Preparing at Marconi Pass

Rob Rigato arrived at El Chalten last Wednesday, Australian time, and after recovering from his jet lag joined Linda and Kerryn in ferrying loads up to Marconi Pass.Apparently a strike somewhere in Argentina has meant a redeployment of staff from the office where the remaining expedition freeze-dried food is currently located. Hence, no one is around to process it through the system. Linda was advised it would take at least two weeks. The Team has been fortunate to locate a climbing company which could sell them the thirteen days of meals they require. In addition, there is a mountain guide with a "bulk nuts and cereals" shop who can make up the breakfasts they need. So food for the trip is now sorted.

Last week Graham from the Instituto de Educación Experiencial de la Patagonia Ltda lodged the expedition border-crossing paperwork with the Chilean authorities. On Wednesday, as part of the approval process, the three team members formally reported to the Argentinean Border Post and now await the issue of their permit by Chile.

It won't come through over the weekend so the Team chose to move up and wait on the icecap rather than come back to El Chalten, unless, of course, the wait threatens their food and fuel supplies. As Linda said “It will give us a chance to set the loads up for the sleds rather than the packs. We're looking forward to getting underway”.Today the Team has trekked up to and is currently camping at Marconi Pass. They are now preparing their equipment and packing their sleds ready for departure, hopefully tomorrow, across the South Patagonia Icecap. Linda reports the Team is well and weather looks good.


InReach is working well and tracked Kerryn’s trek to Marconi Pass. Feedback from the Team is that the inReach/iPod touch combination is extremely easy to use. The tracking, the two-way SMS messaging and the capability to sent alerts enhances the safety of the expedition.

Some progress and some delays

The team is well underway tackling the challenge of getting 75 kgs per person up onto the top of the Marconi Pass, from where they can commence the ice cap traverse. Linda and Kerryn have cached 100 kgs at La Playita (little beach), at the base of the climb to Marconi Pass. Today they will go with two porters to take more loads to the base - and then Kerryn and the porters will take loads up to the Refugio Gorra Blanca. The porters will do the climb twice, as will Kerryn (if he can keep up with them), while Linda makes herself useful at the bottom of the hill organising the loads for transport and drying out sodden gear. They are expecting some respite from the rain in the next few days.

Rob has landed in Argentina but still making his way to El Chalten.

Meanwhile, a shipment of freeze-dried food is held up in customs and the Chilean permit to make the crossing has not yet arrived.

If the food does not arrive in time, the team will be doing some local shopping and packing, but the permit must be in hand before they can depart.

The work continues

Linda and Kerryn continue to prepare and move supplies up the valley from El Chalten to La Playita. This will continue over the next few days.

When this work is complete, the expedition team can load their sleds and commence the actual icecap traverse.

Rob is expected to arrive in El Chalten tomorrow to complete the expedition team.

Australian Base Communications (ABC) is operational and now receiving regular status updates from the team using inReach™.

The work has begun

Linda and Kerryn have arrived in El Chalten, Argentina and have commenced transporting equipment to their initial cache at the base of the icecap.

Currently they are at La Playita in pouring Patagonian rain on their second load carrying trip to the base of the Marconi Pass, their access to the icecap.

Fantastic Support

Fantastic Support from some local companies.

The wonderful crew from Carman's have cooked us up a great batch of biscuits, muesli and muesli bars which will keep us fueled up during the trip.  thanks.....and congratulations Carolyn Creswell for being awarded Victorian Telstra Business Woman of the Year for 2012. That is a wonderful achievement.

Pivotel is supporting us also by making the InReach system available for the expedition. We will use InReach to track our progress across the icecap. InReach has the advantage of being able to send and receive sms's allowing us to add detail to our regular and emergency communication. We are delighted to be able to provide live proof of the value of this system as InReach is launched in Australia this week.

We're heading back again

Linda, Kerryn and Rob are heading back to the South Patagonian icecap to see whether a fresh approach will get them successfully across the icecap. "We almost need to take flippers, goggles and bathers" says Linda "to cope with the wet weather that bogged us down last time".

With a gear list more suitable to wet, windy and not quite so cold weather, and a reduced weight more suitable to back packing, the team's plans will accomodate the load hauling that is required to get onto the access glacier. It will take up to a week to reach the icecap. Once there we can lighten our loads by using small sleds to haul our gear. This time we are going in spring when there will be much longer daylight - though we will also need to allow for the wind storms that the Patagonian Icecap is renowned for.

Linda and Kerryn will reach the Argentinian town of El Chalten on October 30th. They will have a week to prepare and once Rob arrives on the 5th November will be ready to begin with a climb up the Marconi pass.

If successful this will complete Linda's goal of doing a journey on each of the world's largest icecaps - North Pole, South Pole, Greenland and South Patagonia......

time lapse video of the Jorge Montt Glacier

The Jorge Montt Glacier is one of the access points to the South Patagonian Icecap. This video shows the rate of melt - captured by Chilean scientists in 2010.
http://spon.de/ve3w5