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PATAGONIAGetting there The journey began from Boston, Massachusetts inmid-January 2017. Standing in front of the Air Canadaticket counter with three-piece NDK Explorers intwo bags, one additional gear bag, and a small backpack, Paula Riegel of Kayak Waveology (a BC 5 StarAdvanced paddler and coach) and myself receivedmany interesting looks from other passengers andsecurity. First, a 90-minute flight to Toronto, Canada,then a long haul 14-hour flight to Santiago Chile.

Upon arriving and before enjoying a rest eveningwith our coach friend and expedition companypartner, Juan Paulo Ceron (JP) of Universal Kayak,we airfreighted our three-piece kayaks to PuntaArenas in southern Chile to arrive just ahead of usthe following day. After a four-hour morning flightthe next day, we arrived in Punta Arenas greeted bya young lad saying, “Welcome Greg and Paula, I amCamilo from Nativo Expediciones.” Nativo is theyoung expedition company seeking guide trainingexperiences and coaching from Kayak Waveologyand Universal Kayak companies.

“Hold on to the truck door, or the windwill rip the door off!” Some of the firstEnglish words spoken after the initialgreetings by our very gracious,expedition trainee and host. Wefound ourselves in the furious fifties, -54 latitude, South America, Tierra delFuego, Chile. A journey to the end ofthe Americas to explore theSouthern Ice Fields of Patagonia,mentor a top Chilean paddle coachand provide expeditionary trainingfor a young local expeditioncompany.

Story: Greg PaquinBC Coach, owner of Kayak Waveology, USA ISKGA Advanced Guide

The Southern Ice Fields of

C H I L E

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From there we collected our three-piece NDKExplorer sea kayaks from the air freight side of theterminal without a hitch – then the driving adventurebegan. It started with a two-hour drive to theMagellan Straits ferry crossing and crossing in a small,open top ferry. Force 5 winds and opposing tidesmade for an interesting sea spray-filled ride. Afteranother two hours of driving on dirt roads, we metup with Nativo’s other partner, Fredy.

All said and done, we arrived in one of the last villagesin Chile, Porvenir, Tierra del Fuego. We met all theexpedition team members for a bite to eat and a tripbriefing to review plans and whatever chart and mapinformation the young Tierra del Fuego lads fromNativo Expediciones came up with. Then we packedup the off-road trucks, yes, the trucks are set up forsome serious expedition off road driving.

Off-road adventureWe left at 22.00 for a race-paced, night time off-roadadventure for the next six hours. With serious off-roadlighting, oncoming off road traffic and animal critters, likeguanacos, are easily seen at night, giving more time toreact while travelling swiftly on rugged dirt roads. Finally,in the early morning hours, we all arrived at theremains of Caleta Maria, a 1940s saw mill site. A smallcluster of logging camp buildings now remain,maintained by mountain climbers over the years.

Positioned at the entrance of the Almirantazgo Fjord,all around us rose numerous mountain peaks reaching10,000 feet. The journey used to take saw millworkers and mountain climbers five days by horseback to get to the location as the dirt road was onlybuilt five years ago by the Chilean military. Thisprimitive, wood stove heated camp was a welcomedplace of rest for the next day and a half and gave us achance to sort through the local’s choice ofexpedition food for the next five days on the water.

Our expedition would take us into the deeper fjordsthat just lie north of the Beagle Channel. After a goodsleep to recover from all the jet setting and off-roaddriving, it was time to get busy working through thenutrition for this trip in the sub-Antarcticenvironment. Afterwards, we all drove from the cozycamp to a nearby mountain lake for a few hours ofpractice and to have a look at Camilo and Fredy’spaddling skills on flat water. Basic skills where there sowe had a crash course to refine strokes and

manoeuvres. They proved quick learners and all wasgood enough if we didn’t have a big crossing with tideand strong, opposing winds.

Expedition foodAfter the practice session, we stopped at a localfarm/ranch. Paula and I were asked to wait in onetruck at the entrance gate while our friends took theother truck to the house. It puzzled us as to why wewere not allowed in. We waited roadside for about anhour when they finally reappeared with the othertruck. All sorts of crazy thoughts ran through ourheads on what they might have been up to. Back atcamp, and hanging out next to the blazing wood cookstove, a surprise was presented to us - a full lamb!That explained their secretive stop and that is whatwe took for meat/protein for the paddling journey.

