So the final day of the trip. The culmination of all things Argentina. It is...The Big Ice Adventure!
What is Big Ice? Very simple, it´s a tour of a glacier while you´re on the actual glacier. Just like Dr. Evil would say ask about "real freaking lasers?", this is a "real freaking glaicer." And the name of this glaicer is the Perito Moreno, one of the very few advancing glaciers in the world. 5k wide, 100 meters tall and 60k long, the Perito Moreno is the jewel of Los Glaciers National Parc. Here´s what went down.
The standard 5:30 wake up call was in full effect. Got my day going with some really old and crappy coffee and a few trips to el baño (I´ll spare you the deets). The pick up was for 7am and unlike yesterday the bus was actually on time for a change. One thing about being in Patagonia during this time of year is that the sun doesn´t rise until 8am so I conked out and slept for the 50km trip out to the glacier.
I was waken up by the lovely Roxanna who made us fill out the standard issue health form when we got inside the park. It was nothing major aside from lying about having any previous ankle injuries. We then made our way to the main lookout point where you can view the glacier in all its glory. It was 8:30 in the morning as we pulled into the lookout point and my initial reaction was (hide the women an children) "Holy Shit!" I had seen the Spegazzini and Upsalla glaicers yesterday from the boat but that was from a few hundred meters away. It was a totally different experience seeing the glacier from just over a hundred yards away. It´s a sheer wall of jagged and angry ice that moves a few meters a day into the Lago Argentino. The face of the glacier is a milky white with ice blue striations that line across the view point. In the summer time the glacier calves on a very regular basis (calving is when giant chunks of the glaciar fall into the lake resulting the icebergs and various glaciar related detritus). Lucky for me, I managed to catch a rather sizeable piece fall into the water and caught it on film. The sound is eerie, picture a lightning bolt hitting a phone pole with the resulting sound of giant waves crashing against a pier. It was complete nature: unbridled, fierce and awesome.
We left the lookout point and I remembered thinking to myself "I´m going to actually walk on that thing?" The answer: yes. We were taken by boat across the lake where many pictures were taken of the sun rising above the mountains and made our way to the hut that would serve as our jumping off point for the hike. Both groups were there: Big Ice (my group and the decididly more advanced undertaking) and the Minitrekking group which seemed to be made of invalids, old people and pussies. I was in the right place allthough I sense some of you would disagree. Paula introduced herself as our guide and told us that we could take everything out of our backpacks besides lunch. We were also told to empty our water bottles, a curious comment that I at first thought I´d misinterpreted through her broken English but I´ll get to that a little later.
After a very brisk 10 minute hike up some forest we stopped at a little clearing and were given our crampons for the hike. For those who may not know, crampons are spiked, metal attachments that are bound to the bottom of your boots/shoes with nylon straps and provide grip on the glacial surface. We were then guided through a rather strenous 30 minute hike on the side of the glacier where we would then attach our crampons and take on the Perito Moreno for ourselves. The whole hike up there was filled with total anticipation: the weather appeared to be agreeable and everyone in the group moved quickly and eagerly through the stones and rocks that had been deposited along the side of the glaciar over the past thousands of years. Even a waterfall with a dropoff point hundreds of meters in the air failed to grab anyones attention. The mission was as clear as the ice we were to walk on.
We reached our point of glacial entry, a clearing filled with dead trees and branches where we all sat and placed our crampons on with the help of the guides. The hike up had given me the chance to connect with a few other travelers, notably Javier (from Buenos Aires), Mike (a Kiwi) and Iza (Polish-born but Pennsylvania-bred). The four of us served as each others photographers during the 4 hour trek but I have to admit that I probably had them take more pictures with my camera than the three of them did combined.
The first stop on the glacier was a chasm the cracked and bubbled with deep blue glacial water. It was at this point that Paula told us that all the water on the Perito Moreno was safe to drink. An intrepid Colombian couple were the first to take a sip and after a resounding affirmation of their actions, the rest of us joined it. The water was cold (duh!) but delicious. Much crisper than anything Deer Park or Poland Spring could claim, this was water straight from the source with no BS to boot.
