Hi everyone! We just got back from our trip to Argentina and we can’t wait to share with you our adventures! First up is the hike we did on top of the Perito Moreno glacier. Let me share with you some facts about it. This glacier is located in the Southern part of Patagonia in Argentina and belongs to the Los Glaciares National Park, which also by the way extends to Chile. It is one of only three glaciers that continue to grow to this day. It’s 250 square kilometers wide and 30 kilometers in length. The front part has an average height of 70 meters above the surface of the water. Yes, they are massive!!!

I learned about the glacier hike when I was researching for places to see in Patagonia. However, it was very frustrating for me to find the right company/operator that seems legit. Also, it was very difficult to find stories online about other people’s experiences on the ice hike. Because of this, I thought I would share this story in detail so that if you decide that this is something you want to try, then you have the correct information about it. I hope I don’t bore you and that you stay with me until the very end of our story.

By the way, there are two kinds of ice hikes in Perito Moreno. First is the ‘Mini Trekking’, which allows you to be on the ice for 1 hour and 40 minutes, no land hike needed. The other one, the ‘Big Ice Trek’, allows you to be on the ice for 3 hours and 30 minutes and also involves a steep land/cliff hike that lasts for 1 hr 30 mins to get to the base of the ice hike and another 1 hr 30 minutes land/cliffhike on your way back to the base.

Pregnant women and people with disability or health conditions are not allowed to participate in the hike. When I was reading the conditions, I was thinking that maybe they were just exaggerating about the physical demand for the BIG ICE hike, which was rated ‘high’, so I just went ahead and booked it, not fully understanding what I signed up for. Ha!!! Oh No! I also read some reviews that the mini-trek was a little too touristy because a lot more people choose to do it that's why we went for the latter more challenging one.

We were picked up at our hotel in El Calafate, Hotel Kosten Aike, around 7am by a friendly guide named Sylvia of Hielo Y Aventura. We rode a bus for about 1 hour 15 minutes (76 kilometers) to get to the entrance of Los Glaciares National Park. The park fee is not included in the payment we made for the Big Ice Hike so make sure you have enough Argentinian pesos (in cash) to pay for this.

When we arrived at the Perito Moreno balconies, we were given a good hour to walk it and enjoy so many different views of this amazing glacier. O-M-G it was hard to take in the beauty of this place!!! It was overwhelming at first sight, nobody told us it would be that grand! It looks unreal in pictures even. To be honest, we never thought that we’d ever get a chance to see glaciers up close so that was a huge moment for us.

Tip: If you hear loud thuds, make sure to set your eyes on the glaciers because chunks of ice often breaks off and falls into the lake. Ice ruptures are one of the most amazing sights you’ll see here. Sadly, I was not able to video/photograph what we’ve seen because they happen at the time you least expect it and they also happen so fast.

After our visit to the balconies, we rode the bus again, this time heading to the pier located in “Bajo de las Sombras” port. From the port, we rode a 10-15 minute boat ride that took us across the Rico Arm, while we enjoyed more breathtaking views of Perito Moreno’s glacier front walls.

We got off the boat and saw a magnificent view of the glaciers with blue hues. Everyone stopped and took pictures for a few minutes and then we eventually followed our guide to the first base camp. Here, we were allowed to leave some of our stuff to lighten our loads before the hike. Nash left a telephoto camera lens to lighten his backpack and it definitely helped. We were also reminded here about a few essential things we needed for the hike which were:

1. Hand Gloves - to protect our hands from the ice as they can be very sharp and can cut skin easily. They also have some gloves you can borrow there but it's still better to bring your own!

2. Waterproof Jacket and Pants – to protect us from the rain as the weather conditions can change every few minutes or so.

3. Sunglasses – to protect our eyes from the sun as the surface of the ice will reflect sunlight strongly and prolonged exposure can lead to discomfort.

