Third Ration

Our third ration period was 12 days long.  During that time we had a few notable highlights.  We did some vertical bushwacking up a very steep hill where most of the time all we had to hold on to was a plant called 'calafate'--a very thorny plant.  I was still picking thorns out of my hands and thighs 10 days later.

We also had a very memorable storm during this ration.  We had decided to take a layover day in order to do some of the preliminary classes for crevasse rescue and to go for a peak attempt on Cerro Calvo.  Around mid-day the wind began picking up a little.  About that time eight of us also set off to try to climb the mountian.  We had to cross a small glacier, so we roped up and started going for it.  Then the wind really increased and as we moved up and became more and more exposed to the prevailing winds we felt the full force of the storm.  It was blowing little ice pellets and we had to stop and hold position periodically when some of the stronger gusts came or else get blown over.  It was quite exciting and a great show of force by Mother Nature.  We eventually aborted our attempt at climbing Cerro Calvo due to the tempestuous weather and some steep loose rock we encountered... and it's a good thing we did because the wind didn't abate for quite some time.  When we got back to camp things were really blowing there too... so we spent the next few hours reinforcing our tents to withstand the wind through the night.  Some student groups built wind-walls with snow blocks, and everyone used all the cordage available to tie the tents down and anchor them as best as possible.

During our attempt at Cerro Calvo.

Can you tell it's windy?

The wind howled into the night and shook our tents pretty well.  We had a little bit of protection from som rock outcroppings that we were on the lee side of (thankfully).  And it rained very hard for some time.  We got pretty soaked when we went out side to tighten our tent lines or check on the others.

Amazingly, though, while we were mentally prepared for the wind to blow all night, it tapered off and stopped at about midnight.  I had been praying that it would, since I had once been in a wind storm that lasted four days and forced us to abandon our tents and dig a snow cave.  We didn't have enough snow at our camp to dig in like that, so I was praying it would stop.  And it did.  About midnight it just calmed down and we had a great travel day the next day.

The other highlight from our third ration was the amount of time we got to spend up high above 1500 meters and the amount of glacier travel we got to do.  These days it can be hard to find places in Patagonia that are accessible and have enough snow to do glacier mountaineering.  Even for us there were a number of places we couldn't go because the glaciers were to exposed and too cracked up. 

This was the ridge we hiked for several kilometers during the last four days of our third ration.  The weather threatened to get nasty again and we watched the dark grey clouds loom to the west.  We got some snow flakes and snow pellets falling as we travelled but it wasn't too bad weather-wise.  It was cold though!  Some of us nearly had all our layers on as we slowly trudged across the glacier.

Ok, one selfie... 

Leadership

Glad to be at camp!!

I have a few more stories and pictures to share about our recent mountaineering expedition.  Eventually I'll get back to talking about sea kayaking, which is more or less what I intended to focus on with this blog... seems like I haven't been doing much sea kayaking lately.  However, I hope to soon!

The students are on the last night of their Independent Small Group Expeditioning... I head to their respective pick-up locations tomorrow--and expect them to be there: happy and healthy.  It will be fun to hear their stories and adventures.  It will also be a little sad, because it will officially be the start of the 'end' of the Patagonia Year for us--the Chulengos.  I've spent the last few days thinking how will we close our experience. (?)  I've collected a few thoughts and a couple of readings to share.  I gave the Chulengos a small reflective assignment that I'm hoping most of them will be willing to share:  it's about who they perceive themselves to be, who they've become as a result of their NOLS experience and who they want to be.

It can be hard to have such a powerful experience as a full six months in the backcountry--learning a lot about nature, about oneself, one's strengths and weaknesses, the strengths and weaknesses of others, one's limits, passions, and fears--and then to leave that unique place and go home to a familiar place, feeling like you've changed so much but but home hasn't changed.  It can be hard to relate such a unique experience to people, to loved ones, who haven't been there.

One of the strong threads of curriculum that we teach at NOLS is leadership.  In the beginning of the Patagonia Year we had a number of formal or semi-formal classes on leadership and we began using leadership language to talk about the day and to give each other feedback on how the day went and how the 'designated leaders' did and how the 'active-followers' did.  Eventually we taught fewer and fewer classes and the leadership 'curriculum' became simply doing it--learning it and practicing it through experience.

