Waiting for an Iceberg to Calve

Eight long days we sat facing the Perito-Moreno-Glacier with its glorious blue towers of ice, waiting for the great crash. Again and again smaller chunks would career off the steep wall of ice into the water. But it was only every few hours that it actually came to the showdown - then suddenly several ice towers would give way and collapse in themselves. Fountains of water shot upwards and a flood wave rolled over the lake. The chunks of ice swung wildly in the water till they found their balance and were slowly driven away in the current. Bernhard wanted to capture one of these spectacular moments with his camera as best as he possibly could.

There is probably no better place in the world to observe the calving of a glacier than here. For directly opposite the glacier front, a peninsula juts into the Lago Argentino offering an ideal, secure observation point. For Bernhard the eight days on the peninsula were a test of patience. Any time it could start with no advance notice. So he stood on the alert beside his primed camera mounted on a heavy tripod to prevent it shaking in the strong gusts whipping frequently along the glacier front. I was better off, curled up in a niche in the rock, reading for hours or thinking how best to describe this impressive phenomenon.

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