Somewhat delayed in making this post but the last few days have been quite busy nipping backwards and forwards between Patagonian Chile and Argentina. But more on that later :-)

Antarctica was never 'part of the plan', in fact I had previously considered it and simply ruled it out on account of being far too expensive. My rationale was that i'd much rather spend such a big chunk of the travelling budget on diving in the Galapagos islands. Well so much for that idea!

The hostel that I was staying in had a tour agency directly opposite - and as I walked out one evening I spied the new signs announcing "Last Minute Deal" to Antarctica! The seed now planted, it must have germinated, sprung roots and shown the first shoots over night because my first port of call the next morning was to see the tour operator. Leaving their office half an hour later, a few thousand dollars lighter but happy that I had a ticket on the penultimate ship of the season and from "the end of the world" I was heading south.

Well, the morning had started so well, but by late afternoon things had changed a little when I received an email from the tour company telling me that the ship had been cancelled! Apparently due to technical difficulties - however as it turns out, it was the last ship of the season for that operator/ship and it was less than have full (doesn't sound very technical to me :-))

From good news to bad news and back again. There was only one ship left going to Antarctica this season and as i'm sure you can imagine there was something of a mad scramble to snap up the last places on that ship. My good luck seemed to be holding as I managed to get the last space in the last cabin on the last ship of the season! Place confirmed, ticket in hand and heading for Antarctica (Again!) The ship - the Ushuaia was due to sail on the 13th March.

The mix of people on the trip certainly made things interesting. From 'gap year' Students to Retirees on permanent vacation. from Actors to Astronauts! (well a NASA Engineer, but Astronaut sounds much better :-)) and a self proclaimed (and slightly crazy) Viking!

The first couple of days of the 11 day trip would be spent crossing the Drake Passage, a notoriously rough area of the Southern Ocean. However, the good luck continued as our crossing was suprisingly calm. Despite the calm start we did have quite a number of sea-sickness casualties - some that litterally didn't make it out of the cabin for almost 2 days! The days of the long crossing were occupied by 3 or 4 lectures per day covering a wide variety subjects related to Antarctica - Environment, Wildlife, Climate, History, Exploration. Nice to put the old brain back into gear for a while :-)

First stop having successfully negotiated the Drake Passage was The South Shetlands (I must admit that i've never been to the North Shetlands, but feel almost obliged to do so when I make it back to the UK).

I'm not going to list all the stops on the expedition here, but if anyone is interested they can download the final trip record which lists in detail ALL the stops, places of historical interest, wildlife seen there, weather conditions and generally interesting information about Antarctica. The Route Map page of this site also shows the route.

Its not a huge report and you can read it HERE

The wealth of wildlife found at almost every stop was quite incredible. ALWAYS Penguins! Which, thanks to the lectures during our crossing we were able to identify as Gentoo, Chinstrap, Adelie (one poor fella who seemed to be all on his own in the middle of a Gentoo Colony - identity crisis maybe?) we even managed to find a few Macaroni Penguins (little fellas with 'Mad Professor' WILD yellow 'eyebrows') which was very unexpected in the area we were visiting.

Also frequent sightings of Elephant Seals, Leopard Seals, Weddel Seals, Crabeater Seals, Fur Seals and a personal favourite Minke and Humpback Whales. I was fortunate enough to be in one of the Zodiac dinghys when we spotted a couple of Minke Whales who seemed more than happy to show off for a while and came in for a closer look at these strange foreigners! On one of the days I was lucky enough to see a huge glacial carving as a block of ice about the size of a small block of flats broke away and crashed into the water, sending a mini tsunami wave (complete with chunks of ice the size of cars) towards the mainland - fortunately I was on my way down from the sumit of the island and therefore on high ground.

Its far easier to say what we saw rather than how Antarctica makes you feel! All this set in a world of white - Glaciers and Icebergs abound. Difficult to capute in words so just as soon as I can i'll post up a photo gallery.

As we reached our furthest point south, we were heading for a Ukrainian Science Station. we had passed a few other bases, some historical and some current but most were closed due to the onset of Winter. However, it would appear that the Ukrainians were mad enough to be staying for Winter and had invited us along to visit (probably glad of the company I imagine). But, the good luck had to run out eventually and the weather changed - quickly and quite dramatically. What had earlier during the morning been reasonably strong 25-30 knot winds soon became 50 gusting up to 60 knots! (over 110km/hr!) There was NO WAY to get a Zodiac out in these conditions - we'd already had a Zodiac flip a few days earlier in 25-30 knot winds - so the Ukrainians would have to do without our company and we made our way further north in search of some shelter.

After two more stop to islands off the Antarctic Peninsular we were heading back to the South Shetlands to overnight and then onwards to the Drake Passage.

This time we were not so lucky as the crossing was VERY rough. Tables, Chairs and People were thrown over (not overboard! We were told to stay indoors). The doctor was called out at least a couple of times to attend minor 'loss of balance' injuries. Even the Viking was looking quite ill. When someone asked him how a Viking could be sea sick he replied "I don't want to be a Viking no more!" and ran for the bathroom.

