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The Campo Hielo Expedition
offered by supplier M14925 (view this supplier profile)
Key Information:
Tour Duration: 28
- 29
day(s)
Group Size: 2
- 6
people
Destination(s):
Chile
Specialty Categories:
Mountain/Rock Climbing
Hiking & Trekking
Season: December - April
Airfare Included: No
Tour Customizable: No
Minimum Per Person Price: 4970 US Dollar (USD)
Maximum Per Person Price: 4970 US Dollar (USD)
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An expedition unlike any other. We don't just guide you through the wilderness; we teach you how to do it for yourself. From planning a route to crevasse rescue to climbing a peak, you will learn self sufficiency in one of the most spectacular places on Earth.
Tour Itinerary
Day 1: We pick you and your gear up at your hotel in Coyhaique in the morning. After we’ve got everyone, we’ll head off for brunch together. During brunch we’ll have a full group briefing; discussing the plan for the next few days, as well as the plan for the trip. After brunch, we’ll do a gear check with everyone and then do a quick shop to pick up last minute things. Around lunch time, we’ll pack up and start our journey south to Extremely Patagonia headquarters.
We’ll have lunch in the village of Villa Cerro Castillo, with magnificent views of Cerro Castillo, a nearby peak. Here we join the infamous Carreterra Austral, the unpaved and sometimes barely passable Patagonian highway. We bump and shudder our way down the highway, taking in small glacial lakes in the north. A few hours later, we will come upon Lago General Carrera, the second largest lake in South America (224,000 hectares, 590 m deep). Around dinner time, we’ll arrive at the Extremely Patagonia headquarters, where we’ll have dinner and settle in for the evening, enjoying the view and relaxing.
Day 2: The morning begins with Emergency First Responder training. Emergency First Responder training is a basic first aid course. We’ll focus on first aid in the backcountry, where a hospital can be a week or more away. In the afternoon, we’ll have a knot tying class, a basic navigation class, and a tips and tricks for backcountry happiness class.
Day 3: Today is food day. It begins with a discussion about expedition rationing and an introduction to camp cooking (complete with custom recipe book). The rest of the day we’ll pack our food for the next 26 days.
Day 4: We’ll pack up everything in the morning, and head off to the Exploradores Glacier, just north of Puerto Rio Tranquilo, at the top of the Campo Hielo Norte (The Northern Patagonian Ice Cap). After being dropped off, we’ll hike for a few hours to the toe of the glacier and pitch camp for the evening.
Day 5: Our first day on a glacier. The Exploradores Glacier is a bare ice glacier, meaning it has no snow and is, therefore, the perfect place to practice many glacier travel skills. Today we’ll cross the glacier and arrive at a small rock outcrop (the confluence of another glacier) and set up a base camp. During the day we’ll have the opportunity to use crampons for the first time and see our first crevasses and moulins up close. In the evening we’ll have a class on glaciology.
Day 6: Ice climbing. Learn to belay and abseil while ice climbing for the first time. Also a good chance to get used to crampons, a harness, and being around ropes while practising the knots learned a week earlier.
Day 7: An introduction to glacier travel. We’ll introduce roping up for glacier travel, ice anchors, and in the afternoon crevasse rescue systems.
Day 8: We continue with glacier travel skills. Today, you will be asked to rope yourselves up for glacier travel and, as a group, extricate some ‘victims’ (weighted backpacks) from crevasses. In the afternoon we will teach classes on running protection and ascending fixed lines using a Texas Prussic system. The evening finished with a class on weather.
Day 9: Time to move camp. We finish our crossing of the Exploradores Glacier and ascend over the terminal moraine. Tonight we camp between glaciers. Before bed, we have a class on decision making in the backcountry.
Day 10: A navigation class after which we move camp again, to the head of the unnamed glacier.
With ice from hanging glaciers collapsing less than half a mile away, we set up camp in this beautiful cirque. The afternoon is test time, where each expedition member will be asked to extricate a real, live person from a crevasse without the help of instructors or other team mates. The evening finishes with an Emergency First Responder class.
Day 11: Before packing up camp, we begin the day with a Leave No Trace class. After that we’re going to leave the ice for a while. After climbing up a moraine wall, we’ll find ourselves in the middle of a rainforest. We’ll spend the next few hours cursing at the thick beech as we crash to a clearing, where we’ll camp for the evening, just above tree line and with an incredible view of the glaciers we have just finished crossing.
Day 12: The morning begins with a second class on weather. After class, we'll spend the day above tree line, admiring the many glaciers, lakes, and peaks that surround us.
Day 13: Moving camp again. The day begins with a 60 meter abseil off the ridgeline we’ve been walking on, arriving at the base of another unnamed glacier. We’ll walk for a few more hours and then set up camp for the day. The afternoon is spent playing around in the snow, practicing self arrest, and probably a snowball fight.
