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Ice Trekking with Cramp-ons!

One of the most amazing things we did in all of our South American adventures was strapping on cramp-ons to hike the Perito Moreno Glacier!

The Perito Moreno Glacier was declared an UNESCO world heritage site in 1981.

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While most glaciers are receding due to global warming, the Perito Moreno Glacier is constantly growing and shrinking.

It is 5 kilometers wide and over 60 meters tall.

We started our amazing tour with a boat trip past the base of the glacier.

After a quick and picturesque picnic lunch, we took a walk over to the shed at the base of the glacier

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to be fitted for crampons.  Check out Asher’s cool treads! wpid1409-1130465.jpg

The other groups on the glacier looked like little ants scurrying over the bluish white mountain of ice.

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Our guide, Guillermo was funny and informative.  Asher and Aliya did an amazing job following the leader.

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Because the ice is constantly melting and shifting, the guides have to occasionally use their ice axes to find a path up the steep ice slope.

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Peering into the strikingly bright blue pools of water which were resting on deep crevaces, we carefully struck our heavy metal cramp-ons into the ice!

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The trek up and down the ice finished with a glass of crushed up glacial ice with whiskey on top, as well as a yummy Argentine alfajor (a chocolate covered cookie sandwich with dulce de leche in the middle).

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After climbing on the ice, we took the boat back across the base of the glacier to get to the other side.

 

Once we were back across, we drove to the Balconies, where we climbed up and down on a grill covered walkway that enabled us to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. (Asher enjoyed chilling out on the benches!)

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Here are some of our favorite pix of the amazing ice formations of the Perito Moreno glacier.

 

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