Beach Holidays Just the tip of 679 - Ozimage...such as the green murtilla bushes showing off their...

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About 200,000 people visitArgentina’s Perito MorenoGlacier each year, many ofthem taking thethree-and-a-half-hour

flight from Buenos Aires to thenearest town of El Calafate, only tostay a couple of days.

Though beautiful and accessible,Perito Moreno Glacier is only one ofmany glaciers in the Los GlaciaresNational Park, and there are manymore attractions. The park, which isWorld Heritage-listed and nearArgentina’s border with Chile, is inthe Southern Patagonian province ofSanta Cruz. It covers more than726,000ha, a considerable portion ofwhich is covered by the PatagonianIcefield, one of the largest expansesof ice in the world.

Los Glaciares National Park is inthe Patagonian Andes and eventhough the icefield itself is reallysuitable only for serious icetrekkersand climbers, it influenceseverything you experience as it’s thesource of many of the national park’sglaciers. The glaciers in turn feed thevoluminous lakes and rivers.

You can guide yourself in manyareas of the park but, if you prefer,qualified guides are available from ElChalten and El Calafate, for a rangeof activities — you can take part intraditional treks, ice treks andicefield expeditions, visits topetrified forests, climbing, camping,birdwatching, boating, fishing,horseriding and mountain biking.

I took a path of self-discovery asmuch as possible, as this is a vastnational park, with unexpecteddiscoveries off the main tourist trail.Rather than base myself in ElCalafate, close to Perito MorenoGlacier, I spent most of my nights inthe village of El Chalten, three hoursaway by bus. It is a quainter place tostay, friendlier for the independenttraveller and has the best access toself-guided walks. And it’s a place

where there is a great sense ofcamaraderie, both on the trails andin the town.

Nevertheless, I wasn’t going tomiss the Perito Moreno Glacier.From El Calafate, I took the “TourAlternativo”, which took the backroads to the glacier at a leisurelypace. There was time to stop andwatch a crested caracara, a memberof the falcon family, scanning thehorizon for potential prey from thetop of a calafate bush, a box-leafedbarberry. The bus visited a smallranch, or estancia, too. It was a littletouristy but provided some insightinto ranch life, with a few modern-day gauchos, a herd of goats andlamb cooking, Argentine-style, in anopen fireplace.

The tour organisers hadpermission for us to walk along oneside of an arm of Lago Argentino,facing the south face of PeritoMoreno Glacier. The wind howledaround our parkas and icebergs weredotted close to the pebbly shore, butthere was just our small busload ofpeople there. Chilean flame trees litup the foreshore and we saw thePerito Moreno glistening furtheralong the lake.

Only after this walk did we join thehundreds of other visitors on theviewing platforms to see both thenorth and south faces of the glacier,and the more distant glacial flow

behind them. Majestic blue huescontrast with the white — andoccasionally dirty-brown — ice, withits jagged pinnacles and ridges.

We had the choice of taking a boatto get even closer — and even colder.The Argentine flag, flappingvigorously in the cold wind, almostperfectly matched the blue and whitebackdrop of the glacier’s south face.

El Chalten, 200km from ElCalafate, is known as the trekkingcapital of Patagonia, although itsorigins are political rather thanpedestrian. Founded in the 1980s tohelp secure the disputed border withChile, El Chalten appears to havegrown in a topsy-turvy fashion but isa very relaxed base to spend a fewdays. There’s a variety of places tostay and camping is an option.

My prearranged mini-bus ridewith Las Lengas transport from ElCalafate to El Chalten passedmajestic rocky outcrops, meanderingglacial-blue river and Lago Viedma, alarge lake with scattered icebergsfrom the Viedma Glacier.

It was sparse country but we sawcondors soaring above, andguanacos, members of the llamafamily, grazing on the steppe.

To avoid the crowds, I choseNovember — just before the summerpeak season — to visit the nationalpark. The downside was there weredays of low visibility and cold, windyweather with snow flurries and icyground. The national parks officeprovided good advice, though,including maps with good baseline

information about each trek,describing the length, number ofmetres to be climbed and an estimateof time required in fine weather.

I made my first all-day trek toLaguna Torre, 11km, or three hoursaway. It was a cold trek and lightsnow was falling, but there were anumber of delightful distractions,such as the green murtilla bushesshowing off their purple berriesagainst the whiteness of the snow,and the yellow flowers of calafatebush pushing up between the rocks.And when I came across ared-crested Magellanic woodpecker, Iwas so close that small wood chipsflew at me as it pecked for insects.Llamas passed at one stage, carryingcamping gear for overnight trekkers.

There was a 230m climb at the endof the track to an exposed ridge witha view of Lago Torre. You could walkdown to the lake’s icy cold edge butalas, as expected, the mountain ofCerro Torre was completely cloudedand misted in.

The weather changes rapidly in thenational park and by the next day Icould see Cerro Torre and Mt FitzRoy from my hotel, both awesome,granitic-pink mountains that were sosheer in places their ice cover hadslipped and exposed the rock.

Saving my energy for the 12.5kmwalk and 750m climb to see Lagunade los Tres, I took my hotelmanager’s advice and started myjourney slightly north of the nationalpark from Hosteria El Pilar, whichshe said would be much flatter than

the track out of town. It was a blissful walk, with

butterflies flitting among the mossand snow-covered trees. I was sofocused on Mt Fitz Roy ahead thatwhen, with no fanfare and noexpectations, I came across thePiedras Blancas glacier across thevalley, I felt as though I had thebeautiful blue hues of its icy surfaceto myself. I heard the roar ofavalanching snow or ice from thatdirection echoing through the valley.

That afternoon I had snow, ice androcks to contend with on the narrowtrail to the top, and a steady streamof trekkers coming down the sametrail. And while it wasn’t all plaintrekking, it was so satisfying to reachthe top to view Laguna de los Tres,white with ice against the pinkgranite of Mt Fitz Roy which loomedabove it. On the descent, there weremore magnificent views of some ofthe park’s bright blue lakes.

And there’s charm around, too.Found objects around El Chalten

have been recycled as street art inthe form of little tin figures of skiers,trekkers and cyclists. Each oneincorporates a litter bin, thecommunity’s response to keepinglitter off the ground.

El Calafate is full of quaint littlewooden buildings housing shops,restaurants and museums. And inbetween the two places is La Leona,an old hotel once visited by ButchCassidy and the Sundance Kid ontheir run from the law in the US.

If you visit Argentina, you must goto Los Glaciares National Park. Andremember that the Perito MorenoGlacier is only the tip of the icefield.

MARJIE COURTIS explores theback roads to the magnificentLos Glaciares National Park at aleisurely pace

BUENOSAIRES

Los GlaciaresNational Park

The jagged surface ofPerito Moreno Glacier.Pictures: Marjie Courtis

Mt Fitz Royovershadows El Chalten.

I took a path of self-discovery as much aspossible, as this is a vast national park, withunexpected discoveries off the main tourist trail.

fact file� Aerolineas Argentinas and LAN Airlines operate domesticflights to El Calafate. aerolineas.com.ar or lan.com.� Las Lengas Transport and TAQSA operate bus services to ElChalten. transportelaslengas.com and taqsa.com.ar. � Hostel del Glaciar Libertador in El Calafate runs the TourAlternativo. glaciar.com.

Llamas work as beasts of burden.

Just the tip ofthe icefield

Glacierviewingplatforms.