The email updates part 3

created: Sat 03 February 2007 22:15:36
last updated:

From: Phil Davis
To: everyone
Subject: update on trek
Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2006 15:50:36 -0000 (GMT)

Hello everyone,
I´m back safe and sound from the most intense, difficult and challenging 17 days of my life!

Sorry, this is a really long email so grab a coffee!

The few days before trek had been spent preparing our equipment and food. There are 3 tent groups, my group has 3 people, there are another 3 people in another tent and 4 in the last.

To give you an idea of the weight of our rucksacks:

I have to carry the outer fly of the tent, Alex is carrying the inner part and Ruth (our staff doctor) is carrying the poles and pegs. I also have 3 small gas canisters. As well as this we need to carry food for several days at a time (pasta, rice, dried veg, salami, cheese, cracker/biscuit things, peanut butter, butter, dried fruit, choc, etc etc etc). I am carrying breakfast and the other 2 have lunch or dinner. I also have clothes, gloves, hats and sleeping bags as well as a small medical kit which was to prove invaluable in dealing with feet problems. At some stages we also have personal equipment (ice axes, crampons - spikey metal things you stick on your feet to give you grip on ice and snow, snowshoes, slings, harnesses, prussacks, carabiners, helmets) You get the idea, its a lot.

So we started the actual trek on 1st November. We are joined by Nico and Luciana who are two Argentine mountain guides with many years of experience. They have been up mountains all over the world and have tackled some of the most challenging climbs. They speak good English, have great sense of humour and fit into our group just as easily as anyone else.

Day 1: The first day was not too hard, we walked up a valley so it was fairly gentle upwards all day through forest. There were a few river crossings. For these you take off your boots, put on some trainers, roll up your trousers and wade across! Its easy but the water is from melted snow so its usually very cold. We camped by a river. It was a good break in to get ready for the tougher days to come.

Day 2: This was a little harder, it was still through forest and not too steep but we had got above the snow line. We did not have snow shoes at this stage and sometimes your leg would fall right down where snow had settled on top of a branch or something which could not support weight. There were many humorous falls like this as we watched each other struggle to get up with the heavy packs on! After 6 hours we arrived at a small Refugio: a hut built for trekkers to rest up in. It was only big enough for the guides so we pitched out tents on the snow. The temperature plummeted that night and tested my sleeping bag to the limit. I was still warm inside it but didnt relish getting out of bed the next morning.

Day 3: This was my birthday! Everyone was really nice and said happy birthday several times. I got some extra chocolate - luxury! My feet were getting quite sore at this stage, I didnt have blisters but the sides of the boots were rubbing my ankles and wearing the skin away. I put on some padded medical tape I had and carried on.

== Some background on boots: These are plastic mountaineering boots and weigh about 2kg a pair, they are totally rigid and take some getting used to because they don´t bend at the ball of the foot. You must place the sole of the foot flat on the ground or your calves get worn out quickly. For example, if its very steep you have to walk with your feet sideways - you can´t walk on the toes. ==

Anyway, so we started going uphill through the snow. We ascended about 900m to about 2100m this day, it was hard work but we were rewarded with some spectacular views. The hard part was yet to come for my feet! We were going to camp at a camp site by a lake about 1300m below us. The downhill phase caused my toes to be forced into the front of the boot. The toes get very swollen over the 3 hours it took to come down. I was in agony as we left the snow line. The boots are great in the snow but over rocks they are terrible! There was a river at the bottom and I took my boots off and plunged them into the freezing snow-melt water! Pain was replaced with blissful numbness.

At the camp site we were given more food for the next few days and as it was my birthday there was some beer! This really felt like cheating as it was supposed to be a hardcore trek but no matter, it was my birthday afterall. We were treated with more beautiful views as we camped by the lake.