And the Chulengo students led each other amazingly well in some very challenging situations.  There were five seperate occasions where one or two small groups didn't make it to the camping destination of the day.  That led to some problem solving, some decisions to be made, risks to be managed, adversities and uncertainties to be tolerated, plans to be hashed out and executed.  All of these situations required leadership.

Some of you readers, and I'm especially thinking of the parents, family and friends of the Chulengo students, might enjoy reading a little bit about NOLS' leadership structure and philosophy.  I'll see if I can post our leadership pamphlet for you to check out.  It is a condensed version of our curriculum.  It will also give you a little insight into what your Chulengo has been 'eating, sleeping and breathing' the last six months.

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Self-sufficiency

The last two days of the first ration we only had 17 or 18 kilometers to travel and based on the map it looked pretty straight forward.  There would be about 400 meters of elevation gain the first day, but after that it looked like a gradual decent to our re-ration point.

However, as per usual, we would be travelling in small groups of 4 or 5 including instructors and we always make sure each small group is self-sufficient with a tent, stove, fuel, cooking pot, first aid kit and emergency signalling device.  In the last five years since I've been a backpacking and mountaineering insturctor at NOLS I've never had a small group not make it to the "x" for the day.  I've finished the hiking day well into the evening, but never not made it to camp before dark.

Kevin enjoys watching an Andean Condor pass by several times.  It probably thought we smelled like carrion.

This course was different.  On day seven of the first ration we started the day with a small river crossing.  My group was the first to get going after the crossing and we trudged our way up through a steep forested hill side in the afternoon and broke out eventually into alpine tundra.  We worked our way west and skirted around a beautiful lake bordeered by a glacial moraine that piled those rocks there many years ago.  We continued walking over fairly flat terrain and rounded a valley corner and began hiking north.  Eventually the terrain got a little more rough, but not terrible and we arrived in the vicinity of our agreed upon "x" at about 7:30 pm.  My group was the first to get there.

Probably 30 minutes later another group arrived, and then a third group.  Hmm... this is sounding familiar from the day before.  Only this time the fourth group didn't arrive.  We waited until it was fully dark and half expected to see some headlamps decending the slope into the stream delta that we were camped on.  But no headlamps appeared.  By 10:30 pm we figured they had for sure chosen to stop and camp along the way somewhere and we told ourselves we needn't worry until noon the next day.  If they didn't arrive by noon we would put a scouting party together and walk the valley in reverse to look for them.

In the morning we woke up and cooked breakfast.   We decided to pack up camp and be ready to go by 10 am, because we were assuming they would arrive at about that time and we would be able to make some more miles that day.  Sure enough about 9:30 am we see and hear them a short distance back coming down a steep rocky hillside--everyone was just fine.

We welcomed them happily into camp and found out they had just camped about a kilometer back--they had been hiking kind of slow and ran out of daylight.  Four people took shelter that night in a three person tent--Jim, the instructor, slept in the tent vestibule.  They were in good spirits and chalked up another story to tell!

We decided to go ahead and hike some more and try to get to our reration site which was still 8 or 9 kilometers away.  By the time we got re-organized and packed up it was mid-day, but we felt like it would be a good opportunity to have the students hike in small groups without instructors.  They had already done this in the backpacking section a couple of months ago, and we were 8 days into the mountaineering section, so it seemed like appropriate timing.

A couple of kilometers ahead on the route was a possible river crossing, but we could also follow along the same side and not cross the river if for some reason the crossing seemed sketchy or anything.  We instructors decided to head out first and then wait at the river to let the students know if they should cross it or not.  We travelled through some more tricky terrain and eventually got to the river.  It didn't look like something we wanted to attempt and the travel on the east side of the river was going pretty well.  So once a couple of the student groups arrived we told them we were planning to stay on the east side of the river and that they should do the same.  We parted ways again and walked over fairly flat terrain for a couple of kilometers and then smelled smoke and saw some colors in the distance ahead.  It was a person... and a tent... with a campfire.  Huh?  That wasn't exactly what we were expecting to see out here in the middle of remote Patagonia.  We walked up to the person and said hello.  It turned out to be two Chilean guides who had two American clients with them.  The owner of the company they work for is the person who owns the property we were crossing at the moment.  His company was also the one who we'd arranged with to bet our food to us for the second and third ration.  They said our food was there, down valley, at their base camp.

