Epic Glaciers: Perito Moreno (Argentina) vs. Vatnajökull (Iceland)

In my last post I was talking about white buildings, so I thought I’d stick to the theme and keep it white. In September and November 2014, I visited two of the world’s most spectacular glaciers - Perito Moreno in Argentina and Vatnajökull in Iceland.

Perito Moreno

If you google “most beautiful glacier in the world” the first one to show up is usually Perito Moreno. And there are so many reasons to fall in love with her.

Isn't she a beauty?

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Reason 1= Colour: Ok, let me apologize first: when I said that I keep it white in this post, I wasn’t entirely honest. Most glaciers are white, but Perito Moreno is actually more blue than white. And it is one of the most beautiful shades of blue you can imagine. Soft and pure as if it was put into the landscape by a painter on magic mushrooms.

Something borrowed, something blue...

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If you ever visit this amazing place, I highly suggest you to do a glacier trekking. We went to Argentina with a group of people to attend the wedding of a friend in Buenos Aires and we all did that trek. On this excursion we learned the reason why Perito Moreno is so blue: The ice within the glacier is so dense that it absorbs all colours of light except blue. In contrast to that, the ice in white glaciers is a little more “loose” with lots of air in between.

Trekking the mighty Perito Moreno

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At the end we all had a bit of whisky with some glacier ice in it. I usually prefer my whisky neat but, hey, once in a lifetime. The whisky definitely made the return journey less strenuous.

Whisky on the rocks. Cheers!

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Reason 2= Backdrop and Vegetation: That painter on magic mushrooms must have thought “I’m going to paint a blue glacier but I’m not going to just put it anywhere. I’m going to put it right into one of the world’s most beautiful lakes”. And so she did. And, boy, she did a good job. Snow-capped, rugged mountains in the back, little birds sitting in the lush vegetation around the lake and some beautiful red flowers dotting the scenery, offering a magical contrast to the blue of the glacier. I believe the flowers blossom in the late springtime (we went in mid November).

Not only tourists enjoy the company of Perito Moreno

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The mountains, red flowers, all shades of blue and the sun also came out...

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Reason 3 = Movement: A lot of glaciers impress with their calmness and serenity. Perito Moreno moves. While most glaciers around the world are retreating due to global warming, Perito Moreno is actually advancing. You can hear it move, a constant cracking and thundering, and if you are lucky, you can actually see it move, too! When we were there, one large piece just dropped off and crashed into the water.

Vatnajökull

This is another contender for the title "most beautiful glacier in the world". Vatnajökull literally translates to ‘water glacier’ which begs the question: are there glaciers that are not made of water? If there was a glacier made of whisky, I’d book my flight ticket quicker than you can blink!

While it is not made of whisky, this glacier in southern Iceland is still impressive! And it’s huge, covering an area of ca. 8,100 square kilometres (3,100 square miles). Just for comparison: The New York Metropolitan area is the world’s largest metropolitan area with ca. 8,700 square kilometres (3,360 square miles). Just imagine driving from New Haven in the North East to Ocean in the South on a field of ice! While you’d definitely need to put your winter tyres on, I bet this would be quite a delightful experience without all the traffic lights.

Anyways, let’s talk about Vatnajökull again. This glacier which covers around 10% of Iceland has ca. 30 so-called outlet glaciers. Two of my favorite outlet glaciers are the Skaftafell glacier and the Breiðamerkur glacier which flows into the famous Jökulsárlón lagoon.

A first glimpse at Skaftafell Glacier approaching Sjónarnípa viewpoint

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Skaftafell Glacier: In case you have read my previous posts you might have heard of Skaftafell. One of my favorite waterfalls - Svartifoss - can be found here. If you continue hiking onwards from Svartifoss you can follow a spectacular 17 kilometres (10.6 miles) loop that will eventually bring you high on top of Skaftafell glacier. I did this hike by myself and during the first 5 hours of the 6-hour-trip I met exactly 2 people. Luckily, I met one of them at this spot where she took this really cool picture of me and the Skaftafell glacier.

Skaftafell glacier looking pretty and stealing me the show

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You can clearly see the difference between the pure shades of blue of Perito Moreno and the white and grey texture of Skaftafell glacier.

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Breiðamerkur Glacier / Jökulsárlón Lagoon: The Jökulsárlón Lagoon is a stunningly beautiful lagoon at the base of Breiðamerkur Glacier. Whilst being extremely pretty, the lagoon is also a silent reminder that climate change is real: just about 80 years ago, this lagoon didn’t exist and was completely covered in ice.

The lagoon turns into a beautiful broken mirror on the rare occasion of sunshine

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Today, you can literally see the ice melting and wander between small, isolated icebergs on the nearby black beach. Here, at the beach and in the lagoon, you can find both white and blue icebergs, depending on the density of the compressed ice.

Separated icebergs waiting to melt or being washed away by the tides

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I would love to hear your thoughts. Have you been to any of these places? Which one is more impressive? If I had to cast a vote I would vote for Perito Moreno. The colour, the setting and the acoustics are just too beautiful to be true. Also, I really like the fact that this glacier is fighting climate change and keeps on growing. Go Perito!

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All images are my own work. All Rights Reserved