Course Life
Patagonian Mountain Skills Course

Sample Day

Your alarm goes off at 6 AM, just before sunrise. You gently nudge your tentmate (after all, it is her turn to cook breakfast) to get her out of bed. After pulling on her boots, your tentmate leaves, and you begin the process of packing up the tent. 15 minutes later, a shout of “Hey, breakfast is up!” prompts you out into the cool air. As you sip your coffee and eat your pancakes, the sun creeps up over the mountain tops, casting a beautiful pink glow across the sky.

After washing up, it’s time to battle against your backpack, getting ready to leave camp. By 8, everyone is ready to leave, but before you pull off your warm layer, your guide, Jaya, calls the group together to review the plan for the day. Jaya goes over the route, 7 miles of walking across beautiful alpine meadows, passing 2 lakes along the way, to the base of an unnamed glacier, which you will have to cross tomorrow.

With the plan reviewed, it’s time to depart. At first, your backpack seems heavy, but eventually you get it adjusted correctly and start to look around, enjoying the beautiful scenery. After about an hour, you stop for a break and pull out your precious dog biscuit, a delicious slice of chocolatey cinnamony heaven, which also happens to be a great energy bar.

As the day continues, you stop for a “swim” (ok, the water was cold so it was more like a dunk) in one of the lakes, and then, 8 hours later, you arrive in icefall camp, just on the edge of an unnamed glacier spouting off the Patagonian ice cap. When you arrive, you begin to cook dinner, pizza, before making a nice bottle of tea. After dinner, Jaya calls everyone over for a debriefing of the day and a short class on glaciology before everyone heads off to bed. While you’re tired, you know that tomorrow will be even better, your first time walking on a glacier.

Sample Week

We will pick you up on the first day in Coyhaique, located in the heart of Patagonia, and take you to Extremely Patagonia’s Base Camp, just outside of town. After a thorough briefing, doing a gear check, and packing rations, we say goodbye to hot showers and clean sheets, and head south to Laguna San Rafael National Park.

Containing the Patagonian Ice Cap, Laguna San Rafael National Park is home to some of the most breathtaking scenery on Earth. This incredible place will be your home for nearly three weeks. Stepping out of the van, you immediately find yourself in the dense beech forest that characterizes the area. A day spent crashing through the trees brings you above tree line with some spectacular scenery. From here the ice cap is visible in all of its splendor, towering peaks and thundering glaciers.

The following morning begins with a class on knots before you descend the moraine wall and find yourself camping at the base of a glacier itself. While it looked impressive the night before, you just now realize the immensity of the ice cap. The following day is a traverse across this unnamed glacier. The morning begins with a class on crampon and ice axe use before you ascend the bare ice. Progress is slow as you pick your way among the crevasses, but the glacier is more stunning than you could have imagined. The day ends with a class on baking in the backcountry. Having dropped off the ice on the other side of the glacier, you spend the final day of the first week above treeline, crossing alpine meadows, taking photos of condors overhead, and swimming in one of the untouched pools around you.