Today we got the message that André and Dani missed their connection flight in Santiago because of some problems with the luggage, which can mean that we have to change our schedule a bit. There is still hope that we can leave in a couple of hours (around six’o clock) towards Tierra del Fuego, but we can only be certain about this with the arrival of the stragglers. Maybe that’s a good moment to think again about the state of meaning and purpose of the project “Monte Buckland”. In our case it’s about the climbing in remote, maybe even unexplored regions and the involved effort. The lately mentioned provisions of about 50 kg for the base camp and approx. 50 kg of cereal bars and instant food for higher camps can be estimated based on our energy consumption and justified for a goal as Monte Buckland is — after all we want to get back into civilisation out of our own power, though most likely not well fed. Also the effort regarding the permits and to secure an eventual rescue mission are out of discussion. My only concerns are with FRED! Yesterday we reluctantly accepted FRED into our team as a new member. Until now he is still a bit incommunicative and cold to us. Unfortunately this will change within no time, after he managed to change his motivation. FRED is our generator. A couple of weeks ago nobody of us would have even thought in his dreams to carry such a monster of 12 kg through the wilderness at the end of the world. Didn’t I just read about the feeling of freedom and nativeness in a friends book? A feeling he has when he is mountaineering far away from civilisation and high-tech gadgets. And now we let FRED into our team… |
The association to Maestri’s generator, still to be found in the wall of one of the most impressive mountains of Patagonia, is undeniable. On the contrary to Maestri we are planning the ascent to happen in alpine style, avoiding as many of our marks as possible. But how is it with FRED, for whom we also have an extended version of his name: F***ing Ridiculous Expedition Device. We need him somehow as an insurance. Persistent bad weather means the loss of solar power but without power we are stuck. Difficult to imagine, but our decision to document the expedition and to film the entire project is drawing even bigger circles. An possible alternative to the gernerator are car batteries but the energy density of even the best battery is worse than the one of fuel, and recharging without solar power is also impossible. I guess we have to look at FRED as a guest in our team who has his practical test still to come. |
When we have been standing a couple of days ago without a shopping list in front of the vast shelfs in the super market at Zona Franca we had to give up on shopping for the time being. After a couple of minutes of deliberating and discussing we came to the conclusion that we can’t by food for four weeks and seven people without planning on just one afternoon. Not that we haven’t had been thinking about this issue before — right the opposite was the case. During a couple of weeks we pushed forward with the planning of the necessary large calorie, just to forget the shopping list in the very moment we aimed to get the shopping done. ;-) After the mentioned difficulties in the beginning we managed yesterday in the second attempt to get all the groceries needed. |
Inebriated by the oodles of different sorts of biscuits and chocolate we filled our shopping baskets in no time. Especially the localy well known envelopes with instant beverages (Zuko) we bought in huge amounts. Those instant beverages shall give the water a nice and fruity taste and they are available in ludicrous variety. At this point we have to mention, that the teller almost went crazy when scanning the last 150 envelopes , even the initial smile vanished from her lips. Finally we lifted the hugh bag of groceries into the car and we drove back to the hostel. Now there is the oat flakes, noodles and biscuits scattered in the room and waiting for their assignment — to be packed, transported, carried and to be eaten! |
We are already staying a couple of days now in our cosy hostel. It is hostel and at the same time a cultural centre where you can watch shows of fairy tales, take a course in yoga and spend some time at the small climbing wall. Most of all we like the sun terrace. To be more precise it is a kind of a winter garden with view over the Strait of Magellan, where, as soon as the sun is shining, it gets from wonderful warm to forbidding hot. During rain it rapidly changes into a flowstone cave — it seems like tightness of the roofs isn’t a necessity here. Meanwhile, we know where the leaky spots are and at least the hammock always stays dry. Those showers aren’t escially long and the most striking attribute of the weather here is that it is unsettled, which makes the climate at the sun teracce all in all very cosy. We feel very much at ease here and we can recommend the hostel for sure. |
However, we haven’t been always lazy over the last couple of days, even though this type of activity did cover most of our time. We should simply call it acclimatisation. But jokes aside, we had a couple of things to organise. For example, we are in need of some permits before we can start our trip to Monte Buckland. The first permit we have to get will be from the border authorities (DIFROL) because Monte Buckland lies in the border region to Argentinia. The second permit we need is the on from the nature conservation authorities (CONAF) since the mountain is stiuated within the national park ‘de Agostini’. Even though Knox started the negotiations about the permits already three monts ago, it needs our personal attendance to get the process into gear. Furthernore, we had to sign a whole lot of postcards. To be efficient we have been sitting in a circle and did try to be as fast as possible with signing. Of course no one wanted to be the one where the postcards got jammed — I definitely had a handicap with my name. The only thing remaining now is to dig up enough stamps in Punta Arenas because we already bought up all the stocks of the locale post office. For those who would like to support us and want to get a postcard from the other side of the world (probably from your point of view) still has the chance to do so until the 2nd of February (see more here: link). |
During the last two days we had to recover from all the stress of preperation. Hence, we decided to rent a car and pay our friends, the penguins a visit. We also planned a little hiking trip on the island Isla Riesco, northwest of Punta Arenas. On Wednesday morning Rokos was the first one up and went to get the rental car. Due to some lucky circumstances we did not get the ordered car of category ‘mini’ as a coupe but instead a little bigger one with four doors. Neverthelees, we had some problems to squeeze all the backpacks and the camera equipment into the car. First we drove northwards and missed the turn towards the “Pingüinos”. After 38 km of gravel road we reached our feathered friends, which looke pretty satisfied even without snow and ice. The majority of them has been busy and was not waiting the whole day for the bus as they do at our lcale soological garden at home ;-). Back to gravel road and further north to catch the ferry to Isla Riesco. The road felt a hundred kilometers long and went through downright desert. However, we have seen one or the other animal, such as flamingos and some flightless birds. At Isla Riesco we drove the road along the north coast as long as our rental car was able to bear it. Afterwards, we went on with our backpacks. On the way towards the last estancia we heard some curious sounds coming to us over some hills. Every team member had different thoughts about the origin of these sounds. Noise of a chainsaw was maybe the most exotic. instead of all that the noise was produced by a flock of pent-up cattle, separated from their calfs and newly branded. When we passed the estancia we got to appreciate our four-legged friends for the second time on this trip. This time not beeing served as steaks on the plate but as trailblazer through knee-high thorny undergrowth. Aim of our little adventure was a peninsula with a georgeous bay and a camp ground that deserved at least three stars. After having a nother test meal in the evening and when all the photo experiments came to an end we went into our sleepingbags to be fit for another hiking trip the next morning. The wind was quite strong that evening. The hike took about one and a half hour through lawns, undergrowth, over hills and at the beach to a little decayed cabin. here, we had a view over the peninsula and enjoyed nature. When we came back we found Rokos, who stood behind and was taking photographs, laying in his sleeping bag in front of the tent, where he was with some pleasure trinking wine and reading a book. Currently we are about to check the alleged photographic activities! After we packed everything back together we went back to the car. Rokos drove back when there was nobody else willing to do so and steered with ease back to the ferry. At some points we got the impression that the road belonged somehow to Rallye Dakar. Back in Punta Arenas we unloaded the equipment and went of to Zona France for shopping. |