An amazing day at the Perito Merino Glacier.

The Perito Moreno Glacier is a glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia.

The 250 km² (97 sq mi) ice formation, and 30 km (19 mi) in length, is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. This ice field is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.

The Perito Moreno glacier, located 78 kilometres (48 mi) from El Calafate, was named after the explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 19th century and played a major role in defending the territory of Argentina in the conflict surrounding the international border dispute with Chile.

I took the above photo as we were getting close to the area where we would commence our ice trek.

And that's me of course ready to be an explorer for the day.

At the end of the trek the company provide a shot of whiskey as a reward for making the trek. I had a nice glass of very chilled water.

The photo of our group walking the ice.

Looking at the face of the glacier from ground zero is when you really appreciate the magnitude of this ice field.

That's Carmen in the white top walking towards the starting point of the ice trek with the rest of our group.

Now for the story of trekking the ice.

Today is the day I go and visit the world famous Perito Merino Glacier about 80 kms away from El Calafate, and I'm going there with Carmen and Julia. We were picked up from our hotel around 8.30am and then spent half an hour driving around to other hotels picking up clients who were coming along for the trek of the glacier.

Once we were on our way we travelled out along the lake foreshore and then entered the Los Glaciares National Park. We had to pay an additional fee of 215 Pesos to enter the park on top of the tour cost of 1100 pesos.

Next was the boat trip across the lake which took about 20 minutes belting head on into a ferocious headwind. No one was allowed to stand outside because of the spray coming all over the boat and it would have been far too dangerous.

Once we arrived at the glacier the sight of this enormous ice wall was breathtaking.

We put our crampons on and headed off along a boardwalk and up the ice. We tried to get over the ridge and the top of the ice field but were forced back due to the high winds. We waited for 20 minutes then attempted again, and this time were successful. The view of the ice and it's caves and crevasses were eerie so close up. I now have a better understanding when I read about those explorers who slip into a crevasses, it would almost be impossible to get them back out. 

After the trek we then went back to the resting area for lunch and sat watching these massive walls of a glacier slowly grow 20 cms a day and break off with tremendous noise as blocks crash into the waters below. 

We were called to get back onto the boat to go back across the lake for the next part of our tour, walking the board walk to give us a different angle of this massive ice berg.

After that we were all beat, we had a long day and it was time to get back on the bus and go back into town for dinner. Once dinner was over and the purchasing of 2 nice T-shirts, followed by an ice cream, we finally made it back to our hotel to get our gear ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we start day 1 of 3 on the road to Torres Del Paine. This also suppose to be a spectacular place for hiking. I'm not sure about hiking on my rest day again. I think I'll lay in my tent and do nothing all day.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.