Seeking Balance Finding Adventure | A trip supported by the Jen Higgins Grant
Editor’s Note: Gabrielle Degagne, Marian Krogh and Stephanie Jones explore the rugged coastline of the Beagle Channel and Darwin Mountain Range in Patagonia, fall 2019. Their trip consists of travel by foot, kayak and skis in the remote region.
Through managing logistical hardships, terrain and interpersonal dynamics, the team was able to discover more about themselves and the spectacular positions they were in. Additionally, travelling through Patagonia naturally brings one an appreciation for the environment, so the team brought to light many of the challenges the landscape faces under the weight of climate change.
This is a trip supported by the Jen Higgins Grants for Young Women. If you’d like to learn more about the award and apply, see the link at the bottom of this post.
The beginning
Our expedition to Patagonia was a once in a lifetime experience, an adventure with an unknown outcome that had many challenges. It didn’t go as planned, but looking back on the trip, the unplanned events were a blessing in disguise because of the many opportunities we experienced as a result.
The plan was to start in the small Chilean village of Tortel, located directly between the Southern and the Northern Icefields. From there we hoped to kayak roughly 45 nautical miles to the Northernmost entrance of the Southern Icefield, the Jorge Montt Glacier.
The Jorge Montt Glacier is a tidewater glacier, making it unsafe to access directly from the water due to calving, so we planned to hike/bushwhack our way up a valley to be able to access the glacier by land. It was our aim to explore the Southern Icefield, doing some climbing and skiing along the way.
Expeditionary challenges
Every step of our expedition came with its own set of obstacles. The first major challenge we faced was trying to obtain kayaks in Chile. Despite months of advance planning, we were not able to secure boats before arriving. We arrived in Coyhaique, 900km from the coast and found ourselves trying to rent kayaks using our limited Spanish, which is quite entertaining in hindsight, but the kayaks were several hundred kilometres away from our starting location. We entertained the idea of getting a boat drop instead of kayaking, but this would have been more expensive, and more importantly, would have taken away a key element from our kayaking trip, so we abandoned that idea. In the end, we found some amazing kayaks from an outdoor provider in Tortel (our starting location) called Borderio, thanks to our friend Andy.
Challenge number two came in the form of maps: we didn’t have any. It took a lot of time and energy to track them down, but thanks to our friends at NOLS in Coyhaique, we were were able to purchase and print maps upon arrival. We spent hours studying satellite imagery, which we hoped were more accurate than the printed (but dated) maps. It was difficult to prioritize our navigation efforts between the different different mediums with a limited timeline, but the satellite images ended up being extremely valuable.
Challenge three amounted to gear: we had a lot of it. Combining equipment for sea kayaking and ski mountaineering apparently results in a mountain of gear; we travelled by bus around Patagonia with 12 fully loaded packs, duffels and ski bags. There was debate about what we really needed to bring, what was essential, and what wasn’t. Surely we could be traveling with less? Eventually we managed to fit everything for 21 days into 3 sea kayaks, but not without difficulty.
With our kayaks fully loaded and our Naval and Parks permits in-hand (an operation unto itself), we took our (somewhat questionable) maps and set off on our adventure.
Journeying and navigating by kayak
We completed our first kayaking section under great weather and sea conditions in three days. The first day we paddled 11 nautical miles and eventually camped high on a ridge on Isla Teresa. The second day we paddled 12 nautical miles with calm conditions and clear skies to Isla Alberto Vargas and camped on a small beach. We had a sunny day and calm waters the following morning, and decided to adjust our route slightly to do a 4 nautical mile crossing, which was a little tricky in the afternoon as we encountered cross winds between Isla Francisco and the mainland. We ended up paddling a total of 22 nautical miles that day to our final camp. On day four we attempted to paddle to the face of the Jorge Montt Glacier, but had to turn around due to the changing tide and mobile icebergs.
Bushwhacking by foot
On day five we transitioned from sea to land, following a semi-established trail to Lago Jorge Montt. We’d spoken to two teams before-hand who had more or less taken the same route, with one approaching the glacier from the right, and the other team approaching from the left. Both had done this several years ago and claimed there had been minimal vegetation, but as we discovered first-hand, there was a lot.
