Everyone who makes his way to the small mountain village of El Chalten in the south of Argentina passes by here. But not everyone sees the mountains in all their splendour as you can see here in the picture. Patagonia is notorious for its bad weather, with storms often raging for weeks on end and not a single peak to be seen. The days when the weather is calm, sunny and windless are rare and therefore precious. For every traveller, these are moments of happiness that fill you with energy, which you have to soak up because they are so short.
But the picture also contains a message, a warning. The sunny, pleasantly warm days have become noticeably more frequent in Patagonia in recent years. Presumably because of climate change. The glaciers that shine so beautifully white here are melting rapidly. The landscape is changing accordingly. Tourism is also contributing to the changing landscape. Not long ago, there was only a gravel road to El Chalten. Today, a well-paved road from the airport in El Calafate takes tourists quickly and in large numbers to the small village at the foot of these gigantic mountains. But we would rather not show the viewer all the problems that this entails. Instead, let him enjoy the fabulous beauty of these fantastic mountain peaks.
Nature photographer from Bavaria.. Read more…