El Calafate Argentina
El Calafate and Perito Moreno Glacier
El Calafate is located the on the other side (North-East) of Torres del Paine National Park, in Argentina. El Calafate is the gateway to the LosGlaciersNational Park. It is a city that was created for tourism (ie it has no trading or industrial history) and it serves as the accommodation base for people who want to see the famous Perito Moreno glacier.
To get here you either need to fly in from Buenos Aires (direct 3.5hrs) or drive over the border (or take the bus) from Puerto Natales (allow at up to 8hrs due to the often slow immigration and customs procedures).
Los Glaciers National Park
The park is the second-largest in Argentina covering 600,000ha of which 40km is covered by ice fields. Over 13 glaciers descend into two large lakes: LakeArgentino and LakeViedma linked by the river La Leona that flows from LakeViedma to LakeArgentino. About 80km west of El Calafate is the "Ventisquero Perito Moreno" glacier - the "big one" that everyone comes to see.
Perito Moreno Glacier El Calafate
The Perito Moreno glacier has a very long (5km) and high (60m) glacial wall and stretches back up into the mountains some 30km. It is indeed a very impressive sight, not least because it can be viewed at close range by staying on dry land opposite the glacial face.
The main spectacle occurs when, every few years, there is a mighty breaking off of the glacial face into the lake. What happens is that the Perito Moreno glacier advances (one of the few in the world not to be receding) towards LakeArgentino until part of it makes contact with the peninsula of land opposite (where there is a direct viewing area). When the glacier makes contact with the peninsula it then cuts the LakeArgentino into two parts creating “two lakes”. As you look directly at the glacier, the “new” lake on the left is now closed in and cannot flow into the larger LakeArgentino as it previously did. However, the newly-created lake continues to be fed with water from rivers and ice melt causing the water level of the lake get higher. Eventually the higher-level new lake manages to erode a hole through the glacial ice dam until it flows once again into the LakeArgentino. As this hole becomes larger, and the water flow gets quicker and more powerful it eventually causes the glacial dam to collapse. It is this massive collapse of towering glacial ice that causes such a stunning spectacle and why people flock in from all over Argentina and the World to witness it. The spectacle only happens every few years.
Torres del Paine Accommodation Partners
(the hotels below are our preferred partners, but we can work with a hotel even if it is not shown below)