Days six to eight were spent trying to access the glacier, walking through swamps, climbing vertical walls of prickle bushes and squishing our packs through dense trees. The load shuttling physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted us. The hard work only progressed us a few kilometres down the valley, gaining us less than 300m, and without the glacier in sight, we felt defeated. It looked like we had at least several more days of swamps, slippery rock and thorns.
We weren’t sure at the time if should continue our planned route or try for a different approach. Would the rocks on the ridge be easier travel than the swamps? Should we try the river valley? Each option brought us to a new discussion. Unable to get past our own individual agendas, it wore us down and made us aware that we needed to work on our communication and effective decision making as a team.
Teamwork makes the dream work
We spoke ahead of time about our decision-making framework for the mountains and sea, route planning and conditions. However, we hadn’t anticipated having so much difficulty with the other aspects of the trip.
To help deal with frustrations, we tried a number of different communication strategies: Steph, being a NOLS alumni, talked us through the NOLS feedback system, which we practiced at the end of the day and during the lead-up to the expedition. It provided constructive and truthful feedback, acknowledgement, and adaptations to feedback.
We did daily check-ins to see how everyone was feeling mentally, physically and emotionally, which helped us all know why certain tasks were difficult at times and how we could help each other out.
We created a scale of 1-10 for how we were feeling. If someone was lower on the scale, we’d ask them how we could help make that number closer to a 10, guiding our decisions throughout our day. If kayaking closer together would help raise someone’s score closer to a 10, we’d make a plan to consciously kayak closer.
We utilized this framework to make a decision about what to do next on the Jorge Montt Glacier, where we sat down and list our priorities:
Having a fun and happy team working together
Maintaining the environmental priorities of the trip
Ski on a glacier
Having these three key items in mind really helped with our communication for the rest of the trip. In the end we decided to leave the Jorge Montt Glacier and try to access the Southern Icefield via the Chico Glacier. It wasn’t the original plan, but something we all felt was a good decision.
The Southern icefield
After returning to Tortel on Day 10, we quickly made plans for getting to Villa O’Higgins, the closest town to our next starting point. We unpacked, re-packed, slimmed down our packs and hopped onto another bus. Two days later we were on our way to the entrance of Lago Chico, the starting point to Glacier Chico.
We took a boat 90km across Lago O’Higgins (we unfortunately did not have time to kayak there and back though) and landed on the side of a rocky outcrop. We were anticipating a challenging approach to the glacier, but hoped it would be less eventful than our experience at Jorge Montt - it ended up taking us two days. For the most part, we were able to travel on old cattle tracks high above Lago Chico towards Glacier Chico. The second day included some creative navigation down and across boulder fields and scree slopes, with the addition of more prickle bushes. That evening we camped at the foot of the glacier on a small plateau.
We swapped out hiking boots for ski boots, donned ice axes and crampons, and started skiing up the glacier. Only a short distance up and we were able to start skinning. 7km later, we set up camp for the night.
The next morning was one of the most memorable: the full moon was setting as the sun was rising, and to the right we could see the vast Southern Icefield - to the left, Lago O’Higgins, with its floating pink icebergs and mountain backdrop. We left our camp to skin up as far as we could before our turnaround time, with our initial plan was to spend two days climbing and skiing. However, we received news that a huge storm was expected in the next two days, and in order to make it out in time we would need to be off the glacier by then end of the day.
We skinned 7km from camp to our turnaround location under clear blue skies and perfect conditions, surrounded by the stunning views of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy. This was, for all of us, the highlight of the expedition. It was not easy looking at all the mountains, many unsummited, waiting to be climbed, while knowing we had to leave because of incoming weather.
We eventually turned around and roped up as snow bridges began to warm, making the 12km journey off the glacier. We woke up early the next day and prepared for a long one before meeting up with our boat at 10am, taking 17 hours to pack and walk the 25km.
