Located in Los Glaciares National Park, the Perito Moreno glacier is part of the Southern Patagonia ice field and just one of over 40 glaciers in the area. This ice field is the third largest in the world, behind Antarctica and Greenland. And doing the Perito Moreno Mini Trekking experience is one of the best ways to experience this incredible landscape.
The Perito Moreno Glacier is especially unique because it moves incredibly quickly in comparison to other glaciers. All glaciers are constantly growing and receding at the same time. At the top of the glacier, snow accumulates and compresses, pushing the rest of the glacier down. At the same time, at the bottom of the glacier, this compressed snow is lost through breakages, called calving. If the loss of the snow is greater than the accumulation, the glacier is receding. All glaciers around the world are receding at an increasingly alarming rate due to global warming.
This glacier moves up to 2 meters (6 feet) every day. And because it is receding, it is losing more than 2 meters every day. This loss happens in dramatic breakages that fall into the Lago Argentino. You can observe this when visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier, hearing large cracks and watching compressed snow break off from the glacial mass and making icebergs.
There are a few ways you can visit the glacier but the most interesting ways are through Hielo y Aventura.
The Various Options to Visit the Perito Moreno Glacier
Visiting Without a Tour Group
You can also visit the Perito Moreno Glacier without a tour group. This is great if you have a car and only want to visit the walkways (pasarelas) that take you along the different facades of the glacier, allowing you to observe different breakages.
There are a number of walks that you can do with panels of descriptions of the glacier and different phenomenon that are happening in front of you.
Kayaking Near the Perito Moreno Glacier with MilOutdoor
MilOutdoor provides an excursion where you can kayak near the face of the glacier, allowing you to truly experience the size of the glacier and potentially see some of the ice breaking off. this excursion and you look into the experience here.
On Ice Experiences with Hielo Y Aventura Tours
Hielo y Aventura is the only company that operates on the Perito Moreno Glacier. They organize a number of different tours that allow you to interact with the glacier in different ways. We did the Mini-trekking tour and highly recommend it. We also describe the other excursions they have if they interest you as well. You can book any of their excursions here.
Big Ice: An excursion that is similar to the minitrekking but with a lot more trekking on the ice. You will get to hike for 3 hours on the ice in a small and personalized group experience. The activity includes transfers to and from El Calafate.
Safari Nautico: The only excursion that happens year-round, this activity is a one-hour catamaran tour of the ice walls of the glacier. This tour does not include a transfer to and from El Calafate. I recommend this tour if you are visiting during the off season and have your own form of transportation in the area.
Safari Azul: This excursion gets you to the edge of the glacier without trekking on the glacier itself. You will get to touch the glacier and enjoy the surface up-close. This excursion is great for people who may have difficulties with trekking directly on the ice.
MiniTrekking (regular and more challenging): This excursion is a smaller version of the Big Ice. You will have to opportunity to hike one the glacier for 1.5 hours in a guided group. The activity includes transfers to and from El Calafate. This is the excursion that we opted for and below is our experience:
The Perito Moreno Mini Trekking Experience
Preparing for the Perito Moreno Mini Trekking Excursion
A few things that you need to bring/wear for the excursion
- A lunch and water
- Money (card or cash) for the entrance into the national park
- Hiking (preferred) or gym shoes
- Gloves (if you don’t have any, they can provide some to you)
- Long pants and a long shirt because the glacier ice is incredibly sharp
- Sunscreen
The Blueprint Travelers Hiking Staples
Getting to the Glacier for the Perito Moreno Mini Trekking
The Perito Moreno mini trekking excursion includes a transfer to-and-from El Calafate. They will even pick you up directly from your hotel. While the transfer is optional, we highly recommend it because the guide will give you information about the area and national park on your way to the national park.
Once you arrive, you will need to purchase your ticket into the national park. (This is not included in the price of the Perito Moreno mini trekking excursion.) You can pay with cash or card.
From here, the bus will take you to a dock where you will transfer to a boat. Make sure to go to the deck for some incredible views of the glacier as you make your way to the other side of the lake to get ready for your Perito Moreno mini trekking. People may be pretty aggressive in trying to get photos of the glacier at this moment. However, the return boat ride was much better for photos because fewer people go to the deck to take photos and you will have the space to yourself.
On the other side of the lake, you will get off the boat and be split up into groups based on language (English or Spanish) and to make the group sizes smaller and more conducive to the Perito Moreno mini trekking adventure ahead. You will have the opportunity to put anything you brought with you in the cabin at the top of the hill, such as the lunch that you have brought for the day.
The Perito Moreno Mini Trekking Experience Itself
Next, you will walk along the beach and shore of the lake and glacier, hearing from the glacier guides about this particular glacier. The guides will lead you to an area where you are given crampons (spikes under your shoes) and a helmet to prepare to walk on the glacier.
You will then be led through a guided path on the glacier that takes about an hour and a half. You get to see different parts of the glacier and the different features that define a glacier. The path that you are led on changes almost every day because of how fast this glacier moves. This tour completely follows a pre-defined path. If you are looking for something more rugged and less structured, the Big Ice tour might be the right one for you.
After walking over the ice and returning the gear that is lent to you, you make your way through a path in the forest back to the cabin with your bags where you can eat lunch and relax while looking at the glacier in front of you.
The Rest of the Day
After lunch, you will return on the catamaran where we recommend heading to the top deck to get incredible photos of the glacier. When on the other side, you will be driven to the glacier walkways, the Pasarelas Glaciar Perito Moreno, where you will have some time to explore. This is the time where you have the opportunity to see and hear ice calving. When a piece of the glacier breaks off, you hear a thundering crack followed by tumbling ice creating a large splash in the water below. The larger the ice calving, the bigger the sound and splash, leaving icebergs of different sizes floating in the Lago Argentino. Because of how fast the glacier moves forward, it also breaks fairly regularly, giving you a good opportunity to experience this when you visit.
Finally, you will be driven back to El Calafate and directly to your hotel. This experience is highly recommended at a minimum to have a truly unique experience interacting with a glacier.