No more exploring at this popular glacier in Patagonia

The Exploradores in Chile’s Laguna San Rafael national park. — NATALIA REYES ESCOBAR/Wikimedia Commons

The decision by Chile’s National Forestry Corporation to permanently ban hikers from a popular glacier in Patagonia has incensed adventurers and local guides alike. What officials see as a question of safety – citing rapid, destabilising melting – has sparked a debate over the risks of ice-climbing in a rapidly changing climate.

The Explorers Glacier, or Exploradores, in Laguna San Rafael national park had been a well-trodden ice-hiking destination in the southern region of Aysen for at least two decades. But a two-week study by government hydrologists, found the glacier is reaching a dangerously unstable “inflection point”.