So, we had plenty of meat, crackers for carbs, onions,potatoes, rice, some fruit, power bar snacks and atoken bag of frozen veggies. Lamb would be eaten forevery meal they said, the best way to survive. Well,you must respect their culture and go with the flow,after all we are guests in their country. The rest of theevening consisted of butchering the lamb, bakingbread, grilling up lamb for dinner and toasting to newfriends with some nice Chilean wine. No worriesabout refrigeration, the water is quite cold with all theice bits floating about. This was the southern Patagoniasummer and all weather was to be expected.

The next morning, while packing up the sea kayakswith kit and provisions, one of us had to keepconstant guard as we had a very curious Zorro (fox inSpanish) stop by. He really wanted the lamb we werepacking into the kayaks. Take one look away and hesnuck up just feet from you. No bears exist in thisregion of Patagonia, but it is big cat country. WithPumas around, you always had to keep a keen eye onyour surroundings.

Paddling in these southern latitudes, one can expect fiveto seven low pressure systems to pass every two days,so we were always paddling in Force 5-7 with littlebreaks between the next approaching system. Windscome predominantly from the west, then veer arounddepending on where the pressure system was inrelation to us. It took a few days of reminding myselfthat low-pressure systems rotate clockwise in thesouthern hemisphere before it became second nature.

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No bears

exist in this region of Patagonia,

but it is big cat country. Pum

awould be the cat and you alw

ays had to keep akeen eye on your surroundings

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End of the earthWith all the BCU training over the last 18 years andworking with experienced mentors, like Nigel Dennis,you really dive into the critical thinking of expeditionaryplanning. You put your mind there before your bodyand study the effects of the sea with pressure systemsand weather fronts coupled with tides, currents andplaces to be where and when. I thought I have seen alot, with paddling in wild places like Scotland, Wales,North America, Mexico and Canada but this was anentirely different level of challenge, in a place that feltlike the end of the earth. On top of that, we weretraining paddlers on this trip too. All of my guide senseswere alive and firing on all cylinders.

The first day on the water consisted of pushing intoForce 6 headwinds heading west from Caleta Maria. Idid wonder what the local lads thought about theweather, as they had been pretty quiet during the eight-hour head wind push to the intersection ofanother fjord heading south into thePerry Ice fields, where theenvironment

became even wilder. Our assistant Chilean coach, JP,quietly reminded us that South America has a verymachismo society and if Paula was working in thosewinds with no problem, then they certainly would notvoice any complaints.

There certainly were some good learning moments inthe push of the first day into the wind, from mimickingour paddling body movements, trim changes, tacticalplaces to hide and rest, to how much effort coupledwith efficiency to apply. It’s one thing to havequalifications under your belt, it’s another thing to provethat you can paddle. The lads were curious – andconstantly watched and judged us. By the end of thatfirst day on the water, they knew we were serious andwe were starting to get to know them better too.Coach to athlete relationships were growing andbarriers to learning disappeared.

A vast regionAfter the first day on the water, a jagged rocky beachcamp site awaited us where waves smashed theshoreline just feet from our tents. We lit a proper,roaring Tierra del Fuego camp fire and had lamb fordinner. We were all in it together and good bondingand trust settled in. From what we knew and what thearea locals told us, no one had sea kayaked up intothese fjords around the Perry Ice fields before. Itcertainly had that feel, the terra firma looked like ithad never been walked upon. The Patagonia Chileanregion is so vast, it’s almost unfathomable as to howbig and untouched this part of the world is. It felt verypure and raw.

The next four days consisted of working our way upinto the Perry Ice fields and exploring. With eachpassing mile, brash ice become increasingly prevalentand then finally we found it – glaciers just falling into

the sea! What a sight, 13,000-year-old icebeing undermined by the sea water,relieving pressure and crumbling andcalving. There had been, up to thispoint, some suffering to get tothat place – wind, wet, biting

cold, sleet/snow - but it was worth every minute of it.Undoubtedly, one of the most beautiful places I havebeen in this world to date.

Rumbling, popping and cracklingWe established a base camp for a few days, perchedon a smooth rocky headland. Views of glaciers allaround us, hanging and tide water type glaciers. Thiscreated an incredible sound like a constant thunderstorm of rumbling, popping and crackling. The firstgrowing eco-systems were amazing to see, both onland and in the sea. The moss-covered earth is sothick, we sank up to our knees. With a base camp,travelling in lighter boats exploring four more tidewater glaciers over the next few days was moreefficient. With only three hours of twilight, explorationoptions seemed limitless. We stayed out for manyhours and came back to a fire with lamb cooking inthe wild and then slept in late the next day. It reallydoesn’t get any better.

