Exploradores Glacier

The Exploradores comes off the Northern Patagonian Ice Field on the flank of Monte San Valentin, the highest peak in Chilean Patagonia, and it is the field's most accessible glacier from the road side - the Exploradores valley road, built to reach the coast, runs past its terminal moraine. Guided ice treks cross the rubble-covered lower ice and continue onto the clean ice above, where the surface breaks into ridges, moulins and blue meltwater channels. Everything here is guided and equipped with crampons, for good reason: the glacier surface is unstable at the margins and the moraine is loose.

The landscape

• A glacier off the northern ice field - below Monte San Valentin.
• Rubble ice giving way to clean ice - as the trek climbs.
• Moulins and meltwater channels - on the open surface.
• Guided and crampon-equipped - the only way onto it.

When to go

December to March. A full day.

Before you go

Only guided trips go onto the ice and they involve several hours of walking on rough moraine before the glacier. It rains here constantly. Trips are cancelled for conditions. The road is gravel and slow.

Nearby

Puerto Rio Tranquilo and the marble caves are east on the lake.

Key facts