They also said their was a little-used trail along the river where we were heading.  We had seen signs of trail the last kilometer, but it had come and gone.  So we were happy to hear we might find a trail to follow.  They said it would probaly still take us 3 1/2 to four hours to get to our destination which was only 3-4 kilometers away.  That seemed hard to believe that it would take that long, especially if we found and followed the trail--but we didn't say anything.

We got going since it was already about 4 pm and we wanted to make it in before dark.  We did have some trouble keeping the trail, but after losing it here and there we always seemed to find it.  Kevin was particularly good at following and finding the trail.  We seemed to be making ok time, and then all of a suddent the trail shot up hill.  What is this?  The river we are followingn is way down there... hmm.... but this definitely seems like a well travelled trail.  We followed it.  Up and up... then down...  down... and back up and up.  Then it was gone.  Where did the trail go?  We spread out and looked for it.  Is this it?  Maybe... lets see where it goes.  Wait, no, over here... I think this is it.  Eventually we were back on it... going up and down just barely hearing the river in the distance below.

An example of Patagonia bushwacking.

Around 8 pm we came out into a semi-clearing and there were trails going every where.  Which one do we follow?  We were now in an area that is grazed by cows and the cows have made numerous trails all over through the bushes.  Again we dropped our packs and scouted around looking for the most likely trail.  About 8:15 pm or so we found an area close to where we'd chosen on the map that was campable for us.  We set up our tent and listened and waited for the students to arrive.  The travel on the "trail" had been slower and more difficult than we'd anticipated, so we were hoping the students would make it before dark-- but it was not looking good.

Then all of a sudden I heard what I thought was a voice in the distance.  I listened.  Yep!  I hear someone!  I called back... then listened.  Within a couple of minutes a group of 4 students exploded out of the woods.  Yes!  We hi-fived them and welcomed them to camp.  I asked if they'd seen the other two groups, but they hadn't since leaving the river 4 hours ago.  So, we waited.  And waited.  Eventually it got dark and we decided not to worry.  We won't worry until noon tomorrow. Fortunately it is a clear night--doesn't look like rain.  A good night to sleep out under the stars.

I went to bed that night knowing the students were probably just fine but also praying that they hadnt''t had any accidents and that they were working as a team with any challenges that might arise.

It was hard to just wait in the morning.  But we did...we tried to wait patiently and stick to the plan that they would arrive by noon as a contingency.  Then some-time late morning, 10 students with backpacks on came crashing out of the woods!  Yes!  We were so excited to see them!~  And they had some stories to tell... around dusk ooone of the groups stumbled into a yellow-jakcet nest and two students got stung badly.  Once they were a safe distance from the bees they decided it was getting dark and they might as well nrse their wounds, cook some dinner and take care of themselves.  The other small group also caught up to them so they were ten strong.  They slept out under small tarps and thankfully it didn't rain that night.  They finished hiking the rest of the way in the morning.  Don't worry... the Patagonia adventures didn't end there.

Hot and a lot

After our first day of hiking we were already just barely above tree-line.  The good thing about that is no more bush-whacking for a few days!  We did take the next day, though, to hike back down just a little ways into the forest and string some ropes up into the trees in order to practice 'fixed line ascension'.  Fixed line ascension is when you use two pieces of cord that are tied with a prussik hitch and used for ascending a rope.  The primary purpose in the mountaineering context is to self rescue in case of falling in a crevasse while on a rope team.  If a person were to fall in a crevasse, the rope that they are tied to would prevent them from falling very far into the crevasse and then they could use their prussik cords to climb their way out.  Even in the trees it is a lot of fun to practice and it was nice to have a rest day after such a grueling first day of hiking.

Ben's night to cook..."hot and a lot"-- he also won the beard competition.