Back to the coaching side of things, this was happeningon many different levels with the Nativo future guides.Much was still happening by observation because ofthe language barrier, so good modelling of strokes and

manoeuvres, behaviours, and decision

When you find

huge Leopard Seals, floating on their own little icebergs, you realize why

no other creatures are around, they kill everything

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making were all being watched carefully by Fredyand Camilo. Paula and I observed steady growtheach day, and noted their different learning stylesand different rates of skill accusation. We enjoyedsharing our knowledge and equally learningwithout egos. On the client care side ofexpeditionary training, Fredy and Camilo’s survivalskills didn’t need any tweaking at all. They clearlyknew how to manage dampness, cold, strong windsand nutrition for themselves and had some goodideas in how to care for others.

Camilo was a great outdoor chef and createdsimple, tasty recipes from the largely protein basedmeat diet. Fredy is the master of making fireanywhere and doing it fast. This was clearly a strongpoint, as Tierra del Fuego is called the land of fire forthis very reason. Grilling lamb on an open fire isalways a treat, but for every meal every day? Icertainly enjoyed it but not sure if other paddlersfrom different cultural diets or with different dietaryneeds would. Imported goods are expensive downin that part of the world. However, expanding themenu to get more vegetables, greens and complexedcarbo hydrates into the mix would be good,especially if wanting to attract paddlers from otherparts of the world. The guys were very good cooks,so I’m very sure they will create a great balanceddiet menu for the next visit.

Challenging remotenessNavigation and rescue communications are aserious concern down in those lands. Being soremote and never seeing another soul for days andweeks can pose real challenges, especially if oneplans on taking clients to the area. Marine chartsdid not exist for the area. The best we could findwas a large scale National Geographic adventuremap and satellite images. Finding our way wassimple enough, the only problem was creating anaccurate scale on the satellite images of thesefjords in order to determine distance. So, a littleengineering project was started.

With the mountain peaks so large, the scale of reallife travelling on the water was deceiving. We madeour own scale on the satellite images by timing howlong it took to paddle between headlands andestimating paddling speed. By working the (distance= speed x time) equation, we worked out distancesand developed a map scale. It is of the upmostimportance to know where you are, as a rescuesatellite phone call to the Chilean Navy would bethe only way out. You are really out in the wilds inthe Southern Ice Fields.

Marine wild life can be abundant or you could seenothing for days. When huge Leopard Seals are inthe neighbourhood, hauled out on their own littleicebergs, you realize why no other creatures arearound, they kill everything! Luckily, they werecontent on their little icebergs, or very full, as theyshowed us little to no interest other than a yawnwith fang-like teeth as we paddled by.

fjord. We had the wind on our backs all the wayback to camp Caleta Maria. Force 4-5 winds goingour way for a change created a delightful followingsea challenge. What took us two and a half daysgoing into the Perry ice filed camp, took us justeight hours to get back. Needless to say, the youngNativo lads Camilo and Fredy learned very quicklyand had to put it all together to surf heavyexpedition sea kayaks for miles on end. Plenty oftime for practice.

JP, the Chilean paddling coach, had some greatlearning moments as well during the expeditioncoaching journey, sharing coaching style ideas with

discussions and observations. Seeing how weapplied different coaching styles, whilst all the timecreating long-term learning moments broadenedall of our horizons. From Caleta Maria camp, ittook us four more days to get home back in NewEngland, USA. The people of southern Chile andtheir culture, hospitality and willingness to learnand share was such a beautiful life experience. Weare so honoured to have been able to share withthem our knowledge and skills and can’t wait togo back for another adventure. Adventures likethese make lifelong friends across the world.

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Exploration days took us to three more tide waterglaciers deep into Perry Fjord Ice Fields, all veryimpressive to see and experience. Hanging glacierssurrounded us and some sheltered slopes showedthe vegetation line right at the ice line, while moresun exposed slopes showed a raw earth zonebetween the ice line and vegetation line. Another signthat the sub-Antarctic wild ice mountain lands aremelting fast by global warming and climate change.

A following windWhen our time came to start the journey homefrom our glacier camp, a great weather windowopened up, coupled with a leaving tide down the

The Patagonia Chilean region is so vast, it’s almost unfathomable as

to how big and untouched this part of the world is