Currently I’m at the “End of the World” in Ushuaia, Argentina. There are ample opportunities to get connected down here but unfortunately the bandwidth of the pipes isn’t what most of us are used to with DSL and cable modems and such back in the states. This has made posting updates and uploading photos a slow process.

I’ve got some jobs running in the background overnight but figured I’d share a few quick updates and hopefully the next installment of the Aconcagua Recap should be posted tomorrow.

Before heading back to Patagonia I was in Peru and Bolivia. Both were wonderful countries and I’ve got a lot to share (Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, cycling the World’s Most Dangerous Road) but I have to admit I was very happy to arrive back in Patagonia. I am amazed by the beautiful landscapes here each time I go outside.

I just completed the five day Dientes Circuit trek on Isla Navarino in the Chilean portion of Tierra del Fuego. It was a phenomenal trek and I’ve got some great pictures of just how wild and remote it was. I was able to see the legendary Cape Horn off in the distance and without the aid of a compass, map and GPS I might have ended up being out for longer than five days. So few people attempt the trek each year there isn’t even a trail to follow in many places.
I did have a big disappointment today because I discovered I’m too late in the season to see the penguins. Most of them have already left. Just as the seasons are changing back in Chicago and I hear everyone is running around in shorts it is already autumn here and winter is on the way. I guess it just means I’m going to have to plan another trip to visit again.

I was able to upload the video of me ice climbing in Torres del Paine (Quicktime and DivX). I tried out my iMovie skillz and attempted to rotate it so everyone doesn’t have to tilt their head 90 degrees. It is so easy to twist the little point and shoot cameras when taking video these days you don’t even think about the orientation of the camera when you’re recording. (I think it turned out okay but the raw original is here in case there are problems and I apologize for any kinks in the neck before hand.)

Tomorrow evening I fly to El Calafate, Argentina where I’ll spend a week or so exploring Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, specifically Mont Fitzroy and the Perito Moreno Glacier.

Finally, my colleagues at Orbitz will be happy to know even though I’ve left the conference room Chucktanium behind in Chicago the Chuck Norris references just keep coming.

• It started when I was flying from Santiago to Mendoza for the expedition. I sat next to a Canadian named Tito who fights forest fires half the year and climbs the other half. He was also on his way to climb Aconcagua. It wasn’t until we turned final to land in Mendoza that we actually got around to exchanging names. After hearing my name was Chuck he responded “That is really cool. Having the same name as Chuck Norris has to be awesome!”
• When I was hiking the Inca Trail the assistant guide Victor asked my name but didn’t understand my response. After slowly pronouncing my name several times the light bulb went off in his head and he replied “Oh! Like Chuck Norris?!?” to which I had to smile and reply yes. I’ve considered adopting Carlos, the Spanish version of Charles, for the rest of my trip just to make introductions easier.
• I was pretty scruffy from not having shaved for six weeks at the start of the Inca Trail trip and when I met the rest of the group a Canadian named Kyle said I must be a huge Chuck Norris fan and thought I was trying to sport the same look in Chuck Norris’ honor. I quickly responded with a roundhouse kick.

Along with my friend Lou continually insisting I looked like a “dirtbag backpacker” the continued Chuck Norris references made me decide it was time to shave but not before having a little fun.

In addition to Chuck Norris references people now started asking about Earl from My Name is Earl. The next day I was clean shaven just like I always am at the office.

Day 1: Mendoza, Argentina
I met everyone on the expedition at the Park Hyatt Mendoza which is the most posh hotel in town. Upon checking in there were throngs of people outside being held back by guards and temporary fences. I had no idea mountaineers on Aconcagua were so revered but upon checking in my encounter with reveling fans was dashed when I learned an Argentinean football team was also staying in our hotel. One of the biggest games of the season was taking place in Mendoza at 10:30pm that night. This was my first introduction to the Argentinean schedule. They take a siesta which starts somewhere between 11 and 1 and ends between 3 and 5 pm. This rest in the middle of the day means evening activities don’t start until very late. Getting a dinner reservation at 9pm can be difficult because the restaurant may not even be open yet.

