PATOGONIA-WHICH WAY IS NORTH

PATAGONIA: NOVEMBER 2012-click on pictures to enlarge

ICE CLIMBING

MY HEART WAS POUNDING and I could feel the sweat in my gloves as I dangled off the potato chip facade of the Serrano Glacier in Patagonia- just one more sling with my ice axe and I would be at the top, but the crampon on my right foot had just started to slip and........
When my friends asked me where I was going next and I said Patagonia, they had a surprised look, and said why would you want to go there, sounds cold and where the heck is it? Patgonia is in southern Chile and Argentina and covers about 30% of the total land mass of Chile. With unparalleled natural beauty, it is a unique combination of Yosemite's valleys, Norway's fjords and Alaska's glaciers. My interest was not only in trekking but to observe the 3rd largest ice sheet (The Southern Patagonia Ice Field) in the world after Antarctica and Greenland. One of my travel goals is to document climate changes ocurring around the world and possibly someday making a "You Tube video"--you have to dream!

SOME CRAZY WALL ART

FACADE OF A LOCAL BUSINESS

A bonus getting to Patgonia is the flights are channeled thru Santiago which is a haven for artistic expression,  and gastronomical pleasure. A great place to stay while visiting Santiago is the artsy Bellavista, a European/Chilean area in the middle of the city. And if you ever go Santiago, it is the jump off point to Easter Island.

MARY, JIM AND BRIAN ECKLUND

DOUG SANNER

THE CREW:  The travel company Southern Explorations runs a smooth 7 day multisport trek. Come to find out we had our own personal chef--Jose and a fantastic guide, Stephan, and 4 of the craziest/fun people I've met in a long time-- all with nicknames. There was the  functional (actually, I think they would prefer- dysfunctional Ecklund family), Jim, the musician/artsy father- a Bob Dillon look alike, Mary
(Maria), Brian (rocklobster) all from Chicago, and Doug (dumpster Dougie) from Anapolis, Maryland- he is was child of Woodstock.  I was branded with the name Zen Master (which I kind of liked), since I was always doing Yoga on breaks.

LANDING ON THE BEACH

BURROW

MAGALLENA PENQUIN

MAGALLENA PENQUINS: On our way to the Parks we stopped to see the Magallena Penquins which have an elongated chinstrap. They come ashore only on this particular beach, sometimes 6,000 at a time. What makes them so unsusal is that they are burrowing penquins. They dig a hole for their chick and keep it warm in there until they can fend for themselves. No natural predators in the region, when they are big enough they swim back to the Antarctica to feed on krill etc.
KAYAKING:

2 SIZES TOO SMALL? :)

BRIAN AND FERNANDO

STUCK IN THE ICE

 After a morning boat ride up across the Last Hope Sound we arrived in Bernard O'Higgins National park. We set up camp and waited for our instructions by Edmondo (Mundo) our ice climbing instructor and Fernando our kayaking guide. Edmundo had been a climbing guide on the 22,000 foot Mt.Aconcagua, and Fernando, who started his adventures when he was a young man, jumped on his bike at 16 and rode from Santiago on a 1000 mile+ trip down to Patagonia to be a climber, he had a rough edge to him. The first thing we had to do was paddle the kayaks across Serrano Lake to get to the glacier. Dressed in wet suits we carried our heavy kayaks down to the water, only to find we had to break thru the surface ice just to get to the glacier. Along the way we paddled amongst the broken off icebergs.

PICKING OUR WAY THROUGH

 PRACTICING OUR WALK

LARGE SECTION BREAKING OFF

ICE CLIMBING ON THE SERRANO GLACIER: On our hike up to the glacier we could hear the rumblings of avalanches, and I'm wondering where the heck are we are going to climb. This glaicer is not flat at all, looks more like a stack of potato chips held together. As we got close to the climbing area, KABOOM!... a giant slab broke off the leading edge and made a thunderous entry into the water, you could feel the vibrations in your bones. So now I'm really a little freaked out, but once we arrived Mundo gave us our instructions, which included walking like you're taking a squat.... alright this isn't too bad and then on my 5th step there goes my crampon sliding off my foot--not a good start. Fernando our famous ice climber didn't cinch the crampon quite right, always pay to check!

