Antarctica - Part II

The next day was a bit colder and a whole lot windier with small snow squalls every once in a while. I figured we must only have a 50/50 chance of being able to fly out in this weather as there were even darker clouds on the horizon. Despite the weather, we bundled up and started out along a rocky ridge toward the Drake Passage so see more marine life. Alejo packed extra wind pants and goggles just in case the weather got worse. We marched through the snow and across the permafrost where the snow subsided. Here, Alejo told us to follow in his exact footsteps as you can easily sink up to your knees in the thawing muck. As we crested the final ridge, we could see the open ocean filled with small, rocky islands and giant icebergs in the distance. Below us on the shore, we could hear the occasional bellow of the elephant seals. We climbed down the scree covered slope and through groups of Weddell seals for a closer look at the giant slug-like Elephant seals. There were a few on land and even more in the water playing (or fighting, we weren´t really sure).

Hey, what you lookin' at?

Uh, you could use a breath mint!

Elephant Seal Duel!

I got a great deal on some Real Estate while in Antarctica!

At once point we passed an old Russian built wooden hut that had been demolished by the harsh Antarctic weather. No wonder they all use giant steel boxes for buildings now!

After our filling our memory cards with photos, we hiked up a snow filled valley against the biting wind which was now blowing at a steady 40 mph (which Alejo confirmed by a radio call to the airstrip´s control tower!). After finally making it back to base camp, we mailed postcards from the Chilean base, got our passports stamped with a giant "Antarctica" and packed up for our flight back to Puenta Arenas. A few minutes after touching down in mainland Chile, we all looked at each other in amazement and asked, "Can you believe we were just in Antarctica?" I know that I still can't...

Antarctica!

At 8:00am I got a call that the flight to Antarctica would be delayed, possibly until the afternoon. Then at 9:00am, I got a call saying, "Get ready, we´re leaving immediately!". We took off, but an hour into the flight, our guide, Alejo, told us there was a down grade in the weather and we had to land in Port Williams, a small outpost on an island just across the Beagle Channel from Tierra del Fuego. We touched down and spent an hour checking out the "yacht club" and wandering around the tiny village. Then we got the "all clear" and were airborne again. About another hour into the flight, just when we were in sight of Cape Horn, the Captain told us the weather took another turn for the worse and we had to return to Punta Arenas and try again tomorrow. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Hmmm... I think I´ll take the 7:30 flight to Antarctica!

Our trusty ride to the ice continent

Take two. The next day, we had a green light for a 7:00am take off and this time made it all the way to our landing spot at Base Frie, the Chilean Antarctic Military Station. We landed on the gravel runway and walked down the dirt road to drop our stuff in our "rooms" which turned out to be half sized cargo shipping containers remodeled into little bunk huts.

Hotel Antarctica! The orange building is the "reception, lounge and dining area", the third white container to the right is my "bedroom suite". The bath room is 100 yards across the tundra in the Chilean military base - make sure you go before bedtime, you definitely don't want to make the walk in the middle of the night!

Next, we walked over to the Russian scientific research station for lunch. The food was, well, Russian, and after eating we walked over to a tiny Russian Orthodox church they had built on top of a near by hill. Talk about an unexpected, surreal site in this desolate outpost!

Russian Orothox Church - Antarctica Chapter

After leaving the Russian base, we went on a couple hour hike along the iceberg choked bay, over a snowy ridge and across a rocky isthmus that is only accessible at low tide. On our hike to the peninsula/island, we passed several Weddell seals lounging on the rocky shore and a few random penguins popping in and out of the water. As we approached the penguin nesting ground, we started seeing more and more of the little creatures until we realized the ridge above us was filled with them and once around the final bend in the coast, we came upon dozens of nests with parents sitting on their young to keep them warm.

We saw Chinstrap, Gento and Adaliane Penguins, the only three that inhabit the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding islands. We couldn´t help but laugh at their stereotypical waddle as they marched from the water´s edge to their nests on the ridge above us.

Pinguino!