Our next travel day we moved up about 500 more meters into a basin that still had a couple of relatively small glaciers in it.  We camped at the base of one of them, but it was not snow covered down low.  We spend another day there learning to use crampons and walk around on bare ice glacier.  We also got the ropes out and went a little higher on the glacier where it was snow covered and practiced getting in rope teams, and roping up with our full glacier rigs.  With 18 people we had a total of five rope teams.  At the end of the day two teams hiked up to a high saddle to look out at the terrain we were thinking we would travel the next day.  Unfortunately the terrain out that way was not snow-covered enough and was too steep and 'slabby' to make travel reasonable.  We had an alternative path to take but it was also very steep, but less so... so we planned to go that way the next day.

We were now approaching our halfway point of the first ration... but we had a considerable distance yet to travel to get to our food resupply point.  The morning of day four we hiked in small groups to the west until we rondezvoused at a small glacier that led up to a saddle that we were pretty sure we'd be able to decend and continue toward our re-ration.

We did make it to the saddle without problem and Kevin scouted the other side looking for a good route to descend.  Once we were all ready to begin our hike down it was roughly 2 pm and at this time of year it is getting dark at 9 pm.  That means we had seven hours.  Plenty, right?  Not so fast.  The descent we were looking at was more than 1000 meters and about 3 kilometers.  However we had already travelled 3 kilometers and gained 500 meters in elevation--so we weren't exactly fresh when we started going down.  The first leg of the descent that Kevin had scouted went pretty well.  Eventually we got to the tree-line though and it took us a while to find the best way into the trees.  The trouble is that at the top of the tree line the trees' growth is stunted and inhibited by the annual snow pack, therefore the trees in that zone are kind of bush-like, intertwined and extremely stiff... almost impenetrable.  But, the time we spent scouting paid off and we found a gully that was bush free, albeit quite steep.  We descended that gully in small groups with five or 10 minutes of dispersion in order to avoid being below each other with the potential of rockfall.

A good looking small group of hikers.

Eventually all four small groups were in the trees and could travel a little more freely, but as we traversed and descended we ran into more thickly vegetated areas and even some cliffy areas that we had to find a way arouond.  The first group made it down to the lake where we intended to camp at about 8 pm, then 30 minutes later the second group, and shortly after that the third.  Where was the fourth group?  While we waited for them we got tents set up and some groups started cooking dinner. It was fully dusk and beginning to get dark.  Still the fourth group hadn't arrived.  Each day we plan for the potential that a group or two (or all the groups for that matter) might not make it to the "x".  So each hiking group carries a tent, stove, pot and food just in case they have to spend the night away from the others.  Those of us who had made it to camp this night were beginning to think the fourth group might have to do that.  Then all of a sudden we saw several white lights bouncing up and down in the distance.  Yes!  There they were... hiking the last few hundred meters in the dark with head lamps.  We were very happy to see them!

Once they got into camp we helped them set up their remaining tent and get dinner going.  It had been a long day and turned out to be a windy, rainy night--so it was good they made it!  That night was my night to cook dinner for the instructor team, and if I remember right, I think I made "hot and a lot."  That's the universal name for a any quick meal, usually with pasta and cheese, and enough to satisfy a ravenous hunger.

GLOF -- Glacial Lake Outburst Flood

Here is Jimmy "flaking" out a rope to get ready for glacier travel.

Jake here is excited for the day!!  About to rope up.

When I was finishing up in Patagonia last semester, I crossed paths with a fellow named Jim Furgeson at the NOLS branch near Coyhaique.  I had heard he was going to be the Course Leader of our mountaineering expedition in February.  He and I had met and talked on other occasions down here at the Patagonia NOLS branch, but we'd never worked together.  So, on this occasion when I saw him and told him we would be working together he went on to tell me about the route he had in mind for our expedition with the PY3 Chulengos.  Already (in early December) he was working on the logistics and trying to get all the details in order to make this route work.  When I told him it was my first mountaineering course in Patagonia he quickly replied, "Wow, jumping in on the deep end!"  At the time I wasn't totally sure how to respond since I figured it'll just be another NOLS course, and I've done many... but now, in hind sight, I would say that his statement was correct.  The route he'd carefully and meticulously chosen was the "deep end" as far as mountaineering at NOLS is concerned.  It was a great expedition, and challenged all of us, instructors and students alike.

This is 'Ventisquero Pared Norte"  -- a big valley glacier.

