Ventisquero Colgante: Queulat’s Hanging Glacier in Chilean Patagonia

High above a valley in Chilean Patagonia, a mass of ice hangs between two mountains and pours its meltwater down a sheer rock wall. This is Ventisquero Colgante, the Hanging Glacier, centrepiece of Queulat National Park in Chile's Aysén Region and one of the great sights of the Carretera Austral.

Queulat National Park at a glance

Queulat National Park was created in 1983 and protects about 1,541 km² of fjords, rainforest, glaciers and mountains in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. The Carretera Austral (Route 7) runs straight through it. On the Cuesta Queulat, a climb of tight hairpin bends, you can watch the vegetation change with altitude.

The park lies about 180 km south of Chaitén and 165 km north of Coyhaique. The nearest villages are Puerto Puyuhuapi, La Junta and Puerto Cisnes; Puyuhuapi is the closest.

Ventisquero Colgante: how a glacier hangs

The glacier is an outlet of the Queulat ice field, which covers about 80 km² and rises to 1,889 m. Instead of flowing down to the valley floor, the ice ends on a ledge between two mountains, high above the valley, so it appears to hang in mid-air. Meltwater spills over the edge as a long waterfall, the Cascada del Ventisquero Colgante, which drops in a single vertical fall. Chunks of ice also break away and tumble down with the water into the lagoon below.

The meltwater feeds the Río Témpanos. Below the ice the valley is covered in dense, green forest, so a single view takes in glacier, waterfall and woodland.

Trails and viewpoints in the Ventisquero Colgante sector

CONAF, Chile's national park service, lists several short trails from the glacier sector:

• Laguna Témpanos: 600 m, about 20 minutes, easy.
• Mirador Panorámico: 250 m, about 20 minutes, easy.
• Morrena: 3.2 km, about 2 hours, easy.
• Ciudad de los Césares: 860 m, about 30 minutes, moderate.
• Laguna Los Pumas: 5.2 km, about 5 hours; closed from June to September.
• El Explorador: 1.5 km, about 1 hour; creeks can flood from August to October.

Other sights in the park include Queulat Sound, the Padre García and El Cóndor waterfalls, and the Piedra del Gato. Trails can close in heavy rain, snow or strong wind, and camping in the glacier sector has been closed since April 2026, so check the official CONAF park page and the Pases Parques booking site before you travel.

History: a Jesuit and the City of the Caesars

The first recorded explorer here was the Jesuit priest José García Alsue, who passed through in 1766 while searching for the legendary City of the Caesars, a mythical rich city said to lie hidden in Patagonia. The park remembers him in the Padre García falls and the Ciudad de los Césares trail.

For how old and new photographs reveal glacier retreat, see repeat photography in Glacier National Park, and for another protected volcanic landscape, Tongariro.

Related reading

• Chile’s Marble Caves: Lake Light, Sculpted Rock and the Aysén Journey
• Torres del Paine and Its Patagonian Setting
• Montaña Mágica, Chile: A Forest Lodge with a Cascading Exterior
• Chilean Andes Snowboarding: Funner Filete

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