On the first afternoon I waited to do my gear check in the hotel room with a fellow expedition member named Mark who would become my tentmate for the duration of the expedition. Mark is from Hawaii and this was his fourth attempt to summit Aconcagua. His first attempt ended when he came down with a severe case of bronchitis and had to ride a mule off the mountain. Having lost his glove liners during a river crossing earlier in the trip he found himself adjusting his crampons at altitude on summit day. Touching his hands to bare metal bled any remaining heat from his hands brought on a case of frost nip which ended his second attempt. Bad weather last year prevented a summit bid on third try. Mark was a wealth of knowledge about Aconcagua and obviously had a lot of experience to share and he patiently answered all my questions about what was in store for the next three weeks. I certainly hoped having Mark along would be a good omen and the fourth time would be a charm for him. Mid-afternoon there was a knock on the door and we met our head guide who also happened to be named Mark but was from Oregon. He looked like a mountaineer and had a very laid back attitude. During the trip Mark we would learn while Mark did not take himself too seriously he was very serious and realistic about the endeavor in front of us and had years of experience. The gear check went well and Mark approved all of the gear I had lugged down from Chicago, much of which was new and purchased especially for this trip.

After the gear check I was tempted to get tickets for the football match but but opted to attend the expedition kickoff meeting Mark informed us would begin promptly at 7pm over a drink in the hotel bar before moving out for a traditional Argentinean meal consisting of huge slabs of meat. Over the next few hours I started to become acquainted with the thirteen other members of the expedition I’d spend the next three weeks with on the mountain.

Rough demographics of the group were:

• Three guides and eleven clients

• Four women (including one of the guides) and ten men

• Countries represented included Scotland, South Africa, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Germany and the US (including a fellow Chicagoan)

• Wide spectrum of ages with the oldest being 57 and I was the youngest of the clients although the two assistant guides were younger than me

• A wide range of occupations were represented including HR, Greenhouse seed salesman, logistics and supply management, warehouse management, German foreign service, general contractor and technology

Day 2: Los Penitentes, Argentina
The next morning we left the comforts of Mendoza (and especially the Park Hyatt), made any last minute purchases and boarded a bus for the four hour ride to Los Penitentes. Driving out of Mendoza we passed several of the vineyards or bodegas responsible for producing many of the Malbec wines which have become so popular in recent years. We stopped midway for lunch at a roadside stop and I had goat for the first time in my life. The meat was a bit stringy and tough and had somewhat of a gamey taste. It definitely did not taste like chicken. While it wouldn’t be my first choice on a menu it was tasty and definitely was filling. Two hours later we arrived at the Hotel Ayelen which was quite run down considering it is regarded as a four star hotel. Our guide Mark had referred to it as indoor camping relating stories of no hot water and broken windows. The Lonely Planet guidebook is spot on saying “…the wallpaper in the rooms could use a change.” as could the lightbulbs. Mark and I had to replace three of the four bulbs in the fixtures and when the room was fully illuminated I kind of wished it wasn’t. I’d hate to see what a 1 star hotel is supposed to be like in Argentina.

We had gained a significant amount of elevation going from Mendoza at 703m to Los Penitentes at 2580m. That meant we needed some exercise to elevate our heart rate and facilitate acclimatizing to altitude. Mark and I chose to walk about 8km (5 miles) round trip to the Mountaineers Cemetery up the road. It was interesting to see the graves honoring people who had explored much of the mountain or played a significant role in its history. I was also a bit shocked to see the number of recent tombstones. It looked like there was at least one for every recent year with 2003 being particularly bad when nearly a dozen people died on the mountain. I began to realize a successful summit bid was not an assured thing and saw it was going to more difficult and dangerous than I had expected. That evening we ate together as a team sitting comfortably inside around a table for the last time until we came off the mountain. Mark wore a Hawaiian shirt and handed out chocolate covered Macadamia nuts he’d brought from Hawaii to get the expedition off to a good start.