So, when I arrived back down in Patagonia after my Christmas break, the students had already been here for three weeks doing their rock climbing section.  The three other instructors and I had two or three days to get prepped for the expedition before the students came back to the NOLS campo to transition.  When the students arrived we had just a shade over 24 hours to get them ready for a 35 day mountaineering expedition... it was a little crazy!  But the students hit the ground running and we began packing our rations of food and going through their clothing and personal equipment to make sure they had all the necessary items to live comfortably (as possible) in the remote backcountry near the Northern Icefield.  Bright and early the next morning we loaded the bus and were driven to a small campground near the Baker River.   When we arrived at the campground we set up tents, cooked some dinner and went to sleep.

Part of our logistics was to cross the Baker River the next morning, and Jim had made arrangements for a local "Poblador" rancher to use his boat to ferry us across the river.  BUT we needed to do it quickly in the morning because a GLOF had released and the river level was rapidly rising in the morning.  What is a GLOF you ask?  GLOF stands for Glacial Lake Outburst Flood... you can click on this link to read a little about them.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacial_lake_outburst_flood

So when we woke up that next morning we were in a hurry to get down to the river where Enrique Sanchez was waiting for us to give us a ride across the river... four persons at a time.  Fortunately, while we could see the river had risen some and the current was faster than normal it was still safe to cross, but we needed to do it quickly.  We didn't want to have half the course cross and half not make it... so we were hustling.  Within an hour we were all safely on the north side of Rio Baker and we moved away from the river and camped near Enrique Sanchez's house.  His house was well above the  potential high water mark, so we set up camp there.  After dinner that day we walked back down toward the river and the water had fully flooded over the banks of the river and was more than 3 meters above normal water level.

The next morning we cooked breakfast, packed our backpacks and started hiking to our next camp up an unnamed valley to an unnamed lake.  It wasn't very far... only six kilometers, but we had to gain over 700 meters, traveling for the most part off trail.  So it was a big day of hiking.  Since there were 18 of us in our expedition, we divided each day into small groups of 4 or 5 people to make hiking more efficient.  And, as could be expected we all arrived at the lake at different times--anywhere from seven hours to ten hours after starting.  Whew!  But we all made it!

Here are four of the Chulengos on a spectacular hiking day.

Rodeo and Autonomy

Hello my friends!  I flew back down to Patagonia, Chile, in January after having a great time at home with my family and friends in Seattle.  One notable highlight while home was getting to spend time with my girlfriend, Kristin, whom I just started dating in September before starting this string of NOLS work in Patagonia.  She has been super supportive and patient with my vagabond life and work-- so thanks Kristin!  Can't wait to see you in 10 days!

Enough about my personal life... let me get back to the PuffyJacket Blog... At the moment I am in a little town in Chile called Cochrane.  I am staying in a budget hostel, that for me is very comfortable and I set up a little work station in my room that you can see on the left.  I've got all the Chilean essentials here: maté, milo, hot-water, and some potato chips.

I've been here in Cochrane for just two and a half days now, while the Chulengos (my students) are out on their final section of the Patagonia Year.  They are backpacking in the nearby mountains close to Cerro San Lorenzo-- it is their ISGE which stands for Independent Student Group Expedition.  In the last six months we have taught them all the leadership, risk-management, navigation, first-aid, and camping skills that they need to competently travel on their own without direct instructor supervision--for a week.  Pretty cool!

 Here is a local tourist map of Cochrane.  Because this is a pioneer mountain town and there are so many trees (well, used to be a lot more, but still are a lot) almost everything in this town is made of wood.  Wood is definitely one of their main natural resources.  If you look closely at the sign on the right you will see a Lago Cochrane and a Lago Brown.  The PY3 students are currently hiking in that area... one group of eight is backpacking around Lago Brown and the other group is starting near Lago Brown and crossing the small mountain range called Cerro Esmeralda and will finish their route near Lago Cochrane.  The weather has been mixed the last few days.  It has been kind of rainy and stormy at night but then cleared up and has been sunny in the day.  Today is no exception.  Partially cloudy and partially sunny.  I'm quite sure the students are having a blast being out on their own without me...  :)

