A skier glides past a fractured section of ice and snow in the Cordillera Sarmiento of Patagonia, Chile. This area is the highest point in the South American ice cap, a series of interconnected Andean glaciers that cover more than 5,000 square miles (13,000 square kilometers).
Stark, cold, wet, and windy, Patagonia is home to unique creatures with adaptations that help them thrive in an unforgiving region of climatic extremes.
Get a glimpse of paradise with this gallery of photographs taken on assignment for the National Geographic magazine article "French Polynesia: Charting a New Course."
