See the city of El Calafate, in Santa Cruz, following a long journey from the Perito Moreno National Park, in the northwest of the province, may be a distant but possible adventure. A group of influencers and media outlets participated in the first ‘fam press’ organized by the Santa Cruz State Secretary of Tourism aimed at the segment that makes up the LGBTIQ+ collective and discovered this wonder of the world.
They arrived there and according to what they say in Télam, the largest and best-known attraction in the world, the Perito Moreno Glacier, might not be made to wait, so despite a less benign climate than desired -although you always have to take into account that it can vary from one hour to another- the slogan was to head towards that distant natural wonder a little more than 70 kilometers from the city.
The path to the glacier by the provincial route 11, skirts the Argentino Lakeallowing to discover the passage from the steppe to the Patagonian Andean forest, and to observe the fauna of the place.
In it parking lot waited for the group César Bortoluzzi, guide of Los Glaciares National Park since 2004 and a member of the Santa Cruz Guide Association, which has regarding 140 associates, and who bears the LGBTIQ+ badge on his badge that associated guides wear.
The view of the glacier impacts in every way: due to its immensity, its white color with bluish veins, the cold that radiates -from the walkways you are regarding 300 meters away- and the noise that from time to time the ice falls produce.
The catwalks, impeccable in their design and distribution, have four routes: one red, the longest; another yellow, one blue, and lastly, one green.
«At the beginning of the yellow route is the balcony of the Flag, which is the most panoramic of all the balconiesand there we will first take a small part of the red route, to then resume a part of the yellow route and connect with the blue one, which is all downhill to end at the restaurant where we have lunch”, he explained to the group, still amazed by the wonderful natural spectacle.
Colors are marked on the railing; In all the viewpoints there are posters with information, and in all the posters there is a map of the catwalks, which are very comfortable to walk (like the ones in Iguazú) with 6 steps and a flat part.
«In some parts there are two steps at once, but it is comfortable to walk, and we also have an accessible route for people who come in a wheelchair or who cannot walk well. They are walkways without steps and you go behind the map to the roof and there is a ramp to the first balcony that is accessible to everyone. To return, there is an elevator and a ramp that reaches here, “Bortoluzzi told with surgical precision.
Seeing the topography and relief of the place appreciates the good work done, which does not date from long ago, since according to the guide, «until 1988 there was only the yellow route and the red bajadita; and from 2014 the red route was extended, the green one was built, which is now closed due to the danger of collapse from falling trees, branches; and blue was added.
He Mirador de la Bandera is the point where the group is positioned to listen to the explanations.
«We have the southern front, which can be seen partly to the left (looking from the front). The arch forms just below where we are, where we can see some seams of stone sticking out of the water, below to the left. Ice falls all the time, even in winter. The glacier moves all the time,” she detailed.
Before the pandemic, that wall reached halfway up the high rock (the front of the glacier) and all of that was removed in a couple of years.
“Above is the ice field, which is where the glacier is born. There are 12,000 square kilometers of ice, a good part of which is in Chile and a good part of it in Argentina. There are more than 30 glaciers that are going down. There is the Viedma Lake, the Argentino Lake (El Calafate) and the Perito, which is as big as Buenos Aires more or less”, said the guide.
Above, where the origin of the glaciers is, snow falls all the time, it compacts, it turns into ice in regarding 10 years, and then it starts to go down, to go down by the same weight of the ice, by the force of gravity.
As it goes down, it finds air that is less and less cold – up there it is 15 degrees cooler than where the walkways are – and, when it finds temperatures that are not so low, the structure of the ice begins to weaken, it begins to break and form cracks. The ice is copying the relief of the rocks below and if there is a rise and fallthe ice rises and falls, so the cracks form.
«When it reaches the lake, by the same force the ice falls into the water and until now what has been happening is that it fell from the front the same amount of ice that accumulated above and now falls more than what accumulates, so it is in lossBortoluzzi pointed out.
«In summer it moves two meters per day but that it moves down does not mean that it increases in size; is displacement, but not increase in mass. youAll glaciers move downward, but moving does not mean that they are increasing in amount of ice,” he added.
Bortoluzzi pointed out that during the pandemic it was reduced, “and the most notorious is the north wall, which used to show half the stone of what it does now. Even that black part that is seen on the side was covered with ice, that is, it ate regarding 300 meters »
The impressive wall of ice continues underwater for regarding 120 meters, so it is normal to see pieces of ice breaking off from below.
«As far as the red rock is, the glacier, when moving towards the peninsula in winter, completely closes the channel, and The channel with the movement of the ice narrows until at some point with the ice that falls over the months, between July and October, it covers it and that area of the lake, the Rico arm, is left without an outlet.“, he pointed.
That is the only outlet that the water has to go to the main body of the lake and the river, then it is left without an outlet and the level of the Rico arm begins to increase; and at one point, generally at the end of summer, is when the water that accumulated begins to perforate the wall and the ice arch is formed, an event that was last seen in 2018.
On the other hand, the guide told that in In the center of the glacier, the visible height is around 60 to 65 meters and he stressed: “Think that the glacier is advancing towards the peninsula, that below the water it has a declineso what he does in the background is start to climb the mountain where we are, that’s why he is higher ».
Another singular effect is the difference in the color of the water that comes from the Rico arm, which looks grayer, while the lake water is more blue, because although they have the same sediments, the Rico arm has a higher concentration per cubic meter.
The detailed explanations allow a more precise understanding of the processes that are recorded in the glacier and all that remains is to contemplate it; until a few hours later it will be appreciated in all its majesty when boarding to do the excursion called ‘Nautical Safari’, which leaves from the Port ‘Bajo de las Sombras’, 7 kilometers from the Mirador del Glaciar, to navigate the Rico Arm of Lake Argentino, on the south face of the glacier.
«Impossible to miss the Perito Moreno glacier, it is always incredible. Walking along the catwalks and seeing how huge blocks of ice break off, living the Nautical Safari approaching those immense walls of ice from the water is a wonderful experience,” said Pablo De Luca, president of the Argentine LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce.
El Calafate gave the group the unique sensation of knowing and knowing more regarding this Argentine natural wonder, but the city also holds another surprise that is as attractive to some foreign tourists as the glacier itself, and deserving of its own chronicle: the Nimez Lagoon Nature Reserve.
Source: Telam.
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