Patagonia Expedition Race

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In Patagonia

Jacqueline Windh / 08.02.2005

The small city of Punta Arenas, Chile, is the Mission Control centre for the organizers of Patagonia Expedition Race.

I arrived here three weeks ago from my home on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This region, South America’s southernmost tip, is not so different from North America’s Pacific Northwest: craggy snow-capped peaks tower over icy fiords; dark velvety slopes of old-growth coastal temperate rainforest cascade from mountaintops to the sea; shining glaciers shed icebergs into the fiords.

The difference is that everything here is ... bigger, grander. The great Southern Ice Field that feeds the glaciers is 14,400 square kilometers in size!

The accident of geography that placed Antarctica symmetrically over the South Pole allows winds to blow unimpeded around the planet along the southerly latitudes of 55-70 degrees. South America’s southerly tip is the first obstacle that these winds encounter, and bears the brunt of their force.

It has been blowing here day and night since I arrived, with only a few brief pauses. Wind speeds of 25-40 knots or 45-75 km/h are quite average for this time of year, and the week before I arrived the winds reached 70 knots, or 130 km/h!

The landscape here is wild, fascinating ... the skies are dark and brooding. Maybe it is just due to the hole in the ozone layer – but landscapes here appear luminescent, with colours that seem surreal.

High mountain ranges, dense and tangled forests, and extensive peat bogs make travel by land slow and grueling. Strong winds, swirling currents coursing through narrow passages, and icy temperatures make travel over water equally difficult. Nothing is easy here. See All Event Posts