4. Sunblock Lotion – to protect our skin, most especially our face. Our guides warned us that if we don’t put any on, we would feel very uncomfortable eventually while hiking. Gosh, I panicked when I learned about this because I forgot to bring ours and left it at the hotel! Luckily, we met Julia, Daniel and Dion! They are from the U.S. too and they gladly shared with us their sunblock lotion. Thank you so much guys, we are so grateful!!! Our lifesavers!

5. Waterproof Hiking Shoes/Boots – no, not your tennis shoes please! If you can, I recommend hiking BOOTS to protect your ankles from accidental twists.

6. Food/Lunch – yes we were going to eat lunch by the glaciers. Yay!

7. Water – no need to take too much because you can get the freshest water from melted pools of glaciers while hiking.

From there we were led to three small sheds, where we were fitted with the right size of crampons. This is the base of your hike if you choose to do the ‘Mini Trekking’, but not for “Big Ice Trek”. We carried our crampons with us (Tip: Place it inside your pack because you want to keep your hands free while hiking) and followed our guide ‘Tato’ towards the steep lateral moraines—I call this the cliff hike— until we reached the access to the glacier. It was at this point that I realized that I did not fully know what I signed up for. The moraine was very steep and rocky and the worst part was that we did not have any breaks at all. Not even for a minute and it lasted for 1 hour 30 minutes. I was constantly out of breath and I knew that Nash, who was behind me, felt the same way!

Alas! We finally reached the second base camp. Here, we were fitted with harnesses. This was also the last chance for us to do a toilet break before hiking! It is also here where some people decided to back out, because after experiencing the first part of the hike, they felt that they were not ready for the rest of it. Nash actually asked me at this point if I still wanted to do the rest of the hike and I just said to him, “why will we back out when we’ve already reached this point?” I probably was not ready to let go of this dream of mine. So, you guessed it, we did not retreat and we continued to head to the final base—where dirt meets ice—where we were helped by the guides to put on our crampons. They showed us the proper way of walking with the crampons and then we were divided into smaller groups. Our group had 8 people, not counting two guides per group. Our guides were Tato and Jorge.

Finally, we started to walk up the ice! Just a few minutes after, I realized that the crampons were really heavy and difficult to walk with. It also doesn’t help that the surface of the glacier was very uneven so you really have to spread your feet apart while walking, forward only and not sideways, stomping your feet on the ice while digging in those sharp spikes so you are able to stand with stability. When we finally got the hang of it, the hike became more gratifying as we were able to enjoy the breathtaking views of Perito Moreno. It felt like we were on another planet! The crevasses and those blue pools of melted glacier were unreal!

The hike did not become easier and at some point we started to feel warm and started sweating. Our tip: dress in layers. Patagonian weather changes so fast. One moment it’s sunny, the next very windy and cold, and then sooner or later rainy. We experienced all these while atop the glaciers.

After several miles, we stopped at a perfect spot where we could take a break and eat lunch. There was a huge crevasse filled with blue glacial water and it was stunning!

After eating lunch, we hiked a bit more and reached a huge lagoon filled with brilliant, crystal clear, blue glacial water! Definitely my favorite during the hike! Are you still with me? Just checking =) I feel like my story is starting to become a novel at this point so allow to just let the pictures speak to you and describe what we saw.

Exhausted and hungry, legs aching and feeling like they were about to fall off from our bodies, we managed to finish the hike. We had a celebratory whiskey drink on our return boat ride and they served it on the rocks with glaciar ice freshly harvested from Perito Moreno.

This hike is probably going to be one of the craziest and most unusual one we’ll ever do in our lifetime. I strongly encourage you to try it, but make sure you are physically healthy and mentally ready for it. Believe me, I was constantly thinking to myself ‘What did I get myself and Nash into?' while we were hiking, but what we saw and experienced there made up for all the aches and pain we went through.

It was truly an exceptional one and we couldn’t stop smiling at the thought of our entire journey! Until now, we can't help but feel a sense of great accomplishment that we actually conquered Perito Moreno! My fitbit read 13.45 miles = 21.6 kilometers after the hike! WHEW! Big thanks to our guides, Tato and Jorge, for sharing your knowledge about the glacier and for always helping us when difficult situations arose! You guys rock! Salud!!!