Scott & Captain Oates on the Perito Moreno Glacier

Neither of us fancied the Tourist trap of being bussed to the Perito Moreno glacier but it was the only way to do the ice hike.

The bus was late but arrived eventually & was packed. I had to sit with the naughty boys on the back row whilst Wilks got the Grandmother (I think they were about the same age).
Luckily, driving through the amazing scenery did not put the lads off their handheld computer games.

We were taken to a small jetty where we got on our ferry to view the Glacier up close. It really is something special to see the glacier pouring out of the mountains and in to the lake. You hear what sounds like, a cross between an Artillery barrage and a rumble of thunder, you look in the direction of the noise and see huge slabs of ice fall, as if in slow motion, into the water with a slap/splash followed by a small tidal wave.

The great thing about this Glacier is that, in the centre, it is moving at 1.5 meters a day! So the artillery reports are quite frequent and exciting to hear to and watch the resulting collapse (the glacier is about 60 meters high). Very hard to film as Wilks told me he had the wrong; light, lens, filter * Delete as applicable. I did try to video some of the collapses but they just don't come out well on the camera.

The boat then delivered us to the other side of the lake where we disembarked for our hike across the glacier.
Wilks said he needed the toilet and that "he may be gone some time............" so he gets to be Oates on this trek!
We were split in to groups of 12 & Diego was our guide. He was very funny and despite having done this a 1,000 times was very good entertainment. We were fitted with Crampons and then given a lesson in in walking up and down hill in them - you have to walk down hill as if you have just filled your pants with something unpleasant. Wilks way behind me and seemed to find this most amusing.

Wilks auditioning for the Etam catalogue

Apart from Diego we also had a "sweeper up" at the back called Marcelo. He was there to pick up the fallers but seemed to be most concerned for the safety of an attractive, young, redhead chica. It was not all flat and they had us up and down some pretty decent hollows and gulley's. This one had a small stream filling this little pond - the water is a clear as gin (but tasted of water - I know because we tried some).

It was great fun and really interesting. Everyone studying geography should come on this as a field trip. In the classroom we all did the "moraines" thing but when you see the sheer scale of how much rock Glaciers move it makes it clear how they shape the mountains and valley's. The other thing you see when so close is that the "white" is actually "dirty" and covered in grit from the rock scoured from the slopes earlier & higher in its life.

After we had been scampering about on the ice for about 90 mins they brought us to their stash of Scotch and chocolates. They chipped a bit of the glacier off and we had scotch on the rocks - Glacier style. 

Neither of us like Scotch but this was perfect!

Touristy yep, but brilliant!

Picnic lunch and a ferry ride back to the coach which then took up to the viewing platform.
The glacier is one of the few that is still growing, in this case it grows into the lake cutting it in half, creating a differential in water levels - one side being 6-9 meters higher than the other. The viewing platform is right at the point of the "blockage". Every few years the ice collapses. It is overdue for a breakage and as we walked down to the viewing platform we heard and then saw a big fall of ice............it wasn't the big one unfortunately - what a sight that must be as the water floods out as far as Calafate 70 kms away.

It was a really good day out, fun to do with Wilks.

Wilks has an ambition to take 6 "quality" pictures on his time in S America, he has got one so far. We were checking our respective photos back at the hotel and he found the 2nd of the 6. The trouble was that I, the "great" wildlife photographer had got one! He said something about "if you throw enough shit at the wall some of it will stick" - i will just keep pressing the shutter then!

It does look as if someone has turned on Luke Skywalkers light-sabre but this is what the ice can look like when the sun hits it just right. No photo editing - this is just as it looked!

The next day Wilks got up and left at 2.30 am to catch his bus, I got up at 8.00 to catch my bike. It was great to spend a few days together but i think we are both happy to get back to our own travels (both being selfish bastards you see).