El Calafate (the nearest city with an airport), but a visit is still worth it since it’s almost a full‑day event: there’s plenty of walking to be done:

You can even get up onto the glacier itself – in the photo you might just be able to make out a little boat near the shore, plus paths leading up to the glacier:

Alas, we didn’t have that kind of trek on the itinerary here since we had the one planned to the Huemul Glacier. Oh well.

The following pic shows the infrastructure of the viewing platforms/paths for admiring the Perito Moreno Glacier. And really neat it all was too:

Even neater was the view! ->

If you take a closer look, you can see the structure of the glacier’s upper surface. Not really suitable for walking around up there…

As to its dimensions, they’re roughly as follows: width – 4.4km; height in the middle, above the water – 70 meters; and at the edges – 40 meters. It’s a pity the depth of the lake isn’t given – it’s not clear how thick the ice sheet is.

And without that info it’s impossible to estimate how fast the glacier is feeding its material into the lake. I remember how in Greenland I found out that one of the most remarkable and accessible glaciers on that island (comparable to Perito Moreno) dumps water (in the form of ice) at a rate equivalent to a freight train of tanker-cars filled with water – with the train moving at 100km/h!

And this thing has about the same proportions, so I guess it’s the same here as in Greenland…

Through a telephoto lens it’s even prettier:

And that was that: walkabout on the elevated platforms/paths – done.

But there was more. Next up: boat trip almost right up to the glacier…

And a bit larger:

We boarded and sat down – and had to stay sat down. For some reason when the boat leaves the pier they make all the passengers sit in their seats. Why – no idea. They read out the safety instructions in Spanish, which I don’t really know, and then in completely incomprehensible so‑called “English”.