February 2018

The weather forecast over dinner last night predicted clear skies and little-to-no wind for our first day hiking down the Southern Patagonian Icefield to the Circo de los Altares campsite. Or not… The day didn’t start out too bad to be honest, but within an hour, the clouds had completely obscured the mountains and the wind […]

Our Day 3 of the Southern Patagonian Icefield Expedition – the climb to the summit of Gorra Blanca (White Hat) – doesn’t actually exist in any of the information made available by Serac Expeditions or Swoop Patagonia.  Due to the unpredictable nature of Patagonian weather, the expedition has extra days built into the schedule, and this summit

The trip description from Serac Expeditions for the Southern Patagonian Icefield Trek says this about Day 2: …we trek up the glacier until nearing the Marconi pass – entrance to the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.  This will surely be the Expedition’s toughest day. This is what had been fueling my fears for months! We awoke to rain and

I slept surprisingly well despite my nervousness about the trek, and was at the office of Serac Expeditions just before 8am.  There we added 1/2 of a tent (the tents were shared) and our specialised equipment for the Southern Patagonian Icefield Expedition (crampons and harness) to our packs, as well as food for the next 6 days.  

In 2015, I did the 7-day Torres del Paine Circuit trek with Swoop Patagonia.  Although I had hiked most of the trails of the Torres del Paine National Park in my 3 previous visits (it really is one of the most spectacular places on the planet), I specifically wanted to do the Circuit for the moment