El latigo del diablo
The Devil's Whip takes my breath away.
"You are extremely privileged." I'm told.
Bubbles come to the water which rests on the surface of the translucent blue ice.
A new tunnel has just formed 30m below the surface of the glacier we stand on and the sound of the falling ice has just reverberated up through the ice, into our crampons, up our legs and through our bodies. It felt like the whole glacier was about to shift beneath our feet - but the guides just chuckle. They are used to these shifting movements.
Equipped with crampons and ice picks we scale the glacier's 100m crevasses and are given a crash course on how to use the crampons. Our experienced and trained guides carry satellite telephones incase of emergencies and we explore the tunnels and supraglacial lakes on this melting glacier.
<<el año pasado anduvimos allí>> they say, pointing at a huge crevasse turned pond in the glacier.
"Last year," they inform us. "The route was over that part."
And, last year in one week this glacier lost over 1m of thickness in a week. This glacier is 300m deep at its thickest point.
<<La mayoria aquí retroceden y se derriten.>> That tell us , looking seriously. "Most glaciers in the Andes are retreating and melting."
Then, our guide thrusts an ice pick into the side of an almost vertical crevasse. And seems to leap up it effortlessly.
"Now, it's your turn." He says, offering us a helping hand.
His hand is our saviour - it's the only thing keeping us from disappearing into the subglacial channels and rushing waters deep in the crevasse below us.
"You are extremely privileged." I'm told.
Bubbles come to the water which rests on the surface of the translucent blue ice.
A new tunnel has just formed 30m below the surface of the glacier we stand on and the sound of the falling ice has just reverberated up through the ice, into our crampons, up our legs and through our bodies. It felt like the whole glacier was about to shift beneath our feet - but the guides just chuckle. They are used to these shifting movements.
Equipped with crampons and ice picks we scale the glacier's 100m crevasses and are given a crash course on how to use the crampons. Our experienced and trained guides carry satellite telephones incase of emergencies and we explore the tunnels and supraglacial lakes on this melting glacier.
<<el año pasado anduvimos allí>> they say, pointing at a huge crevasse turned pond in the glacier.
"Last year," they inform us. "The route was over that part."
And, last year in one week this glacier lost over 1m of thickness in a week. This glacier is 300m deep at its thickest point.
<<La mayoria aquí retroceden y se derriten.>> That tell us , looking seriously. "Most glaciers in the Andes are retreating and melting."
Then, our guide thrusts an ice pick into the side of an almost vertical crevasse. And seems to leap up it effortlessly.
"Now, it's your turn." He says, offering us a helping hand.
His hand is our saviour - it's the only thing keeping us from disappearing into the subglacial channels and rushing waters deep in the crevasse below us.
Exploradores Glaciar, Aysen, Chile
Viernes el 28 de dociembre 2018
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