El Calafate is the gateway to the Argentinan side of Patagonia. It is also the jumping off point for visiting the Patagonian glaciers. These glaciers are some of the biggest in the world. (The south Patagonian icefiels is the 3rd biggest in the world after the arctic and Greenland. Presumably the Antarctic ice fields are broken up by land masses). I’d (Vicky) been very much looking forward to visiting the glaciers as I’d been so impressed with the glaciers on Kili. Also, as these glaciers are moving they spit chunks off which go crashing into the glacial lakes – apparently a very dramatic sight to witness.
El Calafate is a very nice place even though it is very touristy. It’s very like a ski resort in the Alps, lots of wooden triangular buildings and plenty of restaurants and bars. The temperature is also perfect for both of us. We had been expecting severe Patagonian weather but what we got most of the days we were there was weather which resembled those really nice summer days in England. It’s probably at its warmest in the evening and as it doesn’t get dark until midnight the nights are very pleasant indeed. It’s such a big change, Africa was equatorial so the sun was up at 6 and down again at 6. Then we went home for Christmas and someone kept turning the sun off at 4pm! We traveled up to Glasgow and they don’t turn the sun on there! Then Patagonia 4 hours of darkness a day, it’s like a whole new world.
We booked ourselves into a boat tour of the glaciers followed by a Big Ice experience the next day. The boat tour was really spectacular. On a fast moving catamaran (50mph) we sailed really close to icebergs which neither of us had ever seen before. I never realized they would be blue and it took Phil a while to convince me that the first ice berg we saw was exactly that and not just a blue boat! The icebergs came in lots of different shapes and sizes and were very surreal. We’ve put a couple of pictures on here but we actually took hundreds (some of you are in for a fascinating night on our return). The boat took us around the lake to the foot of three glaciers. It’s awe inspiring to realize that the lake bed was once carved out by giant extensions of the glacers we were looking at. The lake must be 200km long and 50km wide. More impressively, even though we’re high in the mountains and the rivers from the lake mouths run right across the continent to the east coast, the lakes are below sea level in places. The glaciers had to be kilometers thick to gouge the lakes and judging by the glacial scars on the mountains they stood 600m higher than they are now.
Vicky getting blown about on the boat
Thankfully we didn´t follow in the Titanic´s footsteps.....
Although couldn´t resist playing football with a lump of ice on deck a la Titanic style
In front of Moreno Glaciar
Pretty place we stopped for lunchThe glaciers we visited were still humongous! They towered above us with front faces 10m high in places. The noise they made when chunks split off was like thunder. Again hundreds of photies!
Us enjoying a whiskey on Moreno glaciar iceBig ice tour
So the next day we were booked on a big ice tour, which involves trekking around the glacier in crampons for around 4 hours. 7 hours in total if you count the walk there and back. But hey, it’s light for 20 hours a day so no problem. (Phil) I’ve walked on Glaciers before in Alaska, I spent about a week on one. But it’s still amazing, the forms and shapes are beautiful, the water rushing down sink holes into the interior of the glacier thunders along and the crevasses change everyday offering great gaps, ceracs or crystal blue lakes of trapped surface water. I love crampons too. With 8 one inch spikes sinking into the ice with every foot fall, you can be incredibly sure footed. I took endless photo’s and I’m very much hoping some of the shots of sink holes and blue ice will be good enough for the wall. Vicky on the other hand, has never been on a glacier before. She didn’t just love it, she walked around all day with a big grin on her face. We walked out into the centre where you’re surrounded by a desert of ice. The day ended with a trip through an ice tunnel.
Phil can jazz dance even with crampons on
I make running on ice look easy
Ice Jazz dancing!
Big deep funky pool on the ice
Jumping over rivers in the ice (I refused to take the guides offer of assistance!!) 
A river runs through it
The guide let me borrow his ice axe for a while....
In an ice cave
Phil in the entrance to cave
Coming out of the cave
Up a snow cliff
In front of a lagoonEl Chalten
The next day we headed to El Chalten which is the centre for trekking in the area.
We walked into the first tour operator and said we’d like to spend more time on the ice. They suggested 2 hours on the glacier in the ice climbing school. We pointed at the big 100km trek around the back of the mountains across the heart of the glacier. They told us how much it cost, we asked if we could go the next day. They said ‘are you serious?’ We said yes they said, ‘this is crazy!’ They pointed out how far it was, how far from rescue it all was, how much weight we’d have to carry in our backpacks, how bad the weather could get, and that the trip was normally booked from abroad by groups of experienced mountaineers who still often didn’t know what they were getting into. But our mind was made up, we felt they were just telling us the glacier had called us soft tourists with no right to go anywhere wild and so the only appropriate response would be to go and tramp the glacier back into it’s place for a week. We said we’d give them some time to organize and come back later in the day. So later that day we met the guide and after reassuring him we were serious we planned the trip, all three of us left the office with big grins. It looked like a really good trip .
We walked into the first tour operator and said we’d like to spend more time on the ice. They suggested 2 hours on the glacier in the ice climbing school. We pointed at the big 100km trek around the back of the mountains across the heart of the glacier. They told us how much it cost, we asked if we could go the next day. They said ‘are you serious?’ We said yes they said, ‘this is crazy!’ They pointed out how far it was, how far from rescue it all was, how much weight we’d have to carry in our backpacks, how bad the weather could get, and that the trip was normally booked from abroad by groups of experienced mountaineers who still often didn’t know what they were getting into. But our mind was made up, we felt they were just telling us the glacier had called us soft tourists with no right to go anywhere wild and so the only appropriate response would be to go and tramp the glacier back into it’s place for a week. We said we’d give them some time to organize and come back later in the day. So later that day we met the guide and after reassuring him we were serious we planned the trip, all three of us left the office with big grins. It looked like a really good trip .
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