Day 4: We were taken by 4x4 to the next stage of the trek. This was a gentle uphill walk about 800m to another refugio. My feet were really hurting again up the forest path. On the gentle sections I was hoping a steep bit would come up soon so the pain in my legs would distract me from the pain in my feet. When we got to the snow line again my feet started to recover somewhat. When we got to the top we found that the refugio was much larger than the previous one. Several people come up here to climb the nearby rocks or ski. The main ski resorts in town have closed as spring has arrived so people have to trek up here to get snow - no ski lifts here of course! Refugio Frey (1700m) as it is called is a two story building with a kitchen where you can buy coffee, pizza, cokes etc, a sitting/eating area, a cooking area and upstairs are several beds. Our Guide, Nico, just happens to be the manager of it so we got free coffees for the duration of our stay.

Day 5: This was supposed to be a trek day but the weather was really bad so we just sat in the refugio as the wind howled outside, it was more or less a total white out with snow. Quite spectacular. I was glad to be in the comfort of the refugio and not in a tent. We sat in and played dice and card games.

Day 6: Another quite bad day in the morning but the afternoon cleared up, it was too late to set off so we did some trekking up the nerby mountains without packs on to get some practice using crampons and being roped up. This was a really cool day , we got really high above the refugio, it looked like a dog kennel. I forgot my camera unfortch.

Day 7: We set off again. I have been talking with my group about feet, the people suffering the least are wearing two pairs of socks so I tried this and it did make a big difference. We were roped up again and used crampons to climb a fairly steep (30-40 degrees) slope, over the ridge and down into the next valley where we set up camp in the forest.

day 8: We started off up the valley and up the next snowy ridge which was even higher and than the previous day. The sun had been shining on this slope all day and the snow had become soft so we used our snowshoes. This takes some getting used to again as you have to walk John Wayne style with a wide stance. This, and the steep uphill was tiring me out and I was looking forward to reaching the top. Suddenly Nico, who was behind me shouted "run!". I looked up and saw a huge avalanche heading straight for me. Somehow, despite how tired I was, I managed to get the energy to run across the snow to avoid this flow. Thankfully it was a fairly shallow avalanche and in fact stopped just where we had been. It was too shallow to have buried anyone but it could easily have knocked people off their feet and caused broken limbs and that sort of thing. We took off the snow shoes and proceeded directly up the slope one at a time to avoid us all being caught in any subsequent avalanche.

Nico was quite upset about what had happened because he should have anticipated it. Apparently he was caught in an avalanche before and was the only survivor. Normally people should be separated so if there is an avalanche there is only one person to rescue so more chance of survival, we were all bunched together, had it continued it could have covered perhaps 6 of us making rescue much more difficult. Thankfully no one was hurt.

We continued over the ridge and down into the next valley where we stayed at another refugio called Jacob. Nico doesn´t run this one so we had to pay for things :)

Day 9 Today we trekked down the valley, my feet were getting sort again with the downhill. We were now on a path so I figured I could take off my boots and wear the trainers I had bought for river crossings, this was much more comfortable on my feet but more dangerous as its easier to get a twisted ankle without the support. We met up with the 4x4 again and as the next few days were not over snow I got my normal trekking boots back! These were a joy to walk in compared with the plastics. We camped by another beautiful lake and enjoyed fried steak and wine we had just been given.

Day 10 This was trekking through forest paths, much easier than the past few days with comfy boots and less heavy packs as we didnt need any technical equipment. It was still hard as there were steep uphill sections. It was very hot, a stark contrast from the cold days we had just had before. The view was amazing from the top as we could see several lakes spread out below. We decended again and camped by another lake. About 20km away we could see Mounte Trondor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tronador), which we would be attempting in a few days time.

The name Tronador means Thunderer in Spanish and that night we found out why. A huge glacier flows slowly toward a cliff, at the edge huge sections break off and fall a couple of hunded metres to the cliff below making a huge thundering noise easily heard from where we were. It was very impressive.