Days 3-5: Trekking to Plaza Argentina (Base Camp)

After a hearty breakfast we sealed up our “mule bags”, grabbed our day packs and a jeep made two runs to ferry our group to the trailhead. Our daypacks just had the things we would need while hiking like lunch, snacks, a rain jacket and camera. The mule bag was to be carried in by mules with local arrieros guiding the mule train. While the trail to Plaza Argentina, the official name of the site where Base Camp is located for the Ameghino Valley route, is difficult and at time precarious, mules are used to bring in the enormous amount of supplies required for an expedition. Each member of the team is allowed to bring anything they want to base camp as long as it fits in the mule bag. This may seem like a luxury but we needed to remember, after Base Camp we were the “mules” and would have to carry everything up and over the mountain. The arrieros weighed and marked our bags to assist in evenly balancing the loads on the mules and I was relieved to see mine was almost the lightest in our group at 19kg (~42 lbs). Since I was 2-3kgs lighter than most of my companions and knowing I tend to overpack I was a little concerned I’d forgot something but chose to believe I’d found really lightweight gear.

It would take three days to get to Plaza Argentina (4200m). The first two nights we stopped at Pampa de Lenas (2800m) and Casa de Piedra (3200m) after hiking for 6-8 hours. Even without the weight of full packs these days were tiring as our bodies began to acclimatize to the altitude. The sky was clear and the sun was out making for a beautiful walk as the trail followed the banks of the river Vacas river. At the end of the day we would grab our mule bags and set up our tents. It seemed a bit silly in such nice weather but Mark (our guide) insisted we pitch the tent each night as if we were at high camp. When you put up a mountaineering tent you don’t use the stakes. Instead there are about a dozen guylines attached to the fly and you pull each of these taut and anchor it tight by wrapping the rope around a little rock and then piling big rocks on top of it. By big, Mark said he meant rocks which we’d have difficulty lifting. After anchoring we’d then build stone walls for further protection from the wind. Mark took pride in his ability to teach clients how to properly and securely pitch a tent. None of his clients had ever had their tent blow away in the night during a storm. But he told stories of seeing poorly anchored tents from other expeditions blow off the side of the mountain as the three or four occupants dove out the door narrowly avoiding being blown away too. This all seemed like hyperbole at the time but we’d come to see just how serious Mark was as we got later into the expedition.

We saw Aconcagua for the first time about 15 minutes before we got to camp on the second day and it was impressive. The summit was covered in snow and we had a clear view of the famed Polish Glacier which was a more technical route directly up the face as opposed to the traverse we would make to the other side.

On the second evening, the arrieros prepared a traditional Argentinean asado for us. The asado is a time-honored tradition in Patagonia and something which I had been looking forward to with great anticipation. The arrieros prepared a fire and grilled large slabs of meat. When you go to a butcher in Argentina they do not ask how much meat you want but instead how many people will be attending. It is assumed each person will eat about 1kg (2.2 lbs). Since the mules were doing the hard work at this point our assistant guides Marcela and Tobias had wisely packed a few bottles of wine to go with the meal. To be honest the asado was a bit of a disappointment for me. I found the meat to be tough and it was not all that flavorful or juicy. Later in the evening others told me they had seen the meat sitting out early that morning in the open sun on a rock and birds were pecking at it. I could only surmise this was the arriero’s way of tenderizing the huge cuts of meat but I couldn’t help but think this had impacted the quality of our asado. I wanted to believe the fabled meat feasts of the Patagonian pampas truly were delicious dishes which I would labor to recreate on my Weber when I got back home.

