Los Glaciares National Park

Glaciers have shaped this land for a very long time.

The ice carved hollows for lakes and left ridges of rock.

UNESCO says the landscape has been shaped by glaciers that advanced and retreated during the Ice Age, and by later glacier advances in the present epoch, the Holocene. You can see their work in lake basins carved by ice and in ridges of rock left by glaciers, called moraines.

Many of the glaciers are fed by the South Patagonian Ice Field. APN calls it the third largest continental ice field on the planet today.

UNESCO calls the park an excellent example of glaciation: the advance and retreat of Pleistocene glaciations and Holocene neoglaciations have modeled, and continue to model, the landscape, seen in lacustrine basins of glacial origin, moraine systems on the plateaus and glacier tongues fed by the Andean ice fields.

The South Patagonian Ice Field is the most extensive South American relict of Quaternary glaciological processes (UNESCO); APN calls it the third largest continental ice field on the planet.

Big blocks of ice break off the glaciers and fall into the lake.

The Perito Moreno Glacier is the most famous one.

The Upsala, Onelli and Perito Moreno glaciers flow into Lake Argentino, and the glaciers also feed Lake Viedma. UNESCO says the front of the Perito Moreno Glacier, up to 60 meters high, regularly drops bluish icebergs into the lake.

The Perito Moreno Glacier also blocks a narrow channel of Lake Argentino and raises the water level for a while. Then the glacier's tongue breaks with a thunderous crash, again and again over the years.

The Upsala, Onelli and Perito Moreno glaciers calve into the milky waters of Lake Argentino; the glaciers also feed Lake Viedma (UNESCO). The slowly moving front of the Perito Moreno Glacier, up to 60 m high, regularly calves bluish icebergs.

Perito Moreno blocks a narrow channel of Lake Argentino, temporarily raising the water level, which causes regular thunderous ruptures of the glacier tongue. APN says it is the park's best-known glacier because it is easy to reach and because of these periodic ruptures.

Forests and dry grasslands grow in the park.

Condors fly here, and a rare deer called the huemul lives here.

APN says the park protects two kinds of landscape: Patagonian forest and Patagonian steppe. Lenga and ñire trees grow in the forests, and grasses and low, spiny shrubs cover the steppe further east.

Birds include the condor, the Magellanic woodpecker and the torrent duck. Pumas and red foxes live here, along with the huemul, a deer whose southernmost population finds refuge in the park.

The park lies in the Patagonian Steppe and Patagonian Forest ecoregions (APN). Lenga, ñire and guindo dominate the forests; toward the east notro and calafate appear, then steppe grasses and low, spiny shrubs such as coirón and neneo.

Birds include the condor, the águila mora, the Magellanic woodpecker and the torrent duck; mammals include the puma, the red fox (zorro colorado) and the emblematic huemul, whose southernmost population takes refuge here. UNESCO notes an altitudinal gradient of more than 3,000 m.

It can be cold, snowy and windy here.

The best time to visit is from spring to early autumn.

APN describes the climate as temperate to cold and damp. In the lower areas, average temperatures run from 0.6 °C in winter to 13.4 °C in summer, and heavy snow falls in the coldest months. The winds are strongest in summer.

APN says the best time to visit is spring, summer and early autumn, from September to April. PlayOwl's advice: bring warm, windproof clothes, and watch glaciers only from the paths and viewpoints.

APN: temperate to cold and humid; mean temperatures in the lower areas from 0.6 °C in winter to 13.4 °C in summer (probably around -3 °C a year on the heights), 500-900 mm of rain a year from east to west, abundant snow in the coldest months and stronger winds in summer. The recommended season is September to April.

PlayOwl's advice, built on these conditions: dress for cold and wind, and watch calving glaciers only from marked paths and viewpoints.