This February I took a trip to Chilean Patagonia to hike the “W,” a famous trek of about 50 miles in Torres del Paine National Park. My friend Logan and I spent five days hiking together, carrying our tent, sleeping bags, food supplies, and plenty of warm clothes and rain gear in what I would say is the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. When hiking the W, there is an optional offshoot to visit Grey Glacier, a 270 square kilometer (104 square mile) glacier nested in the Patagonian Andes. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. So instead of sharing about a creature or plant, I want to tell you about glaciers!
Well, obviously, a glacier is not a creature or a plant, but guess what? Like a plant or animal, it moves! Glaciers are giant masses of fallen snow that get compressed over many years, eventually forming ice (NSIDC.org). At some point, the combination of gravity and the sheer mass and weight of the glacier may cause it to move or break. Melting, too, can cause the massive ice mass to travel (National Geographic). I’ve seen a few glaciers in my lifetime. Some look more ice-like and some look more like snow. The ones that I’ve seen in Montana in Glacier National Park were smaller remnants formerly much larger glaciers.