On day three of the approach we hiked up the Relinchos Valley with Aconcagua in full view. We also had two river crossings on this day; one to start the day off in the brisk morning air right after breakfast and a second just before lunch. Both were extremely cold and the second one was over our knees and quite swift. Everyone crossed with great haste. The trail was also a bit precarious at times with scree and a long steep slope down to the river as we gained 1000m on the way to Plaza Argentina. That didn’t slow down the arrieros and the mules who passed us in a fury. What took us three full days to hike the arrieros could do in less than eight hours with a pack of 15 or more fully laden mules.

The wind had picked up and in the last hour of our hike and the temperature felt a lot colder. Everyone quickly chose a campsite by proximity to piles of large rocks and we prepared what would be our new home for the next several days.

Located near Mendoza in Argentina, Cerro Aconcagua is the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas at 6,962m (22,841 ft). As the tallest peak in South America it is considered one of the the Seven Summits and thus a very popular mountain to climb. Most people climb the Ruta Normal or Normal Route. I chose to climb the Guanacos Valley route with Aventura Patagonicas because it leaves more time for acclimatization, is more scenic and far less crowded. Unfortunately, I found out just days before my expedition was to begin the Argentinean government had closed the Guanacos Valley route to climbers for the 2006/07 season and my expedition group was to climb a hybrid route combining the Ameghino Valley and Guanacos Valley routes.

My desire to climb Mt. Aconcagua was not driven by any single motivation. My trip to South America was originally meant to focus on exploring Patagonia. However, I’ve always enjoyed reading mountaineering stories and summiting Aconcagua seemed like an achievable goal for a novice like myself and the mountain isn’t far from where I was planning to trek in Patagonia. Armed only with an adventurous spirit and curiosity I joined an expedition with ten strangers to learn if I had what it takes.

I did not have any basic or high-altitude mountaineering experience prior to this trip. In 1999 I had trekked to an altitude of 5,545m (18,192 ft) when I hiked to Kala Pattar, a small peak near the Base Camp on the Nepalese side of Mt. Everest. I was reasonably fit this year from a cardiovascular perspective since I trained for and ran the 2006 Chicago Marathon only a few months before the expedition began. I knew very little about Aconcagua and naively considered it to be an easy peak to summit. As I was to learn many people climb Aconcagua in preparation for an attempt at Mt. Everest and any attempt to summit Aconcagua is a very serious endeavor.

While I was on the mountain some very brief updates were posted based on reports filed via the expedition satellite phone. I’ve decided to post a recap of the expedition, broken into several posts, so friends and family can read more about the details of my trip. I also hope sharing my experience will be useful to others who are considering a summit attempt on Aconcagua so they might better know what to expect and how to prepare.

Getting to Torres del Paine (TdP)
I organized a transfer to the airport through the hotel and compared to yesterday’s airport transfer debacle the trip was uneventful not to mention much less expensive. I arrived in the domestic departures lounge expecting to see Anne but it was very empty. Almost an hour later she came walking through security looking even more haggard from the journey than I had expected. She had survived cancelled flights and lugging her pack through foreign airports but it was the customs officials at Santiago airport which finally broke her. Chileans take threats to their produce and livestock very seriously and customs checks at Santiago airport are extremely thorough. With all the beef jerky, dried fruit, nuts and other tasty treats she’d brought for our hike she was pulled aside to spend some quality time with the customs officials. Just as I was unsuccessful in pleading with the TSA officials to keep my stove she ended up surrendering a significant portion of our supplies before being allowed to enter the country.

Anne and I caught up while waiting for our flight to Punta Arenas. As lunchtime approached I searched the airport and found a small take-away restaurant advertising a chicken baguette sandwich and beer combo which looked delicious on the poster. After what seemed to be a successful exchange in Spanish I handed over my pesos and the clerk gave me a cold bottle of beer and a vacuum packed sandwich, which if you squinted through the plastic approximated the picture on the poster. I triumphantly returned to Anne with lunch and upon tearing into the vacuum seal discovered the US supermarkets must send all of their expired Steak-umms to Chile to be served in the Santiago airport. The rancid gray meat was far cry from the golden grilled chicken in the picture. It didn’t taste half-bad though and so after Anne turned down a third bite I finished it off lamenting how my Spanish was so miserable even “pollo” was misunderstood. Passing the time I read the ingredients to find I had eaten a “carne vacuna” or “vaccinated meat” sandwich. While the meat had been vaccinated, I’d learn over the next three days my trip to the International Travel Clinic had not vaccinated me against a “carne vacuna” encounter but luckily had at least armed me with Cipro.