There were times when we rolled over so far that I thought the SIDE windows would give us a 'glass bottomed boat' effect! Its a little unnerving to look out of a window and see ONLY water with no sign of Horizon.

Anyway, the two days return across the Drake Passage passed with more lectures, albeit with a much depleted attendance and we arrived back in Ushuaia ready to celebrate!

Even though it had never really crossed my mind to visit Antarctica, it now stands out as one of the greatest travel destinations on any of my trips. A difficult one to top (won't stop me trying though :-)) Now i've just got to work out how to fund diving in the Galapagos!

Posted by Russ Jones at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Sorry for the delay folks, but i´ve just spent the last 5 days on a 3 day boat trip (?!) trying to avoid hurricane winds!

Anyway, now happy to report that i'm back on dry land (in Chile) and managed to find a half decent Internet connection, so here are the Antarctica Pics.

ANTARCTICA PHOTOS

Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed being there to take them. ENJOY!

Posted by Russ Jones at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Having been to Antarctica and seen LOTS of glaciers, I wasn't too sure about seeing more so soon. Was I all glaciered-out? Well I went anyway and was very glad I did.

The Perito Moreno glacier is in Argentina, almost 80km from El Calafate, in Patagonia. It is the 'star attraction' of the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and as such sees almost a continual stream of tourist buses. I guess thats the downside, the sheer volume of people being bussed in to see this mammoth ice field. But, they wouldn't all be here if it wasn't worth the trouble.

So its hugely popular, its hugely spectacular and quite simply... its HUGE! I did see enormous glaciers in Antarctica, but because they were set in totally white surroundings (i.e. Mountains covered in ice) it was very difficult to pickout the glacier from the general mass of 'white'. At Perito Moreno the glacier runs through a green valley and the contrast is startling.

In its own right, it is a big glacier covering 250km2 and running for 30km. At its terminus its 5km wide and 170m high (although 110m are below the waterline). Hopefully the people in the foreground of the picture on the right will give a idea of scale.

Its one of only 3 glaciers in Chile which are not in retreat! Although it is technically advancing at around 2m per day, the amount of ice breaking away from the front of the glacier is about the same and so its isn't actually gaining ground (it hasn't made any forward progess for about 90 years!).

Its the rate at which ice carves from the glaciers leading wall that brings so many people. There is a continual cracking and creaking from this very active glacier. Occasionally a very loud bang can be heard and large chunks of ice will break from the glacier. Its not always possible to spot the falling ice, but what people are hoping for is a large ice carving from the front of the glacier into the water. It happens every now and again and sometimes in quite spectacular fashion. Imagine a 60m column of ice collapsing, its a bit like a towerblock being demolished!

I'd have to say that as glaciers go, this one's pretty special and I do think that the rainbow is a nice touch :-)

Posted by Russ Jones at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

New Boots Needed

These Boots WERE made for walking... but now i'll definitely needs some new ones. The past few week have involved more than their fair share of hiking around Patagonia, both on the Argentinian side (Torres Del Paine National Park) and the Chilean side (Los Glaciares National Park/Mt Fitzroy). The end result is that i'm quite tired, but not as knackered as my boots. At least the holes are on top and not underneath.

Mount Fitzroy

Although this post covers both time spent in Argentina AND Chile I opted to post it under the 'Chile' category. No offense to my Argentinian friends, but it had to go somewhere! I seem to be spending a lot of time nipping backwards and forwards between the two countries - rapidly filling up the passport with Arg/Chile stamps. My last sojourn to Argentina took me to the Los Glaciers National Park and the tiny 'town' of El Chalten. Just as with my own tough choice of which country to assign this post to, this whole region of Patagonia has been a hotly disputed territory. In an attempt to 'simplify' matters and bring the issue to a close, Argentina quickly cobbled together a town in the area. So, they were then able to apply the logical argument that 'it must be ours because we have a town there'... and so El Chalten was born!

Fitzroy From The Lake

The town itself is nothing of note, but then NOBODY comes here to see the town. El Chalten was built within what is now Parque Nacional Los Glaciers and is overlooked by Mount Fitzroy. Stunning scenery and some of Argentinas finest trekking.

The town of El Chalten closes up towards the end of April or early May and even during my visit (early April) there were signs that the shutdown was beginning. The potential down side with a visit 'out of season' is simply one of poor weather. Patagonia does 'bad weather' very well - especially the famous Patagonia winds! However, I was very lucky and can only report clear blue skies and a gentle breeze - perfect. The big plus side of being here at the tail end of the season is that there are fewer people out on the trails and the Autumn colours (Fall colors :- who said I couldn't learn another language!) are truly breath taking.

Autumn Colours

Although there are plenty of camping options in the park, I chose to make day hikes from El Chalten to Mount Fitzroy and also to Cerro Torre (not having a tent had a LOT to do with that.) The combination of perfect weather, empty trails
and mind blowing scenery have clearly left a lasting impression on me.

But enough already. If you take a look the photos in this post you'll get the idea and it will save me a lot of typing and brain ache :-)

From Argentina it was once again back to Chile and more trekking. Puerto Natales is the typical base from which to sort out plans and provisions to take on Torres Del Paine National Park.

