The End Of the World

I am now in Ushuaia, the southern-most city in the world. In Tierra de Fuego, land of fires, named by Magellan as he sailed through 500 years ago. Wow. Snow drifts remain on the peaks above, despite it being the height of summer. It's cold and windy and wet, like an unpleasant Newcastle winter's day.

The plane trip had the woman behind me babbling as we went through gale-force turbulence. I teared up earlier but that was from reading "All quiet on the western front". But now that I am in a major Argentinian naval area, from which they did NOT take the Falklands 30 years ago, I best take advice from John Cleese, and not mention the war. The hotel is even named after these islands claimed by Argentina and know as Malvinas.

After arriving I walked down to the dock for a quick tour of the boat, and met the crew. It all seems so peaceful and still in port! My first impressions are that the yacht doesn't seem that small, compared to the few boats I've been on so far - in Lake Macquarie and Port Stephens! The crew are lovely but busy loading 3.5 tonnes of diesel.

I got to meet a few more of the team, including one of the leaders, Stephen Venables, David and also Rodriguez, a Chilean. Rodriguez led a large Chilean team up Everest in May last year. I have read much about the long conga line of climbers following the fixed rope up Everest - Rodriguez was a day ahead, putting in much of the rope, and observing the caterpillar of bright puffy jackets ascending slowly.

So we have one more day before departure.

Buenos Aires

Aerolineas Argentinas confirmed their reputation for poor service and old planes. At least it didn't crash. No personal entertainment systems but!

I sat next to a very pleasant and chatty Brazilian with an interesting story. As an exchange student he went out with an Aussie girl in California in the 70s. Unable to get an Australian visa, they split up. 32 years later, both divorced, they reunited and married, and now live in Adelaide. Almost a happy ending.

So today I walked around Buenos Aires for 10 hours. Feet a bit sore. I pretty much covered most of the areas of interest. One of the guidebooks said than the locals don't wear shorts, so I didn't bring any. Well it was hot and humid and most men were wearing shorts, some in singlets and thongs and they wouldn't have been out of place in Cairns. Though sitting in the gutter with a litre bottle of beer more fits the Darwin stereotype. Anyway, probably won't need shorts down south.

There is no iconic place in Buenos Aires, except maybe for the Presidential Palace, and that only because of 'Evita'. And her grave. But it is a pleasant city. Safe and busy and happening. At the ecological reserve, a sign requested that you don't eat the animals. I only saw cicadas - maybe they are unpalatable.

Most shopkeepers are obsessed with small change. They would rather forfeit a sale than accept a 100 pesos note (A$20). There obviously isn't enough small stuff floating around. The government won't let you convert pesos back to US dollars, so one can't afford to change too much, lest it be used for wallpaper.

Pelagic Australis - the yacht

We will be sailing into the freezer on a 22m, single masted yacht  - the Pelagic Australis. It was built especially for this type of work, and skippered by a very experienced sailor and climber, Skip Novac.

Take a tour:

http://youtu.be/Gpc2W2TSxGU

The boat can be tracked at www.pelagic.co.uk/about/tracker.htm

Introduction - How I got to where I am going

2 days til I depart for my vacation. So welcome to my little stories of traveling to and around the Greater Southern Land.

This journey started in about October 2011. My climbing friend Vanessa happened to mention she was sussing out a trip to Antarctica in 2013. Sailing from Argentina on a small yacht, visiting the landscapes and wildlife, and with the main aim of ski mountaineering (mountaineering with skis - more hardcore than just backcountry skiing, usually involving glacier travel, ice axes and crampons, and ropes). It sounded like my dream trip. I have long been fascinated with Antarctica, studying it at high school, then later discovering the stories of Amundsen, Scott and especially Shackleton - true heroes. It also sounded like a good vaccine to a midlife crisis. 

So anyway, I politely asked Vanessa if she would mind if I applied to go - didn’t want to crash her party - but she was fine about it. So I contacted the leader, a certain Stephen Venables. Now the first mountaineering book I read was Chris Bonnington’s ‘I Choose to Climb’. The second was this venerable Mr Venables’ story of his oxygenless ascent of a new route up the east face of Everest, an amazing tale. We Skyped and discussed the trip. My credentials were that I can rock-climb, ski (though not much technical backcountry experience) and have done a little sailing. Plus I have done some mountaineering 10 years ago (Stephen was chuffed that my mountaineering instructor, Breed Arkless, also taught him back in the 70s!). But I had to stress that I was not a hardcore mountaineer with ample or recent experience. That seemed to be OK and they urgently needed a fourth person to secure the booking - so I was in!

2012 was a year of buying and using new stuff. I had to learn all about Alpine Touring (AT) skis which are wide like downhill skis, but have bindings that either hinge at the toe for walking or have the heel locked down for descending. When going up skins (sticky carpet) are attached to the base to allow forward propulsion (or disallow slipping back, really). So I fitted myself out with Dynafit skis, boots, bindings and poles. 

Ascending Guthega Spur

I coaxed my Norwegian friend Kim, presently working in Brisbane, to come to Guthega in the Snowy Mountains for a tour up the back somewhere. Fortunately our planned visit was just after the first big dump of snow. We left on a beautiful morning with the aim of getting to Mt Jagungal and back, hauling 23kg packs. But we skied straight into a blizzard on the main range, then I got cold and ‘bonked’, and we had to escape to the Munyang Valley huts below. We skied in cloud and snow for three days before we bailed. My new boots gave me bad blisters, and the skis are not suited for undulating slopes such as we were on - they are more for bigger mountains. Anyway, it was very educational. The next day we went up Kosciuszko, which was much more fun, especially as we were not burdened by heavy packs.  

Horsecamp Hut

In August I took the kids skiing to Guthega for a week of downhill. I used the touring skis the whole time - they are pretty good on most stuff except ice and sludge (far worse that normal heavy skis). The last few days had deep powder and the wide skis poetically drifted through that - lovely.

My last preparation trip was a backcountry skiing instruction course run by the NZ Alpine Club at Mt Olympus, out the back of Christchurch. Spending a lot of time with the guides was very informative, with much time spent discussing avalanche and terrain assessment.The snow wasn’t particularly abundant but we still found some very steep corn skiing (‘corn’ comes from Cornucopia, ie perfect).  It was also a fantastic social week - a great bunch of like minded skiers and climbers.

That's me on the left, in the tutu.

Over the last few months I have tried to get some appropriate fitness. Slogging up the hill at Brunkerville Gap with weights in a pack was the primary activity. Plus a bit of gym work. The hot weather has been an excuse for not doing enough.

About 3 weeks ago I heard from Vanessa - she was in hospital with a severe viral infection. The serology came back as Epstein-Barr Virus. It can take weeks to months to get over, and she was especially worried about her enlarged spleen - I could take out her appendix, maybe (it would be my first!), but not a ruptured spleen. So she has pulled out. All rather disappointing for everyone.

Anyway, now I am packed and ready to go. Hopefully I have everything I need - and it works!

Pack training in Glenrock