Blessings and Good Friends

Today is the day. My flight leaves Charlotte at 4:35pm and the overwhelming feeling I have is how blessed I am. The past few weeks have been filled with good friends and few worries. I have been able to spend lots of time with my family including my brother, his wife, and their three adorable kids in Chattanooga. I have met new people and caught up with old friends. I have been humbled by their generosity, and have worked to strike back with some of my own :). Everything I have needed has been provided, and then some. I have all of the equipment I need and everything seems to be in place for what I'm sure will become one of the highlights of my entire life.

I will arrive in Punta Arenas, Chile around 2:30 pm on Friday, and find a hostel to store the majority of our gear. From there Steph and I will travel on a bus to the city of Puerto Natales, gateway to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. Meanwhile, Mike will be finishing up his park ranger job in El Chalten (he has already been to Torres del Paine several times) and working his way south to meet us in Puerto Natales after our 4 day hike. As of right now the weather is supposed to be perfect so I am very excited about this start to our trip. Torres del Paine is the quintessential Patagonian park and the first item I will be crossing off my bucket list in South America.

After our rendezvous with Mike we will head back to Punta Arenas to locate and purchase a vehicle (wish us luck!). After that we begin our journey up the continent in what I'm sure will become an expedition full of stories and adventures.

Once again, this first part of our journey is very remote and I am not sure what the availability of internet will be, but I will update everyone here as soon as possible! Thank you so much for everything you all mean to me! The next post will be from somewhere in the heart of Andean Patagonia.

Gear Guru

 Today was the first day that I took a very thorough inventory of all the equipment I was bringing to South America. I am a stranger to traveling this heavy. Most trips of mine are lightweight and everything I carry is on my back for multiple days and many miles at a time. This trip is different in that we are bringing a large amount of gear for a wide array of activities. Some of the heaviest things are the technical gear. Heavy metal alloy carabiners that need to be bomb-proof on falls and large ropes that weigh 10lbs or more. On top of this I have an extra harness and a tent for the group, so my pack is even heavier.


Today I packed it all up in my 80 liter Karrimor backpack. That pack is a beast. It fit all my gear, including my smaller day/summit pack. It came at a price, however. When I was finished the pack weighed in at 49lbs. My normal pack weight is somewhere between 15 and 20 lbs so this is quite an increase. Luckily, I don't plan to carry this far. Once we have a vehicle most of this gear will be rotated out on a need by need basis. We wont need tents for technical day summits and we wont need crampons and ice axes for multi-day treks.

This is about 95% of all the gear I will be taking. Below is a list of each item, in case you are curious enough to read it.




Storage/Transpo:
1 Karrimor 60/80 liter pack
1 Deuter 30 liter day/overnight pack
1 Waterproof pack cover
1 pair, trekking poles

Clothes, General:
2 pair, lightweight pants
3 merino wool t-shirts
1 lightweight, long-sleeve, button-up shirt
4 pair, wool/synthetic socks
2 pair, liner socks
5 pair, underwear

Clothes, Cold weather/Inclimate weather:
1 lightweight rain jacket
1 pair, lightweight rain pants
1 down vest
1 fleece pullover
1 pair, underarmor tops and bottoms
1 pair, glove liners
1 pair, Gortex gloves
1 winter hat
1 leather hat
1 fleece balaclava
1 pair, gaiters
1 pair, snow goggles
1 pair, sunglasses
1 pair, Vibram shoes
1 pair, Gortex winter boots

Sleeping/Shelter
1 two person, three season tent
1 closed cell, full length sleeping pag
1 inflatable, foam core sleeping bad
1 sleeping bag, 20F down
1 sleeping bag liner
1 hammock, lightweight
1 bivy sack

Gear/Tools
1 pocket knife
1 multi-tool
2 headlamps
4 extra AAA batteries
1 solid fuel stove
8 solid fuel tablets
1 BIC lighter
1 compass, orienteering
1 bottle, iodine tablets
1 first aid kit, personal
1 first aid kit, group
1 spool, 300’ paracord
1 cookset, kettle, cups and foon
2 water bottles, 1 liter, widemouth
1 emergency blanket
1 firestarter, magnesium

Technical Gear
1 rope, 60m dynamic
2 harnesses
Assorted webbing
4 carabiners, locking
1 pair, climbing shoes
1 pair, crampons
1 ice axe

Personal Gear:
1 oz tube, toothpaste
1 toothbrush
1 stick, deodorant
1 razor and replacement blades
2 rolls, toilet paper
1 stick, lip balm
1 oz tube, sunscreen
½ oz tube, bugspray
1 lightweight towel

Miscellaneous
1 bible, New Testament
1 notebook, small
1 pen
1 passport
1 wallet
1 phone, wifi enabled
1 micro USB cable
1 car charger, 12v micro USB and USB

The next day or two will consist of some final errands and a final packing. I am looking forward to seeing a bunch of friends before I leave.

10 Days Left

So it's official. In ten days my flight leaves Charlotte, NC, bound for Punta Arenas, Chile. The twenty-two hour flight will bring me to a southern latitude of more than 53 degrees. During the summer, days can last up to 17 hours, while during the winter, they shorten to less than 7 hours. This small town will be the start of our 6000+ mile (10,000km) expedition up the longest mountain range in the world. We will pass through six countries, stopping as we go.

Steph and I will be meeting Mike in Punta Arenas and purchasing a vehicle to carry us on our adventure. Mike has been in Chile/Argentina since August and he has made arrangements to legally purchase and insure a vehicle for international travel.

Our travel itinerary consists of this:

• Arrive in Punta Arenas.
• Purchase vehicle and insurance.
• Drive North until we can not drive any further North.
• Find adventure on the way!
• Discover a way home, or stay in South America.

I believe that most week long vacation itineraries are four or five times as long as this. Flexibility and creativity are staples on this journey. There are several places that we wish to see, however. We plan to hike the circuit at Torres del Paine, we plan to spend some time mountaineering in La Paz, Bolivia, but other than that, the trip is completely open.

We will have a good amount of gear. Basic trekking gear for our hikes, but also cold weather gear and technical gear for high altitudes and some of the more heart pumping activities we plan to take part in. Nothing is off the table: day hikes, week-long treks, rock climbing, mountaineering (I am determined to stand over 6000m or 20k feet!), mountain biking, rafting or kayaking. We are staying in tents which means we would like to stay away from the cities.

To say that I am excited is an understatement. I have been looking forward to this trip for almost a year and everything has fallen into place quite nicely. I have very little idea of how often I will be able to update this blog, but I will do my best to let everyone know where we are and what we have been doing. Aperire Vitae is Latin for open/uncover your life (I can't take credit for thinking of that, haha, thanks!). I feel strongly that we are far to caught up in the fast pace of our lives and I am looking forward to this time of slowing down, making plans as I go and learning a thing or two about my life and this incredible world created for us. 

Future post will have a mix of information and prose. I love writing in prose so hopefully you can imagine being there for yourself!