Five-month expedition reveals wonders of western Patagonia

Published in 2010

Just over a year ago, Associate Laureate Cristian Donoso kayaked along Antarctica’s rugged coast, documenting the fate of wildlife endangered by global climate change. Now he has returned there with two companions to kayak to a remote section of the Antarctic Peninsula, then turn the kayaks into sleds and scale the Antarctic Andes, exploring the effect of climate change on high glaciers. This young explorer from Chile, who says that even unexplored parts of Antarctica display the damage from environmental abuse, passionately appeals for help in preventing further degradation of the frozen, forgotten continent.

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Courtesy of Cristian Donoso

Cristian Donoso’s second Antarctic expedition began in November 2009 and is expected to last from 80 to 110 days, is taking the Chilean lawyer and two companions to the highest peaks of the Antarctic Peninsula.

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Courtesy of Cristian Donoso

Joined by Mario Sepúlveda and Guillermo Parra, Donoso is covering 1,600km, roughly half of it by kayak. For the rest of the expedition, the three are strapping on skis and crampons, and converting their kayaks into sleds which they drag over ice and snow to the high reaches of the Antarctic Andes.

Interviewed shortly before the start of the expedition, Donoso said the team’s principal focus would be documenting what is happening to the region’s glaciers, especially those on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula. With the collapse of the ice shelves, which acted as retaining walls for the slowly descending glaciers, the speed with which the glaciers descend to the Weddell Sea has increased. The trio hope to be the first to observe the glaciers’ upper reaches since the collapse of the giant Larsen Ice Shelf far below.

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Courtesy of Cristian Donoso

While all three are veteran alpine explorers, the route they will take along the mountain chain means they will be travelling parallel to the crevasses that are appearing with greater frequency due to the glaciers’ acceleration. That’s a more dangerous undertaking than crossing the often hidden crevasses at a perpendicular angle. And dragging the heavy kayaks only complicates matters. In some places the explorers will have to unload the kayaks and transport their stocks of food, fuel and other equipment on their backs, then drag the empty kayaks over particularly treacherous spots.

Throughout the expedition, the trio are documenting what they find and they will combine new information with material from the previous kayak expedition to produce a book and a documentary video. They hope this will encourage audiences around the world to take prompt action to protect the environment of Antarctica and the whole planet.

Donoso says many people mistakenly believe that Antarctica’s isolation somehow insulates it from climate change: “Contrary to the image of Antarctica as a pure and untouched territory, it has been profoundly changed by human activity. During our expeditions we have been the first human beings to explore many locations, yet we’ve witnessed how those spaces have already been profoundly affected.

“In our public talks [between expeditions], we discuss the planetary impact of our actions, and how the earth is not a source of inexhaustible resources that will last forever. We live on a small and finite planet, a blue ark that floats like a miracle in the universe.”

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Courtesy of Cristian Donoso

Donoso, whose explorations of the natural world recently earned him an achievement award from Chile’s Fundación Vertical, headed by Rodrigo Jordán, an explorer who was a member of the Rolex Awards Selection Committee in 2000 and 2008, admits he is driven to seek out and explore the world’s most wild environments.

“I feel a passion for extreme and inhospitable environments, where the forces of nature are expressed in uncommon ways. To experience those environments makes me feel immensely alive, and allows me to know the essence that surrounds us, the essence of my own nature as a human being,” he said.

Despite its harsh natural environment, Donoso believes Antarctica’s relative peacefulness is also enticing. “Antarctica is unique because it’s a demilitarized continent, without weapons. It’s a continent whose territory doesn’t belong to any country. There is no police control, no borders. People of many nationalities coexist in an environment of peace and cooperation. To travel among the Antarctic bases is to experience a political utopia that’s unique in our world. It’s an anarchy sustained by the good will of its visitors.”

Yet like the penguins, that peaceful environment is also endangered. “It’s a continent with many natural resources. As those resources, especially minerals, run out in other parts of the world, a struggle could emerge for Antarctica’s riches, and the region could become a focal point of conflict on a planetary scale. This won’t only affect the environment of peace and cooperation between nations in Antarctica, but also the Antarctic ecosystems,” Donoso said.

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Paul Jeffrey

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