 This weekend happened to be the 60th anniversary of this little town of Cochrane.  I didn't realize it until I stumbled upon a bunch of Chilean Huasos (Cowboys) who were warming up for a rodeo.  I had been walking around town thinking I might find a church to attend since it was Sunday... and I heard some music and a loud speaker in the distance.  The weather was nice, so I thought maybe there was an outdoor service or something... when I eventually found where the music was coming from, it turned out to be a rodeo!  I hung out for a little while and watched

the caballeros warm up.  It was pretty intense, actually.  They would let this medium sized calf out of a gate and then two of the Huasos would chase after it on their "caballos" and try to get it to go where they wanted it to... it seemed like there was a pattern to it... they would chase the calf two or three times around a small circle and then a man would open up a gate and they would chase the calf around the bigger circle and eventually back into the smaller circle.  It was impressive.  Here in Patagonia the cowboy culture is mainly "gaucho" culture, which is strongly influenced from Argentina.  I never did figure out why the cowboys were dressed as Huasos and not as Gauchos.  Anyone know?

So, that ended up being my Sunday morning.  I eventually found the local Catholic Church and went in for a little quiet contemplation, but the service had ended a while ago.  It has been nice to have some free time and solitude these last few days after 40 days or so of straight work.  Oh, and did I mention the mountaineering section was pretty demanding?  It was probably my most challenging NOLS course so far.  But, a note to all the parents of PY3 students who might be reading this blog: your kids did awesome and they were all very successful at mountaineering.  They have some good stories to tell!  In my next blog post I will give a little rundown of the mountaineering section from my perspective and post some pictures.  Stay tuned.

Foot travel in Patagonia

Our second day of backpacking was the most challenging.  Since the students had learned a lot of leadership during the sea kayaking section, and because they had already been 'leader of the day' we decided to throw them back into that role right from the start of the backpacking section.  I would like to hear from the students what they think of that in hind sight, but they were eager to be leading again, so we let them go for it.  The challenge, though, is that while backpacking has some similar components, there are a lot of new skills to be learned and implemented.  Navigation is a great example.  There are many some aspects of sea kayak navigation that can be transfered to backpacking but on the whole it's quite a bit different. For one, there's this whole topographic line thing that has to be mastered.  While navigating by sea kayak you sometimes use the topographic lines on a nautical chart to identify major terrain features, but in the backpacking world you often have to identify much smaller terrain features and read into the topographic lines as you get familiar with the area.  'Micro navigation' is a term we use to refer to the process of finding your way through the small terrain features after you've determined where you are and where you want to go in the big picture.  To top it all off you have a heavy pack, streams or rivers to cross, brush and trees to fight your way through etc.

 Betsy is the young woman in the middle of the stream pictured above.  She was ready to quit at the end of backpacking day two.  My hiking group arrived into camp only about 20 minutes after hers and she was lying down on the forest floor exhausted and nearly in tears.  I asked her how she was doing, and she said it had been a rough day and that she would like to talk to me later.  So after dinner we met and she told me she didn't think she could do it.  She was thinking she wanted to quit--she wanted to go home.  In my mind I knew she was just hitting a mental block, that she was fully capable of continuing, but just didn't believe in her capabilities.  I told her the decision to stay or go was ultimately hers, but that I knew she could do it if she just made her mind up that she wouldn't quit.  I also told her that she coundn't exactly quit now--the road was still three days travel away--but once she got there she could go home if she chose to.  I asked her why she came on this huge NOLS expedition to  begin with. Her response was that she had been having trouble getting through college--she would get to the middle of a semester and get overwhelmed with the amount of work to be done and she would give up.  So she came to NOLS to overcome that tendancy.  Here she was, though, ready to do the same thing.  We continued to talk about strategies to make tomorrow a better day and then she went back to her tent area to get ready for bed and ready for the next day.  I don't know what happened that night, but the next morning she was rearing to go-- and she hiked strong all the next day!  Somehow she got over the mental block that was holding her back and she pushed through.  It was amazing.  One of the leadership skills we teach at NOLS we call 'Tolerance for Adversity and Uncertainty.'  There are things we encounter on an expedition or in life that we don't have any control over, so we do our best to make the most of them and enjoy life as best we can despite those hardships.  It's good to go through challenging times and to have adversity enter our lives every so often if for no other reason than to help us appreciate the blessings we take for granted.