It was also an opportunity to put my I.T. skills to good use. The hostel in Puerto Natales (Erratic Rock) was having a few computer problems (Internet access, WIFI issues) so volunteering my services to sort things out resulted in a healthy discount on all my trekking gear rentals (tent, stove etc.) and a free nights accommodation. Those 5 years at University finally paid off.

The Cuernos

The most common trek in the park has very creatively been named 'The W' on account of its shape. It's a 5 day trek taking in glacial valleys, the intriguing rock formations of The Cuernos (Imposing Granite bodies capped with black sedimentary crowns) and the 'Grand Finale' (very weather dependent!) of the Torres Del Paine.

Thanks to the guys from Erratic Rock, I was now fully equipped and ready to tackle 5 days camping in the cold damp wilderness. My pack was pretty much full of instant soups, instant noodles and instant porridge. My theory being that the quicker I could cook dinner, the quicker I could get back in my sleeping back which was pretty much the only chance of being vaguely warm. I also threw in a few large bars of chocolate to make sure the diet was balanced (easy to eat in bed too).

The Torres (Towers)

My initial plan had been to move things along at a reasonable pace so as to allow 2 days at the Torres. I'd met so many people who had spent 5 days trekking only to see NOTHING of the Torres (towers) at the end. However after 1 VERY cold, damp night camping in the snow and 3 hours sitting at the Torres (seeing about 80% of the Torres cloud free), I decided that I'd seen enough and for my last night moved on to the relative comfort of the Torres Refugio (hostal) campground and a decent hot meal that was neither 'instant' nor noodles.

Posted by Russ Jones at 8:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sailing through the southern fiords of Chile, what could be better? Well, as it turns out, that could be quite a long list.

I do feel that the experience is nicely captured by my friend and fellow 'Navimag-er' Becky Barrett in her Blog entry which you can read HERE.

Thanks Becky!

Posted by Russ Jones at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Anyone who knows my history of travelling and natural disasters might indeed question the rational of going to stay in a small town at the base of a very active Volcano, let alone the desire to climb to the top for a peek inside. welcome to Pucón!

Its certainly an awesome sight hanging over the town. A sharp snow capped contrast against the clear blue sky. Not that that was how I first saw the Villarrica Volcano. When I first arrived in town there was a thick layer of cloud blotting out almost all the landscape. Of course i'd seen pictures and knew that there was a volcano around here (somewhere). It wasn't until my second day in town that I was able to look up and declare "bloody hell! look at that damn big volcano"

The peak of the Volcano sits at 2847m (asl) and last errupted ... last year! The climb although not a technical one is a reasonably strenuous ascent that needs crampons and an ice-axe. Preparation is the key.

And, with this in mind I went out to party! It was one of those unplanned get togethers, friends met up with friends and before you know it we're in a bar. Unfortunately, the early start the next morning meant that I wasn't able to get any provisions for the climb, and so the day begins ... No water, no food, no sunscreen and a HANGOVER. I decided that it was best not to mention any of this to the guides as it would only compound the hangover issue with early morning nagging. Past experience has proven that a bit of hard work would sweat all that nasty alcohol away and i'd bounce right back anyway.

Well there was plenty of hard work on the first section as its a steep shale slope - the kind that lets you get in a couple of forward steps before it pushes you back down one.

But it wasn't too long before we left the shale behind, strapped on the crampons and, ice axe in hand, took to the icy slopes.

The group was a bit large for my liking, consisting of 12 climbers - on the up side though, it was a group of 11 girls and myself. The pace being set by the lead guide was an unnaturally slow one and made for rather tedious stop/start progress. Still, progress was made and as we gained altitude the views opened out below us.

Glad to report that the hangover had gone by mid morning. But by the time we reached the lunch stop I was ready to start eating the snow. Fortunately I managed to find a couple of stray (and rather broken) cookies in the bottom of my pack (not exactly a hearty meal, but sometimes you've just got to go with what you've got.) With 'lunch' finished we pressed on for the summit. I have to admit we were extremely lucky with the weather conditions. The volcano is climbed almost every day and we were going to be the first group to reach the summit in the last week. Previous groups had been beaten back by the weather. We had bright sunshine, clear blue skies and a light breeze. Perfect.

As we reached the top, the sulphurous smell was overpowering, burning the back of my throat - I really wish I had some water now. Still all was not lost as we moved away from the acrid smoke the guide produced a bottle of red wine. Hair of the dog? No, a toast to our success and a toast to the 'spirit' of the volcano. Take a swig, splash some on the snow (for the spirit) and pass it on. I might have hung on to it a bit longer than was polite, but I WAS very thirsty.

The descent was SO much easier. The guide, produced what could best be described as an adult size nappy and after a quick run through of how to wear it we were instructed to sit down and slide our way down pre-made snow runs. A bit like tobogganing, only without the toboggan! Still, you can get some real speed on the way down. There's nothing quite like hurtling down a mountain side out of control, with a large ice axe in your hand, to focus the mind!

Posted by Russ Jones at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)