Chile has closed down visits to the Exploradores Glacier in Laguna San Rafael National Park in the Aysen region of Patagonia, citing the increasingly fragile state of the area as climate change advances.
The move, which has sparked an outcry from local guides and tourism companies, was ordered by the National Forestry Corporation, a state-owned non-profit that manages Chile’s forest areas. The agency cited safety concerns when closing the area, pointing to rapid melting and potentially destabilizing effects.
The closure follows a large chunk of ice falling off the main glacier last month; a two-week study was ordered, and found that the glacier was at an “inflection point.” It has thinned by half a meter per year since 2020, and reports say that either there could be “a catastrophic amount of ice” falling off the main body of ice or the disintegration of the front part of the glacier due to “hundreds of small lagoons.”
Despite the glacier’s closing to visitors, the park itself remains open and the glacier can be seen from a distance.
