Jakub Polomski’s Patagonia: 8,000 km Through Chile and Argentina

In February 2014, Polish landscape photographer Jakub Polomski spent a month driving the length of Patagonia, from Santiago in Chile to Ushuaia at the tip of Argentina. He covered about 8,000 kilometres, much of it across the Patagonian steppe, and came back with photographs of glaciers, granite towers, volcanoes, lakes and the endless road in between.

Blue glacier face beyond green shrubs beneath dark Patagonian cloud — Perito Moreno is one of the journey’s major ice landscapes. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

The route from Santiago to Ushuaia

As Polomski describes it in his original account, the trip began in Santiago and headed south through Chile’s volcanic country around Melipeuco and Pucón. From there he crossed into Argentina and followed Ruta 40 from Bariloche all the way south, with detours to El Chaltén, the Perito Moreno Glacier and Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park, before finishing in Ushuaia. It took him another year to finish editing the photographs.

Santiago city buildings below distant mountains and haze — Santiago places the wider journey in an urban context. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Villarrica and the Lake District

Villarrica is one of Chile’s most active volcanoes. Its snow-covered cone rises to 2,860 metres above the lake and town of the same name, about 750 kilometres south of Santiago, and its crater holds an intermittent lava lake, something found at only a handful of volcanoes in the world. Guided ascents usually leave from Pucón, though they are suspended when cloud or volcanic activity makes the climb unsafe.

Across the border, the route passed San Martín de los Andes and Bariloche. Bariloche sits on the southern shore of Nahuel Huapi Lake, the base for Nahuel Huapi National Park. Its wood-and-stone centre was redesigned in the 1930s to look like an Alpine town, earning it the nickname “Little Switzerland”, and it is famous for chocolate and for Cerro Catedral, the largest ski resort in South America.

Snow-capped Villarrica volcano above forest and water — The volcanic part of the wider Chilean journey has a simpler skyline. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Clear lake water and rocky shore near Bariloche — A lakeside detail provides a pause between the big mountain views. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Ruta 40 and Esquel

Argentina’s National Route 40 is one of the great road trips on earth. It runs for about 5,194 kilometres from Cabo Vírgenes near Río Gallegos in the south to La Quiaca on the Bolivian border, crossing 11 provinces and passing 20 national parks. Its highest point, Abra del Acay in Salta Province, reaches 5,000 metres.

In Patagonia the road crosses vast, dry steppe under huge skies. Polomski’s photographs of long, dusty stretches and a lone vehicle trailing dust show the scale of the country better than any map. Esquel, in Chubut Province, was one of his stops along the way.

Long road leading towards dry mountain slopes in Argentina — The road becomes a landscape subject in its own right. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Vehicle travelling across a dusty open road under a dramatic sky — A passing vehicle makes the scale of the open country visible. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

El Chaltén and the Perito Moreno Glacier

El Chaltén lies inside Los Glaciares National Park at the foot of Monte Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, two peaks that draw climbers from around the world. The village is officially Argentina’s National Trekking Capital, with trails to Laguna de los Tres beneath Fitz Roy and to Laguna Torre. The area was disputed with Chile until 1985, when it was settled in Argentina’s favour.

The Perito Moreno Glacier, about 78 kilometres from El Calafate, is 30 kilometres long and covers 250 square kilometres. Its ice front stands on average 74 metres above Lake Argentino. Every so often the glacier dams one arm of the lake, the water behind it rises by up to 30 metres, and the ice bridge finally collapses in a spectacular rupture. It is named after the explorer Francisco “Perito” Moreno, who defended Argentina’s case in the 1902 boundary arbitration with Chile.

Pink cloud above jagged snowy peaks near El Chaltén — The mountain skyline becomes a study of changing light. Credit: Jakub Polomski.

Torres del Paine National Park

Across the border in Chile’s Magallanes Region, Torres del Paine covers about 181,000 hectares. Its three granite towers rise to around 2,500 metres in the Cordillera del Paine, next to the horn-shaped Cuernos del Paine. Founded in 1959 and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1978, the park drew more than 300,000 visitors in 2019. The famous W trek takes three to five days, and the nearest town, Puerto Natales, is about 112 kilometres to the south.