The group was then taken to a rock pit, or at least I think that´s what it was called. Its a giant hole, 6 feet by 10 feet wide that is filled with mountain water and descends 70 meters into midnight blue darkness. I tested this out by dropping a nearby stone into the abyss and after a few seconds it was gone. For anyone thinking of taking a dip in a glaciar at any point in their lives, may I suggest you refrain from dipping nary a toe in one of these rock pits. Standing on the cusp of one of these things elicits a chilling fear, literally and figuratively. Which brings me to my next subject: The Weather.
The guides had told us that if the weather stays nice, which it was at the time, then we would be able to have lunch in the middle of the glacier. But if things started to act up we would have to cut short our hike and take refuge in a nearby tent setup for just this type of occasion. One thing was for sure, if I had to step into that tent I would have been pissed. We were told that the hikers yesterday were met with the same glorious early morning conditions but just as they got out on the glaciar the rain began to start and the hike quickly turned into a death march. I can think of few places on earth I´d rather be during a downpour than a glaciar. Not only is there no shelter but you move with the speed and agility of drunk turtle and everything around you is cold and wet already with things setting up to only get worse. Lucky for us the weather was simply magnficent. So fantastic that we started shedding layers en masse. I was decked out in a long sleeved poly-pro undershirt, a microfleece, a regular fleece and my rain jacket and by the end of the day I was wearing half the layers I had on in the begining of the day. I can´t even begin to tell you what this meant in both group morale and the resulting photographs that I had taken: I managed an arthritc index finger inducing 312 photos and movies by the end of the day.
Hiking around the glaciar for a few hours, Paula directed us to a lagoon that sat on the surface of the ice where we would take lunch. You know when you buy a computer and it comes pre-equipped with photos of beautiful places that you can use as either a screensaver or a desktop backgroud? This was one of those places. Blue water flowed into the lagoon through a makeshift waterfall and the surface of the snow was pocked with marks that resembled acne in their appearance. This almost lunar landscape was the setting for easily the most incredible lunch location I´d ever had. And what did I have? A PowerBar and a turkey sandwich that Iza was kind enough to share with me. Yeah, classy, I know, thanks.
We then headed back to the jump in point where my energy levels started to dip. All that walking in the bright sunshine (that reflects off the snow and makes things a little dicey at times) had made me somewhat weary. That said, I was still trucking along and just taking everything in. Fantastic.
We reached the point, took off our crampons and made our way back to the boats. Photos and videos were taken on the hike back and I just had an ear to ear smile the entire way down. This is what I had come down here for. To explore the wilds and ruggedness of Patagonia. To test myself, albeit not that much. And to have an adventure that would be more than just the run of the mill ski trip or beach vacation. I left the Perito Moreno knowing that I had acheived my goal. The boat ride back was met with celebratory whiskey on the rocks (legitamate rocks as they were ice chunks taken from the glacier itself). Photos of the group were taken and I exchanged information with Mike, Javier and Iza. It was a momentous day and truly the cherry atop a trip that has made me a new person perhaps.
My flight takes off tomorrow at 11:54am where I start the 21 hour journey back to NYC. I´ll let this experience marinate a bit before I choose some closing thoughts but let me make one thing clear: Do yourself a favor and go on a trip. It can be a day or it can be for a year. It doesn´t have to be to Argentina but go somewhere different. Somewhere you haven´t been before. You´ll be amazed how clear your mind will be when you return.
Hasta La Vista,
Zooooooooooooooooooooooooooooob
1 comment:
I'll steal the words Bush said to the Pope after his speech at the White House, "Awesome speech, Pope."
Awesome descriptions, Noug.
Oh, just one more thing...I guess you won't be using the word much in Manhattan, but "glaciar" is actually more commonly spelled "glacier." But it is a tiny detail dwarfed by excellence of the material you have captured so well.
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