When planning our trip to Nacional Park Torres del Paine back in November we had expected the rendezvous in Santiago to be the hard part. We neglected to consider the flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas and the subsequent three bus rides required to get to the park which consumed a full day and a half of travel time after we met.

Punta Arenas is the largest town in Southern Chile and capital of the Chilean Patagonia. It also seems to be a town forgotten by time where the builders have no materials available other than corrugated steel. After Anne’s 30+ hours of flight time the El Fin del Mundo in PA served just fine as a place to lay horizontal and catch some Z’s before grabbing a bus the next morning at 7am to Puerto Natales.

Most people know I am not a big fan of bus travel, even in my home town of Chicago. I’ve just had too many bad experiences. When I was in Nepal I had a 13 hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Jiri where had an assigned seat, although it was constructed out of plywood and angle iron making for a most uncomfortable ride. The real surprise was to see the cage of chickens assigned to the seat across the aisle and goats riding in the luggage rack on top. On another bus ride in Pokhara I found myself riding on the roof with my backpack. So I was pleasantly surprised by the ultra-modern Turismo buses I saw at the bus station. The seats reclined and seemed to be comfortable enough as long as the person in front of you didn’t recline too far not unlike coach class on an airplane. The bus had a bano on board and they even served coffee during the ride. It all seemed quite civilized until the driver started the engine and the TVs started playing Phil Collins concerts and bad American movies like Gone in 60 Seconds dubbed in Spanish. My opinion remains the same, even though bus travel in South America may seem more civilized at first it is no less tortuous than I’ve experienced elsewhere.

After successfully negotiating flights, taxis and buses to finally reach a shuttle which took us to Hosteria Los Torres we setup the tent and prepared to begin trekking the following morning.

Trekking in TdP

We had originally planned to hike the entire Paine Circuit but having miscalculated the time required to get to the park took a serious allotment out of our available time. We opted to tackle the shorter “W” trek which covers all of the highlights of the park and covers about half the distance and avoided long, arduous days of hiking in order to catch our return flight. This ended up being nice because it gave us flexibility to take rest days when the weather was bad and extra time to check out some of the interesting day hikes and side trips.

I have the waypoints of our trek recorded in the GPS and plan to post the details of the route and day hikes for people planning to tackle the same trek. The highlights of the hike included:

• Cooking dinner at the base of the Torres and watching the sunset. Enjoying some red beans and rice with tea and just taking in the view of the massive granite towers was a real experience. Traditionally people hike to the towers at sunrise which I planned to do the following morning but a hail storm and clouds made for a gray skies where I would not have seen anything so we packed up camp and moved on.

• We arrived at the Los Cuenos refugio late in the evening just as a storm was blowing in. I set up my Mountain Hardware Annapurna mountaineering tent in winds gusting above 50mph which was a real challenge. It was so windy my sunglasses were blown off my face and so far up the mountainside I could not see where they landed. Even with the shelter of a tree and some rock walls I built the wind managed to snap several of the guylines as the storm gathered momentum during the night and we learned first hand about the legendary Patagonian winds. The winds died down the next day but were replaced by rain and sleet which made a perfect excuse to take a rest day alternating between sleeping in the tent and playing dominoes in the refugio.

• Refugios exist in the park for people who prefer staying in a hostel environment as opposed to camping. We spent several evenings inside the dinner areas at the refugios and met many fascinating people from around the world. Sharing travel stories and hearing about the incredible trips other people have put together was truly inspiring.