After spending more than an hour hypnotized by these fascinating birds, we called a zodiac to take us back across the bay as the rising tide cut off our retreat. Next, we hiked up to the Chinese research station where our hosts shared a hot cup of green tea with us and showed us around their complex. I was bold enough to challenge one of the Chinese workers (who didn´t speak a word of English) to a game of ping pong in their recreation room. I was proud to hold my own against him (but had a feeling he was holding back a little!).

After dinner back at the Russian station, Alejo brought out a crystal clear chuck of glacial ice that he chopped into cubes with his ice axe and mixed with some scotch for our after-dinner drinks. He also showed us how to make authentic Russian Bloody Mary´s (which I´ll be glad to demonstrate to anyone who asks!).

Our guide, Alejo - "Mr. Antarctica!"

Over drinks we heard tales of how Alejo cross country skied to the South Pole (he´s been back four times on snowmobiles), how he climbed Vincent Massif, the tallest mountain in Antarctica, with Pat Morrow, the first Canadian to summit the seven highest peaks on the seven continents, and how he helped support the first sled dog team to mush across the entire Antarctic continent. It turns out we were lucky enough to have "Mr. Antarctica" as our own private guide! He´s also climbed Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America (over 22,000 ft.) and Cerro Fitz Roy (one of the most challenging climbs in South America). His next dream is to row across the Pacific Ocean from Chile to Easter Island to French Polynesia and finally to Australia in the summer of 2007! Good luck, dude!

My Mark on the Continent - The Dobson Snow Drift!

Around 12:30am, I realized it still wasn´t dark outside. From the doorway to our "container" I asked Alejo if the pink hew on the horizon was the sunset and he said, "No, that´s the sunrise!" Apparently, this close to the austral summer solstice and this close to the antarctic circle, it never actually gets dark here! The sun just dips below the horizon for a few hours every "night" and then pops right back up! Oops, time to go to bed!

The End of the World

Hello from the End of the World!

Except for the Inca ruins in Peru, I haven´t had the sense of history here in South America that one gets traveling through Europe. That is until I reached this southern tip of the Continent. The Straights of Magellan, the Drake Passage, the Beagle Channel (named after Charles Darwin´s ship) immediately invoke images of the first adventurers to explore our world and circumnavigate the globe. This adventurous spirit is infectious and makes me yearn for the lands beyond - the island of Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctica Continent. This yearning builds on my childhood dream of stepping on each of the Earth´s seven continents. Ever since I first turned a globe upside down, I´ve imagined myself traveling to this distant point of land and jumping the straights to the ¨land of fire¨, then crossing the Drake Passage to the frozen ice cap at the bottom of the world. And now, here it is, like a giant snow cone machine just across a busy street on a hot summer day. So close, yet still a challenge to reach.

Today, I take my destiny in my own hands. Doug and I part ways - Doug continued on to Ushuaia, and I booked a flight to Antarctica, the last unspoiled frontier on the planet. The itinerary includes sea elephants, penguin colonies, and antarctic research stations but we´ve been told that everything is subject to change as the weather is very unpredictable and take off and landing times can change instantly. The guide for the trip is a gnarly, Nordic/Viking looking man with a weather beaten face and a long elfin beard and, for some reason, this look inspires my confidence in the trip. As of now, all signs are a ¨go¨ for a 9:00am take off tomorrow. We will get an update tonight at 8:00pm and another first thing in the morning. I´m excited about to this trip to what I´m sure will be an alien world and will write again when I return from the land of ice and snow!

Punta Arenas, Chile - Pretty Damn Far from Anywhere

Trekking in Torres del Paine

The second day of our trek consisted of hiking with full packs along an unbelievable series of lakes, each with a distinct color caused by a unique mix of minerals and glacial runoff - from deep blue, to azure, to bright aqua-green. We crossed many mountains streams and rushing rapids on a variety of shaky plank bridges or just stones and logs placed stepping distance apart. The trail was dotted with spring flowers - firework red tree blossoms, tiny purple wildflowers, white orchids, and delicate yellow explosions of petals. We stayed at the tiny but cozy Cuernos Refugio at the base of the ¨Los Cuernos¨ (The Horns) with their grey granite sides and black rock tops which look like mountains dipped in chocolate.

