Page 49 - 20145 AMA Spring

Exercise Tiger Torres
In December 2014, 18 members of Recruiting Group took part in Ex TIGER TORRES, an arduous mountaineering expedition to Chilean Patagonia. The multi-capbadge group headed for Punta
Arenas on the southernmost tip of the South American mainland and then onwards to the Torres del Paine National Park. The expedition group consisted mostly of complete novices, keen to get some trekking experience in an amazing atmosphere as they work towards gaining mountaineering qualifications in the future..
With a 30 hour journey to get to Punta Arenas and a further 2 days of coach travel into the Park the group found themselves in an hugely isolated and stunning mountain range. The Park has been voted the 5th most beautiful place on Earth by National Geographic and it did not disappoint.
Trekking in the early summer in the Southern Hemisphere, the weather was warm but not without its challenges. Some of our more fair haired members underestimated the strength of the sun whilst we are all affected by the 100 mph Patagonian winds. The tents felt the strength of the winds too, some of them resembling flags as the poles snapped and the canopies ripped. We went looking for a challenge in nature and we found it!
Carrying all that we needed for the 8-day trek, the several climbs and descents around the mountains really tested the team. Fortunately we were blessed throughout with a stunning landscape.
The Park gave us large pine forests and eerie forests of charred trees remaining from huge forest fires of years gone-by. The several glacial lakes were a vivid blue, whist the glacier that flows into the Park also filed one of the lakes with ice bergs. A particular highlight was a RIB trip along the face of Glacier Grey, during which Chilean boat driver took great pleasure in getting all concerned soaked to the skin with icy glacial water. We even got to walk on the edge of the glacier, witnessing the rock falls as the glacier pushed forwards into the lake. The other main highlight of the trek was seeing the Torres (3 granite stacks from an extinct volcano) literally glow orange as the sun hit them at first night. There were also snow-capped mountains and wild meandering rivers to entertain throughout.
On completion of the 100 km trek the group had two days of R+R. We travelled to the Isla Magdallena where we were surrounded by some 70,000 penguins. There was also an opportunity to go to the southern most tip of continental America, ‘the end of the world’ or ‘fin del mundo’, where Charles Darwin had visited and where original settlers had laid claim to Chile. Our final day was spent tasting the cultural delights of the Chilean capital, Santiago.
The exped allowed some of the group to gain extra AT qualifica- tions, which will undoubtedly be used to plan future expeditions. Ex TIGER TORRES was a real once-in-a-career opportunity to visit a remote and spectacular part of the world.
47 ARMY MOUNTAINEER
ARMY MOUNTAINEER 47