Day 14: After a group dynamics class in the morning, we’ll drop down a steep moraine wall and arrive at the unnamed glacier. We’ll spend the afternoon picking our way across the glacier, arriving in another beautiful cirque, just before nightfall.
Day 15: Rest day and new food! In the morning we’ll be joined by a local rancher who has brought us another eight days of food. We’ll have a chance to get rid of trash or other unwanted items. In the afternoon, we’ll sit down with each member of the expedition individually and discuss the trip thus far. While we’re doing this, you’ll have a chance to wander off a bit and catch up on your journal, write some postcards, or read a book. Enjoy the view! In the evening, we’ll mix the food and tent groups, and finish the day with an introduction to avalanches.
Day 16: A proper glacier crossing. Here’s where we get to put to use all of those technical skills we’ve been learning. We rope up and head out onto the unnamed glacier. This one’s covered in snow, so everything is a bit more serious. And a lot more fun. In the evening, we’ll probe out a
campsite (make sure there aren’t any hidden crevasses under our tent) and pitch our first snow camp.
Day 17: We continue our glacier crossing and, by midday, descend out of the snow and onto the bare ice of yet another unnamed glacier. From here we’ll descend into the valley below and camp just off the glacier.
Day 18: River Crossing. The day begins with a river crossing class and our first fairly major river crossing. I don’t think anyone’s boots will be dry after this one. Then up we climb to a pass between two unnamed peaks. We’ll spend the evening camped in snow at the pass.
Day 19: An incredibly scenic day. On the other side of the pass we camped on are 4 glacial lakes, all of different colors. We’ll drop off the ridgeline and into the valley with the lakes, taking numerous photos along the way. We finish the day at the bottom of the lakes, joining a rancher trail that will lead us through the heavy bush and into the Leones Valley the next day.
Day 20: We’ll spend the morning descending into the Leones Valley picking up an intermittent rancher trail to help lead the way. In the afternoon, we have a very serious crossing of the Leones River. The river is glacial and very big. It’ll probably take three to four hours of off and on standing in just-above-freezing water (water that’s about bellybutton deep) to cross. Or maybe we have to walk 15 km through bush to reach a bridge to cross because the water level is so high. In any event, we’ll collapse on the other side, exhausted, cold, and wet. Fun.
Day 21: If it’s sunny, we’ll spend the morning hanging around camp, drying things out and enjoying the area. If not, we’ll just keep moving. Either way, we’ll move camp to the end of Lago Leones, a beautiful glacial lake and the source of the Leones River. We’ll be joined in the evening by another rancher who will be carrying our last 8 days of food, as well as some more technical equipment and pack rafts (small inflatable rafts that fit inside your backpack).
Day 22: The morning is spent with an introduction to pack rafting, paddling, and general boating safety. In the late morning, we’ll begin the paddle across Lago Leones, toward the Leones Glacier and our reentry onto the Campo Hielo Norte (the Chilean Northern Ice Cap). We’ll camp just off the lake, at the toe of the glacier.
Day 23: Back onto a snow covered glacier, this time pulling sleds to haul some gear. We’ll make our way toward the base of Cerro Fierro, a nearby peak.
Day 24: Wake up at 2 AM for an alpine start. We want to climb the mountain while everything is still frozen, so we get up early, pop on our headlamps and crampons, and climb by the moonlight. We’re back in camp by 2 PM, where we’ll have a celebratory dinner, and go to bed pretty early.
Day 25: Cross the Campo Hielo Norte to the base of Cerro Hyades, establishing a high base camp in preparation for our climbing attempt the following day.
Day 26: Again, waking up early, we’ll attempt to climb Cerro Hyades. Views from the summit include Lagos Leones and Fierro, Monte San Valentin, the Pacific Ocean, and Lago General Carrera.
Day 27: Cross from Cerro Hyades to the Soler Glacier, and start descending. By early afternoon we’ll say goodbye to the Campo Hielo Norte, leave the ice, and begin walking down the Soler Valley towards Lago Bertrand.
Day 28: Our walk down the Soler Valley continues to the edge of Lago Bertrand. Here we will be picked up by a boat and driven back to Puerto Bertrand. From Puerto Bertrand, we’ll drive back to the Extremely Patagonia headquarters, have a shower, and go to sleep.
Day 29: De-rig, wash up gear, and enjoy our final morning together. We’ll leave HQ about 3 PM and drive back to Coyhaique. In Coyhaique, we’ll drop everyone off at their hotel, ending a magical, once in a lifetime adventure.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Also see tour packages in:
South America
Chile
Mountain/Rock Climbing
Hiking & Trekking
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