Ice Cap Traverse 2003
In 2003 Thomas Ulrich and the Norwegian Icecap expert Boerge Ousland (1962) made the first complete traverse of the Southern Patagonian Icecap without any outside help or deposits. It took them 54 days for the 526 km from their start in the village tortel to the end of the expedition in puerto natales. After paddling for the first 60 km in their kayaks, they reached the beginning of the Jorge Montt Glacier. For the following extremely demanding 17 km up to the plateau of the Icecap, they had to fight for eight days - each of them had to carry up 140 kg of material and food. On September 21st, Ousland and Ulrich reached the crux of the traverse: the Fella Reichardt. It took them another 15 days, seven of them spent sitting out big storms before tackling the difficult passages and abseiling through a 600 m high wall! on October 17th, the two finally reached the little town of Puerto Natales - with their arrival, made history.
Ice Cap Traverse report (376kb): Download