MARY HANGING ON FOR DEAR LIFE

MADE IT!

So I managed to catch my sliding right foot, and my breath, holding on with the ice axes for dear life. I struggled to pull my right foot parallel with my left, and with all the strength I pulled myself up to the top of the 25 foot flaking facade- Yahoo! What a rush!  I had to use all four limbs simultaneously, my feet had these nasty looking teeth like spikes coming out the front of the crampon that I jammed into the ice, and the ice ax (nice) is very sharp--not suppose to use it like you are in a UFC fight, just a light smack- like with your wife or husband, so it goes in only 3 or 4 inches, otherwise it's too hard to get out. I think if I had discovered ice climbing when I was 20 I would have done it my entire life.

BALMACEDA GLACIER

SERRANO GLACIER

CLIMATE CHANGE: Before we go to the trekking portion let's talk about glaciers. There are 2 kinds of land glaciers: Hanging (mountain)  and Continental. The type of glacier is based on the topography of the basin  below. For example the Serrano glacier is dangling off the face of mountain, it can grow or shrink throughout the year. All the hanging glaciers we saw had over time become smaller due to climate change. The lake in the picture for Serrano was recently filled with the glacier. And the Balmaeceda glacier we saw from the boat used to touch the water in the 60s. The Continental glaciers have a flatter more level basin. The Grey glacier pictured below is connected to the Southern Patagonia Ice Field, the 3rd largest ice field in the world, and extends 17 miles back: The last 22 years has seen a significant reduction in size of the Grey glacier due to climate change, see link for reference: NASA satellite link over the past 22 years

GREY CONTINENTAL GLACIER- FAR LEFT

THE "W" TRACT: After a 3 hour zodiac boat ride up the Serrano river we stopped at a local refugio for some grub. Another fabulous meal with excellent Chilean wine and as we settled into our cabin   was this view out the front.......The Torres Del Paine National Park. The park

ZODIAC WITH DRY SUITS 

SUNSET OUT THE CABIN

has been discovered and with over a million visitors each year from around the world and there has been an annual increase in guest services and accomodations. To begin with the Europeans have a strong influence in Chile. So 4 years ago the Chileans put in an very nice network of Refugios-Huts (bunk beds, food, and beer and wine!) along the tract.  Sooo why is it called the "W tract". Well, you go down the left side of the National park-Grey glacier portion, then up the middle-the French Valley and then to the 3 spires climb on the right side--looks like a W.  Takes about 4 days of trekking. If you have any questions Jim has a nice drawing of it although it looks more like a pair of boobs.

STEPHAN--ON TOP

Nearly blown off the top: Of course you hear about the wind in Patagonia, but I've never felt anything like this. Upon arrival to the Grey glacier launch point we had extra time so we decided to climb up a side trail for a view. We got a little suspicious when Stephan our guide said, "you might want to take off your hat". We climbed thru some snow and turned the corner and WHAM! right in your face 75 mph winds, with each step I could feel the wind lift me off the ground. Wouldn't have been so bad, except we are on an overlook point. Mary lost her footing and was thrown to the ground and was cut up, Stephan made a few hop steps to get to her and you could see him being lifted. FUN!

GREY GLACIER:  The first leg of the W is the Grey glacier. You jump on an ice breaker boat and go across the lake and right up to the glacier--nice smooth ride--yeah right.

