#44 Follow Me to Grey Glacier (2) 🇨🇱 格雷冰川初探（二）

I feel almost surreal enjoying this hot Aussie summer when 2018 Winter Olympics is opening in South Korea. Seems it’s a good “colder” choice that I’m now writing on about the Grey Glacier in Chile following my last post. =)

在南半球澳洲的盛夏里，看着在韩国举办的2018冬奥会拉开帷幕，还真有那么点超现实的感觉。我现在接着上次继续写智利南部的冰川，倒是更加应这冬天的景。=)

As mentioned in my last post - the Patagonian Icecap is the world’s 3rd largest mass of ice after the 2 poles. This icecap has 2 parts: the Northern and the Southern Patagonian Ice Fields. Grey Glacier is part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.

As a map maniac 🗺 , I just sketched a map to show you the rough locations of the 2 ice fields and the Grey Glacier I’m talking about here(Please ignore the distortion of my map ;) anyway, accurate world map is mathematically impossible to make :p):

The Southern Ice field remains a border issue between Chile and Argentina. It stretches over 3 National Parks including Los Glaciares Park of Argentina, Bernado O’Higgins Park and Torres del Paine Park in Chile.

First, let’s take a look at these 3 amazing national parks covered by The Southern Ice field:

Los Glaciares National Park boasts the world-famous glacier Perito Moreno, best known for the dramatic icefalls from its front wall, and the breathtaking mountain Fitz Roy near El Chaltén which I wrote about in this post.

Parque Nacional Bernardo O’Higgins is a remote region less explored in southern Chile, which I accessed on the way to Torres del Paine(I also had a post about it). It’s an absolute gem I discovered by accident, and I was amazed by its fjords, icebergs, glaciers and diverse wildlife in a tranquil setting. The indigenous Kawéskar people call the village of Puerto Edén their home.

Last but the most famous Torres del Paine National Park - it’s located in Chile’s Patagonia region, and takes its name from the 3 iconic granite towers( Tres Torres) and the horn-shaped peaks called Cuernos del Paine. Here you can see rare wildlife such as guanacos, pumas, huemul deers and the Andean condos. The glaciers in these 2 posts are also located in the Park.

直到今天，智利和阿根廷还在为这块倾国倾城的南冰原起争端。从上面我手绘的地图上可以看出: 上方那一小块阴影是北冰原，下方较长的阴影是南冰原，这也是两国存在领土纠纷的地方。

先来科普一下 —— 南冰原覆盖三大国家公园：位于阿根廷的冰川国家公园，归属智利的伯纳多奥希金斯国家公园和百内塔国家公园。

这几个公园都是自然风光美不胜收的地方，其中百内塔国家公园和冰川国家公园比较知名，而伯纳多奥希金斯国家公园相比之下更鲜为人知，自然也是更具野趣。我在经由水路坐船去百内国家公园的途中，去这里走了一圈，意外地发现这个藏在深闺的秘境：美丽壮观的峡湾、冰山和冰川湖，独特的植被和野生动物，还有附近的土著居民，这一切都在宁静中和谐共生，犹如一片世外桃源。

。。。

这两篇文章里的格雷冰川就位于百内国家公园内。

Apart from the Southern Ice Field you see from my sketched map, the Northern Patagonia Ice Field forms the smaller part of the Patagonian Icecap. The sparsely populated area - Aysen region of Chile is defined partly by this ice field.

After traveling through Chile, I found this region one of my favorites for its breathtaking wild beauty. If I’m going back to Chile in future, I would love to trek the Aysen Glacier Trail (AGT) , where I can get up close to the glaciers of the Northern Ice Cap, and enjoy a great variety of landscapes.

I talked about why the glacier ice appears blue to the naked eye in my last post - in short, it’s because of the short wavelengths blue light is transmitted and scattered, when squeezed out air in compressed snow leaves little reflective surface on a glacier for the sunlight.

Since the weather was constantly changing, the mountains, glacier and icebergs were coated in different hues as the lighting changed, and a rainbow showed up:

For more photos of the landscape, please check out my previous post. : )

The crew is collecting some thousand-year-old glacier ice to serve with the Pisco Sour, the South American cocktail classic, claimed as a creation by both Peru 🇵🇪 and Chile 🇨🇱 . Pisco is a kind of grape brandy, made by distilling fermented grape juice into a high-proof spirit. The essential mix of a Pisco Sour is 3 parts Pisco to 1 part lime juice and 1 part sugar syrup, with fresh egg white as well. In future I will write about my experience of visiting a Pisco distillery in the Elqui Valley in Chile.

This kind of dramatic lenticular cloud formation is pretty common here. As the lens clouds look like flying saucers, they have been mistaken by some people as UFOs🛸 .

Patagonia is known for its blustery winds. I was almost blown away in places like Punta Arenas, and here it’s even more windy 💨 . I definitely caught the strongest wind in my life in the area of Lago Grey - I could barely stand still, not to say walk against the incredibly heavy wind. On my way back, I had to struggle each and every step trying not to be dragged into the lake:

So that’s it for today’s sharing about my trip to Grey Glacier. Hope you enjoyed it as I did! Have you ever been to a glacier? Tell me what you think in the comments below. :D See you next time!