The wild and windswept Patagonian Icefields

“Then all hell breaks out. What feels like hurricane force winds hit us face on. Any tracks left by the others vanish in seconds. We manage only a few steps at a time before we dig ice axes into the snow and brace ourselves for the next gust which tries to rip us off the planet. We have to keep going. We are beyond the point of no return and safety lies ahead of us not behind us. Daylight is running out, our energy is running out and we need to make camp.

We build snow walls to protect our tents from the ferocious winds. Too exhausted to think about food, its all we can do to drink. Snow is being picked up and dumped on our tents. I wake and find that we have been buried. I manage to crawl out of a tiny hole at one end and dig the tent out.”

I first ventured here in 2006. A wild, untamed land at the edge of the world. To stand on the great icecap, the largest glacier in the world outside the polar regions, is one of the most humbling and isolated feelings one can ever have. I have a love, hate relationship with the place but will always yearn to return.

Latest trip was in November 2011. Highly successful, we had great weather whilst on the Icecap. Amazing views that will live long in the memory. Here is the 10 min expedition video.

Related reading material:

Surviving Patagonia 2010 – a report from my partner Kiersten Rowland
The Climax is the Coming Back from a Dangerous Place – a summary of the Spanish Highs Patagonian Icecap Expedition 2010
Patagonia Icefield Expedition Diary – report from our 2006 expedition
Forthcoming Expeditions to Patagonia – run by Spanish Highs Mountain Guides