GREY GLACIER AND ICEBERGS

SCRAPE MARKS FROM GLACIER

Once we landed we took a hike to the glacier for a closer look. This incredicble piece of ice has a 75-100 foot facade and looks like a jagged wall, with giant icebergs breaking off the end. Remember this is part of the Patagonia ice sheet. And I tried to imagine what it looked like when it filled the lake below. You could see the scrape marks from the glacier on the rocks where I was sitting.
 Side note: everyone should go see the new movie coming out: "CHASING ICE" if you don't think climate change is happening or really want to see some more evidence, go see this MOVIE!! Absolutely, incredible footage!

PEHOE 

VIEW FROM REFUGIO

BRIAN GETTING A REFILL

After a 6 hour hike down the side of the Grey glacier valley we ended up at the Pehoe lake area and it's Refugio. Our tents are on platforms tied to trees.... I wonder why? well there's that wind thing. Enough to bang the tent flaps pretty hard and shake you up enough to go and look for shelter in the refugio. Patagonia is the ONLY PLACE I KNOW IN THE WORLD where you can drink the water straight out of the streams and not treat it first.

LOTS OF BRIDGES TO CROSS

END OF FRENCH VALLEY

FRENCH VALLEY: We headed down for a short 4 hour hike to a really fun refugio called Los Cuernos and rested. Then we took the hike the next morning up to the French Valley along a natural granite amphitheater ending with avalanched riddled hanging glaciers and a rushing river along the way.

LOS CUERNOS REFUGIO

HANGING OUT- GOOD PISCO SOUR!

STEPHAN LEADING THE WAY

TOWER'S HIKE: This is the grand finale hike and if you are lucky you get to see the famous 3 spires of Torres Del Paine unobstructed with clouds, a 5 hour hike up---2,400 feet and 3 hours down. We had been lucky with the weather so far, so off we went....... I'll have to say this was simply one of the most STUDPENDOUS hikes I've been on in my life, with river crossings, forested valleys and with an exceptional view at the end. One of those places you climb over the ridge and your jaw drops and you go- Wow! Most pictures I've seen don't even come close to doing it justice and I didn't even know there was a lake below. The middle tower was first climbed in the 1950s and was sponsored by an Italian entrepneur who later help start the Torres Del Paine National Park.

BREATHTAKING 3 SPIRES

WHICH WAY IS NORTH:  We had such a fun group of travelers, and it's always great to meet people from around the world that share the passion of nature and travel. This group was a little different--or as Gene Wilder said to Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein....what brain did you get me.....and Feldman said, "well it was Abby somebody, yeah that's it, it was....abby-normal".
So every day this abby-normal group would try to figure out which way was north, tough to do when it doesn't get dark until 11pm and after a few glasses of beer or wine, throw in some Pisco Sour and well, we just pointed everywhere. Luckily, Dougie had a compass, and after awhile of pointing and arguing the compass would settle the dispute. I told them the sun rises in the west in the southern hemisphere, they figured since I was a biological science teacher I actually knew something--1st mistake.
LIAR'S DICE: Damn that is a fun game. After our dinner and dessert and just a few more glasses of wine or beer we would start our wildly contested Liar's dice game that Stephan brought- Lasting until mid morning we would laugh through the night. Of course Stephan was the undisputed champ. But we each did manage to actually win a game, with Mary going out as the final champion--sorry Brian.
COMING IN HOT!  We always had to watch out for Jim, especially on the edge of cliffs, he had a special way of sitting, tripping and basically sliding in, which became known as "coming in hot".

WELL, LET'S JUST SAY YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE!

IF YOU GO:  1. Southern Explorations travel company-excellent! or Blue/Green Adventures in Punta Natales--British base company. ---W multisport tract @ $3,000
2. Flight to Santiago and then to Puerto Arenas from San Diego: around $1,400.
3. Cash for tips etc.  $200-$300
4. November is great less crowded but windy, otherwise Dec, Jan. Feb. and March is their summer.
5. Travel insurance: required: $224
6. Temperature: cold at night, shorts during the day, wind adds on tremendously: always use 3 layers
7. Difficulty level 3+ out of 5 stars