Hey everyone. A solo trek in Patagonia's Torres del Paine went wrong when I took a wrong turn and ended up on an unmarked trail that dead-ended at a cliff. The weather turned from sunny to blizzard in two hours, and I spent the night in an emergency bivy that I had packed out of pure paranoia. The next morning, I rappelled down a section of loose rock using my rope and slings, but I landed badly and sprained both wrists. I walked out on the third day, dehydrated and hypothermic, and the clinic in Puerto Natales treated me for mild frostbite on three fingers. The bill was only six hundred dollars, but the search and rescue operation that was about to launch would have cost fifteen thousand. The ranger told me that my emergency contact had called for a search, but the weather had prevented takeoff. https://sportravelling.com/trekking/ would have covered the whole thing. Now I carry a satellite messenger and a policy that includes rescue, even on "easy" treks.
Hey everyone. A solo trek in Patagonia's Torres del Paine went wrong when I took a wrong turn and ended up on an unmarked trail that dead-ended at a cliff. The weather turned from sunny to blizzard in two hours, and I spent the night in an emergency bivy that I had packed out of pure paranoia. The next morning, I rappelled down a section of loose rock using my rope and slings, but I landed badly and sprained both wrists. I walked out on the third day, dehydrated and hypothermic, and the clinic in Puerto Natales treated me for mild frostbite on three fingers. The bill was only six hundred dollars, but the search and rescue operation that was about to launch would have cost fifteen thousand. The ranger told me that my emergency contact had called for a search, but the weather had prevented takeoff. https://sportravelling.com/trekking/ would have covered the whole thing. Now I carry a satellite messenger and a policy that includes rescue, even on "easy" treks.