• We had several days of bad weather with clouds shrouding the mountains. We were glad to have extra time to wait out the weather because when the skies cleared the landscape was simply spectacular. Patagonia and specifically Torres del Paine is a very special place which must be experienced in person to truly appreciate the beauty.

Ice Hike on Glaicer Grey

On the last day the plan was to take the Grey II ferry from Refugio Grey to Hosteria Lago Grey but there was a sign for an Ice Hike which seemed intriguing. The guides touted a tour of the 27km long Glacier Grey with the chance to peer into crevasses and learn about the glacier during the seven hour hike which required the use of crampons and ice axes. With little discussion we pushed back our departure a day and signed up. This turned out to be the best decision of our trip to TdP.

We met the guides the next morning expecting to be in a group of 14-16 people but they informed us the tour group we were scheduled to hike with had radioed and moved their trip back to the evening session. This meant there would only be four clients and two guides on the morning trip. With such a small group our guides Quito and Carlos informed us the hike would be “fun” for them because the group in the afternoon was going to be a lot of work. “Fun” translated into a very personal experience where we got to explore many parts of the glacier clients do not normally get to see where the guides play on their days off. We were able to walk through ice caves and rappel into a crevasse. Anne captured my inaugural attempt at ice climbing on video and while I might not have the best form it did not matter because I was having the time of my life taking advantage of the opportunity to see a side of the glacier most people never will. I’ll post the video as soon as I have a higher speed connection.

All of the various shades of blue on and in the glacier were amazing. The weather was spectacular with the sun shining and the winds mysteriously absent. Hiking on Glacier Grey was the highlight of the TdP experience. We had such a great time and got along so well with the guides that they invited us to their cabin in the evening where we drank some great Chilean wines and ate pork straight from the grill in traditional Argentinean asado style.

The next morning we boarded the Grey II ferry where we saw the glacier from a distance. The sheer size and blue color could be seen from the boat but was not nearly as personal or satisfying as actually walking on the ice. We drank Pisco Sours chilled by ice pulled straight from the glacier knowing our hike had truly been a once in a lifetime experience.

Parting Thoughts on Torres del Paine

The park lives up to its reputation. The hours of driving to the park are reminiscent of eastern Montana. The landscape is very desolate and almost lunar in nature and there are a lot of cows. In Montana you find a lot of abandoned cars, miles away from roads or any sign of civilization. I don’t know if Montanans are out driving cross country when their vehicles suddenly break down and they just leave them behind or when a car is past its prime they literally decide to put it out to pasture. Either way, it was refreshing to see the land surrounding TdP to generally be clean and sheep grazing as opposed to a sea of man-made junk. As you near the park mountains begin to crop up and then the silhouettes of some of the most famous and recognizable peaks in the world come into view and it is simply awesome.

In retrospect, Anne felt had she known what she was in for to ahead of time she probably would not have come. (Did I forget to mention a few minor details? Ooops!) She had never trekked or carried a backpack in the backcountry before and found it to be physically challenging. However, she did a great job and really enjoyed the experience. She feels it is one of the most beautiful places she has ever seen and is glad she was blissfully unaware of the hard work ahead and made the journey to Patagonia.

I was impressed with the infrastructure built up inside the park to support trekkers. I’d like to visit again and attempt the full circuit but I’d strongly consider leaving the tent and stove behind and using the refugios. Die-hard backpackers might scoff at the idea but dropping the extra gear and focusing more on the landscape than the additional pounds in the pack is a favorable trade-off to me.

I’ve posted some pictures but they cannot begin to convey the sheer size and incredible colors. I had hoped to take photography classes before starting this trip but never found the time and now I really regret it. Some of the lighting conditions were very tricky and overall I’m disappointed in the quality of the images I did capture. I plan to enroll in photography classes to better learn the fundamentals and study landscape photography before I return.