Day 11 We contined up the lake toward a campsite we would use as a base for the Tronador attempt. Toward the end of the day we had a river crossing. The recent strong sunshine had melted a lot of snow recently and the rivers were much stronger than usual. The first river crossing had the water almost up to my waist, and higher on some of our shorter expedition members :) The second river was wider and stronger than the first. Nico had wanted to use a rope to cross but we didnt bring one. He decided we should all cross as a group holding onto each other, with the strongest facing the flow first and the others behind. Daniel was at the outside of the formation and faced the middle of the river first. He was only holding onto one other person and could not withstand the flow, which was waist high but the force of the water caused it to slash up to his chest. He fell under the water and was washed back 10-15m. It was a genuinely scary moment as we could not help him from where we were. We immedietly aborted the crossing and returned to the side. Thankfully Daniel had managed to stop at a shallower part of the river and stood up. When I saw him check to see if he still had his sunglasses I knew he was ok!

We could not cross the river so Nico got on the radio and requested a boat. We trekked back to the lake and shortly after we were riding over the lake toward the end where we met up with GVI again for more eqipment and food for Tronador.

Day 12 We were at a camp site with a building we could cook in and sort our things. This was good as the weather was awful, rain, cold and wind. The outlook was bad for the Tronador attempt. Out of four GVI groups who have attempted Tronador none have made it, all being turned away by the weather. Clhoe, who runs this expedition had advised us that the chances of a successful summit were low. The weather was against us. The mood was one of disappointment. This was a rest day so we sat inside and played more dice and card games.

Day 13 The bad weather continued so we just went on a short trek up the nearby hills. The view was amazing as usual. We got quite close to the glacier that thunders and watched it for a while. Nothing happened. No sooner had we set back than we heard a huge crash. There was a collective "arrgh!" amonst the group as we had just missed watching a huge piece of ice fall several hundred metres. Oh well...

Day 14 Another bad day. We headed up to a different glacier (a safe one) for some ice climbing. This was really cool, using crampons and ice axes to scale vertical walls of ice. We also practiced walking and manouvering over various bits of ice. The weather was really bad, with rain and snow all day, it was still lots of fun though.

Day 15 Another bad day, we went for another short trek, saw a cool waterfall about 30m high. The weather for tomorrow looked more promising so hopes were higher about a summit attempt.

Day 16 Finally we headed off to the Refugio at Tronador. This was a long day, we climbed about 900m today. The refugio is really cool here, its unmanned so you cant buy anything but its a good strong building with two floors, one for cooking and the upstairs for sleeping. There is no water source so we have to take enough gas to melt snow.

Day 17 This was an early start, we had to get up at 4:30 and get ready. The wind was quite strong so we were still uncertain about the summit attempt but by 6am we headed off. As the sun came up the wind died down and Tronador was bathed in a golden hue from sunrise. We started off in crampons, roped together as we walked over the ice field. There is a danger of falling through what looks like solid snow but is infact a crevase. Thankfully this did not happen to us! As the snow softened in the sun we put on our snowshoes and continued up toward the summit. It was an amazing day but very cold as it was still quite windy. The main trek is fairly gentle but after 6 hours we got to the final uphill section. This is much steeper and we got out our ice axes. After climbing up a 30 degree slope for about 200-300 metres we reached a large sheet of ice overhanging a 300 metre drop. This ice was very steep, in excess of 70 degrees and was the most hairy section of the entire trek. We had to climb about 30 metres up this final section to reach the summit. Everyone made it safe and sound. At 3400m all were treated to fantastic views for 100s of kms all around, only one mountain was higher than we were, Volcan Lanin which is about 200km away, its cone visible on the horizon. The trek back down took only 3 hours. There was much excitment among our group as out of 4 attempts so far we were the first to suceed. Its not that no one had tried, its that they had tried and failed but we had suceeded.

Day 18 We trekked back to the campsite and were taken by bus back to Baraloche. After 17 days on the go a warm shower was beyond words. Imagine going to the gym (in plastic boots of course), working out and sweating for about 8 hours and going home without showering taking off your clothes and putting them in a bag. Then the next day taking those same clothes and putting them back on and doing it all over again. Imagine that then maybe, just maybe you can imagine how we smelled. It was not pleasant anyway.

So thats the story of my trek, I´ve had to skip a few details but I´ll fill you in when I get back and show you the amazing photos I took.

This has taken me ages to write so I´m going to go now and get some lunch.

Laterz...

==
phil davis