Day three of the trek was spent hiking up the French Valley for a closer look at the Cuernos to the right and huge, hanging glaciers to our left. At one point, we heard a giant rumble and turned to see an avalanche of snow cascade over a cliff across the valley from us and fall several hundred feet onto the alluvial fan of ice below. As we climbed (and climbed and climbed), the wind grew and the occasional drizzle turned to sleet and then snow, stinging our faces and hands. Two hours up the valley, we realized if we went any higher we´d actually be in the clouds so we decided to turn back, gather our big packs at the drop point and head to Pehoe Refugio for night three.

Doug Lake next to Pahoe Lake

Dan in the French Valley with the Cuernos in the background

The wind! Oh the incessant Patagonian wind! The fourth Day of the trek (which is often done as two days) had us marching quick and light up the next valley to Glacier Grey. At the start, the wind was blowing a consistent 10-20 mph with gusts that seemed to reach 40-50 mph and literally stopped us in our tracks and made us run behind the next ridge or into the next forested section of trail. At times, the wind died down and allowed us spectacular views from the occasional rock outcropping overlooking Lago Grey with the giant Glacier Grey pouring out of the great Southern Ice Field in front of us. The bays below us were filled with tiny icebergs, broken chucks of the glacier blown to the far end of the lake. The glacier was immense and the far end just disappeared up the mountain valley to the horizon. While somewhat obscured by clouds, I was convinced we wouldn´t be able to see the end, even on a clear day, since the ice field continues 350 kilometers to the north! The entire hike took us 10 hours (including a few stops) and we calculated that we walked 19 miles round trip, concluding the 85km (50 plus mile) ¨W¨ trek. Including the Inca Trail and our hikes in Northern Patagonia, we´ve hiked well over 100 miles in the Andes on this trip - half of that up hill!

Glacier Grey

The next day, we took the Catamaran back to the Park Administration building getting awesome views of the Cuernos del Paine and the surrounding mountains, forests and lakes. From there we caught our bus back to Puerto Natalias and caught another 4 hour bus to Punta Arenas, Chile which sits on the Straights of Magellan. Can´t wait to just sit in a cafe, rest the legs and drink a hot coffee.

Los Cuernos

Chilean Patagonia

We started our adventure in Chilean Patagonian with a day in Puerto Natalias, the staging area for excursions to the Torres del Paine National Park. It´s a wind swept port city surrounded by volcanic peaks topped with snow. Every 10 minutes the weather changes dramatically. One second it´s sunny, then raining, then windy, then sunny again, then it starts to snow, then it´s sunny with rain (apparently from the clouds a dozen miles away). It is definitely apparent how the Patagonian weather can change instantly without notice.

On December 5th, we caught a bus into the park, left our big packs at the Refugio at the trail head and started our four day trek of the route called the ¨W¨. We hiked up, up, up the valley to a boulder field for another hour of scrambling up an even steeper section to an amazing view of the ¨Torres¨, a series of granite towers frosted with snow, looming above a glacial lake of a shade of turquoise-blue I´ve never seen before. The shear rock cliffs snagged the passing clouds causing a smoking chimney effect. At the start of the hike it was cold and a brutal wind was blowing but the sky cleared and in this boulder strewn natural amphitheater, we were protected from the wind and sat in the sun for over an hour just soaking in the views. Eventually we hiked back down the mountain for a self cooked pasted diner and warm night in the Refugio.

Los Torres (The Towers)

Supertrekking!

On Wednesday we took a bus up to El Chalten, four hours to the north, to go "Supertrekking". El Chalten is at the base of the most dramatic mountains in Argentina, Cerro Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, which are both huge granite spires piercing the sky.

