Ice, lots and lots of ICE

This is the magnificent Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate in Patagonia. It is freakin' HUGE, apparently the same size, including all the ice you can't see, as Buenos Aires. The glacier moves slowly but steadily down the mountain until water seeps in enough to cause huge portions to drop off into the lakes (apparently the technical term is "calve", though please, correct me if any of this is bollocks!)

According to our guide, snow falls on the mountaintop, then gets compressed into ice, which then takes between two and five thousand years to make it down the mountain before falling into the lakes and becoming water again. The cracking sound as the ice shifted around was incredible, and very eerie, much like a thunderstorm, and I'm terrified of storms. But the sight of a two hundred foot wall of ice crashing into the water was unforgettable.

(My apologies if the video is a tad shaky, it was pretty windy and cold out there by the glacier!)


Perito Moreno Glacier from Tina Cone on Vimeo.