The ice cap (Spanish: Hielos Continentales) is the third biggest extension of continental ice after Antarctica and Greenland, located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Argentina and Chile. It is the bigger of two remnant parts of the Patagonian Ice Sheet. The USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) writes that the South Patagonian Ice Field (Cap) starts at Lat 48°15 S, and ends at 51°30 S. They also state that the southernmost glacier of the SPIF, is Glacier Balmaceda (lat 51°23'S).

The expedition will depart the UK on the 16th of August 2009, with a potential start date of the 24th August. The team will set off from the small Chilean fishing village of Caleta Tortel (W73°32 S47°47) in the Aisen Region of Patagonia. From here they will travel with locals by fishing boat through a network of fjords to the base of the Jorge Montt Glacier. It is at this pont the expedition begins and the team starts their assult on the Southern Ice Cap by negotiateing a series of lakes and river channels to get up onto the glacier.

To achieve their objective the pair will then ski 388km across the cap to the Balmaceda Glacier. During which they will face some technically demanding sections where they will replace skis with crampons and overcome obstacles with a multitude of climbing equipment. Once off the ice cap there is an additional 33km of river networks to negotiate, before they reach their final destination, fjord Seno Ultima Esperanza, before traveling to Puerto Natales by fishing boat (W72°30 S51°43).

The team are looking to average a total distance of 16km a day, giving the team a total of ONLY 37 days to cross the 388km ice cap and negotiate the rivers and lakes on either side. They have only 37 days, due to a limited food supply, instigated by a weight restriction of 45kg per backpack. 45kg is the maximum weight the team feels is realistically safe when manoeuvring up and down ice walls and crevasses.

Previous expeditions traversing the ice cap, have man-hauled their food and equipment in polar pulks/ sledges or used their river kayaks for the same purpose. The Rivers of Ice team have chosen to use backpacks. Although this decision means they are limited to the amount of weight they can carry, far less to that which you could tow, it does mean they will be considerably quicker across the ground, especially in the crevasse fields and ice wall sections which are prone to avalanche.

Originally the team had not wanted to be dropped by boat at the base of the Jorge Montt Glacier and likewise picked up at the other end of the ice cap (fjord Seno Ultima Esperanza) and had planed to paddle from Tortel to Puerto Natales for a number of reasons. Firstly to give a definitive beginning and end to the expedition. Also to add a further exciting dimension to the adventure as neither Tarka or Katie-Jane have kayaked in previous expeditions. However throughout preparations, with the weight of the packs growing considerably, the feasibility of paddling in storm whipped fjords in the packraft became unrealistic, to the point the main expedition objective, crossing the ice cap, may have been jeopardized. So plans have changed, and they will now travel to the start by boat like many previous expeditions before them.

The biggest hurdle crossing the ice cap will be the notoriously awful weather, which has been the cause of failure in previous crossing attempts. All previous expeditions talk about the violent winds and white outs that last for days. When describing the Patagoninan Ice Cap Eric Philips, polar adventurer, writes “The name alone evokes mood and mystery. A land of fire and ice, where active volcanoes rise from a frozen wilderness and violent storms rage over jagged peaks whose summits tear holes in the turbulent sky. Storm-whipped seas and white-water rivers, deep crevasses and steep icefalls, winter blizzards and freezing temperatures combine to make this Patagonian traverse both heaven and hell.” Bourge Ousland and Thomas Ulrich describe crossing the Fella Reichert section of the ice cap as follows, “Delayed by winds, snow and whiteouts, it took 15 days to cover a horizontal distance of 16 km. After descending 600m of a jumbled icefall with giant overhanging blocks, they had to climb up 1400m up an icy peak and then rappelled down a cliff on the other side.” The technicality of crossing snow bridges, open crevasses, icefalls and ice-cliffs all pose as hurdles, but it’s the skills needed for obstacles such as these that the team have been training hard over the summer to perfect. Limited food supply is their final big hurdle, as they will be burning considerably more calories than they will be taking in. Calculations have been scrutinised over to make sure that the expedition is still possible and details of which are discussed in the nutrition section.

Nearly the entire Southern Patagonian Ice Cap region has yet to be mapped and so the team will be navigating using satellite imaging. There have been notable explorations over the years, to include the expeditions of Federico Reichert (1913-1914), Alberto de Agostini (1931), and Harold William Tilman and Jorge Quinteros (1955-1956); as well as Eric Shipton (1960-61). Nevertheless some areas of the field remain largely unexplored and it is this unknown that draws the Rivers of Ice team to the ice cap, the excitement and challenge of the unmapped and undiscovered with very few having gone before them. In addition Tarka and Katie-Jane aim to perpetually discover how resilient, resourceful, determined and flexible they can be. Whilst at the same time documenting their incredible journeys in a bid to inspire others to follow their dreams no matter how ambitious they may seem. Through film they hope to bring some of the worlds less known areas into peoples homes allowing for a larger audience to have a greater understanding of the incredible earth on which we live. See images of the Patagonian Ice Cap here.