Cerro Fitz Roy

Off the bus (which traveled three and a half of the four hours on dirt roads), we met our guide Andreas, and the three other trekkers going with us, Rich from New York, and a couple from Mexico City, Lenny and Marta, who are living in Houston. After dropping off some extra gear, we drove to the trail head and started our six hour hike along the river valley. The views of Fitz Roy and the surrounding granite spires were spectacular and the weather was perfect with bright sunshine and a nice cool breeze. The scenery was seriously some of the most beautiful I´ve seen on this earth. Up with the Napali Coast on Kauai, the Swiss Alps, and possibly Yosemite Valley it was definitely one of the most awe inspiring, pristine natural settings I´ve experienced. Half way into the hike, the giant rock tower of Cerro Torre appeared to our right stabbing into the sky and dominating the geological skyline.

We camped overnight in a beech tree forest and I convinced Doug and Rich to stay up to watch the stares. Again we saw the Southern Cross, the Milky Way and, strangely, an upside down Orion. We each caught site of shooting stars and saw satellites zipping across the sky.

The next day we hiked two hours to the mouth of the Torre Glacier. On the way, we climbed a steep hillside with the aid of some fixed ropes and crossed over a rushing stream via a rope ¨bridge¨to which we had to tie our harnesses and pull ourselves across. We stopped to fill our water bottles and Doug asked the guide how the water was. He answer was, "Perfect," which said it all. Back down at the bottom of the valley, we donned crampons and hiked on the glacier for an hour until coming to the first row of seracs (ice cliffs caused by the constant cracking and shifting of the glacier). There we stopped for lunch and took turns roping up and using ice axes and crampons to ice climb up the cliff. After lunch, we continued our zig zag path through the glacier around crevasses, rivers through the snow and half frozen pools of crystal clear blue water. The views of Cerro Torre and the adjacent rocky mountain peaks, surrounded by a surreal ice landscape were incredible. The whole time, our party of six were the only people on the giant field of ice!

We hiked back to our camp, grabbed our gear and trekked another three hours back to town. We spent the night in the tiny mountain village of El Chalten, then did a day trip up to an alpine lake in the shadow of Fitz Roy before catching our bus back to El Calafate. Now we are witnessing the true Patagonia we came for and are loving it!

Dan and Rich Supertrekking on Glacier Torre!

Perito Morano Glacier

The first day in El Calafate was spent on a tour of the Perito Morano Glacier. It was truly one of the most amazing natural phenomenons I´ve seen with my own two eyes. The glacier pours for miles out of great Southern Ice Field, past the jagged white peaks of the southern Andes, through an alpine valley, then splits, dumping into two beautiful lakes. The walls of ice are perfectly vertical and you only have to watch for a few minutes to see giant chucks of ice and snow calve off into the lake with a giant roar. We hiked along the lake, then took a boat trip to look up at the blue, turquoise, aqua, indigo and violet light bouncing off and through the ice caves and crevasses. We actually ran out of colors to describe what we were seeing. The glacier's movement was evident by the constant popping, cracking and grinding noises eminating from it. The top of the glacier is heavily crevassed and undulating as far as you can see as the top and bottom move at different speeds. The water surrounding the glacier is full of tiny floating icebergs from the snows' advance into the lakes. It was an amazing site and definitely worth the bus ride! Tomorrow we go "Supertrekking" in El Chalten!

View from the boat!

The Bus Ride

Dawn. I´m awakened by the shake and rattle of the bus for what must be the 20th time. I realize that we´ve been driving on a dirt road for the past 100 miles. I pull back the curtain and peek out the window to see a cresent moon floating above the orange and pink horizon in the pre-dawn light. I can see for miles in every direction across the barren pampas with no trees or buildings obscuring the view. I try to take it all in before leaning back to get more sleep.

Last night I awoke in the dark and peered out the window wiping away the condensation on the glass with my fingures. I was still half asleep as I gazed at the night sky and was amazed by the hundreds of thousands of stars I could see. The Southern Cross shined brightly and the Milky Way was in full effect streaking across the sky. I just stared out the window until I dozed off again and later wondered if it wasn´t just a dream.

The road to El Calafate!

Finally, we started seeing snow frosted mountains in the distance and knew we were close to El Calafate. The bus pulled into town almost exactly 24 hours after our departure in Bariloche but the day looked sunny and bright so we were excited about the adventures to come.