Our original plan was never to complete our expedition in two individual sections, but we learned a lot about ourselves and grew stronger as a team. We adapted to unforeseen circumstances, and as a result, had a phenomenal experience.
Climate Takeaways
How is climate change impacting the Southern Icefield?
● All glaciers are retreating, with the exception of Pio XI. This glacier is advancing because of shifting plates underneath Volcan Lautauro, not because of ice growth.
● The glaciers coming off the icefield are becoming increasingly steep.
● The Southern Icefield in the summer has an increasing number of glacial lakes forming on top. These are kilometres wide in some places.
● The icefield is sinking in various locations, creating cracks and indents. It is no longer flat, especially on the western sides.
● Earlier this year the icefield officially split into two, with the southernmost mass separated by a 100m band of rock. Additional fractures are now more likely to develop, according to climate scientists.
How is climate change impacting weather patterns around the Southern Icefield?
● Like everywhere in the world, the weather is becoming increasingly unstable. Winter isn’t winter anymore and summer isn’t summer. Wind events that used to be relatively predictable now appear sporadically. Rains is also becoming less predictable; in summer it almost never rains anymore, and in winter, it almost never snows to lake or ocean levels.
How are these changes impacting local communities nearby?
● Farmers are suffering from a lack of rain in the summer. Some are trying to save rain from the winter, while some are buying water in the summer, and some have given up completely to sell their farms, favouring more southern climates. However, southern farmers are going even further south - causing a continual migration south.
● Ski areas are struggling to maintain opening and closing days. El Fraile, a small ski area near Coyhaique opened and closed twice this year. A ski patroller who had been there for 25 years said that this winter was a good one, but not by standards 15 years ago.
● When it does rain, it rains suddenly and heavily, washing away top soils, decreasing its quality and creating surface floods. In the town of Villa O'Higgins, despite being in a drought situation, is flooding more frequently.
● Those working in the tourist industry are more frequently having to cancel glacier trips because of sporadic weather conditions and winds. These towns rely on little more than tourist traffic.
● The glaciers are a part of the local identity. Villa O’Higgins slogan for their town is “Capital of the Glaciers.” If people can’t see the glaciers anymore, their identity and pride decreases, along with their perceived obligations to protect it. We often heard them say “If we can’t see the glaciers, how are we supposed to look after them.”
● People in Patagonia feel proud and lucky to have their children play outside in the snow. This is something people in Santiago and other more northern areas aren’t able to do. However, it doesn’t snow in town anymore. In Coyhaique, it hasn’t snowed for about 8 years. In Tortel and Villa O'Higgins, it snowed only once in town this winter and melted in the same day. A friend we met in Tortel (Andy), feels sorry for his four-year old daughter because she won’t get to play in the snow like he used to.
How are these changes impacting mountaineers and other visitors to the area?
● Glaciers are retreating, and now climbers and skiers have to walk further on land before they are able to access the neve. The lakes forming in the summer also limit the area where mountaineers can travel and create risk for glacial lake outburst flood events.
● Approaches are becoming steeper and more technical, limiting those who are able to access the glaciers.
● Access to areas on the western side of the Southern Icefield is now considered impossible, as the icefield is sinking and developing more vertically orientated tongues.
● Many visitors come to the area to hike around the “Periglaciar” areas, but these too are becoming more challenging to access. What once was a 7km trail to approach is now 13km.
● The season for climbing is traditionally Nov 1st - April 1st. The Consejo de Politica Forestal team typically heads in and prepares to open refugios in late October. November 1st is now becoming too late, and in order to access any of the upper refugios by ski, you will need to leave earlier to avoid ice.
The Jen Higgins Grant for Young Women
The ACC is dedicated to helping young women pursue their adventure dreams with annual cash grants from the Jen Higgins Fund. Teams must include a young woman who is central to conceiving, developing and leading the trip.
The Jen Higgins Fund was established by friends and family to honour Jen Higgins after her death in 1997. Jen’s enthusiasm and generous spirit continue to live on by supporting young women in creative, self-propelled mountain adventures with this grant.
2020 Deadline: Jan 31st