The adventure starts in the most extreme place in the world that is the Chilean Patagonia, which has the third natural reserve of fresh water of the planet. In the Campos de Hielo Sur (Southern Patagonian Ice Field) everything you see is an experience, its wild paths, fierce weather and unique landscapes. This journey is a milestone in my career as a photographer and as a person because being able to reach this place, it is necessary to be trained in extreme environments, practice your ice skills, glacier progression, rescue techniques, among others. After having said all of this, it is important to make a trip for several days to the most beautiful places of the planet as well as the most difficult ones. Every trip starts with a 3-hour flight to arrive to the only airport of the zone. Then, driving in a 4x4 car for a couple of days and don’t stop there but continuing by boat for another extra hours until we get to the landing point, where after three and a half days non-stop, eventually, we are at the beginning of this experience where kilometers and kilometers of ice is seen, always supported by local tour guides, who will be our safeguards, during this harsh journey.
Every trip to the Patagonia is challenging, but to go to the Southern Patagonian Ice Field is like getting into the wolf’s mouth because you won’t be sure if you are coming back. One of the biggest challenges was feeling exhausted physically and the extreme weather because you are responsible for carrying the total weight of your belongings, cameras, clothing, sleeping bag, food, etc. For that reason, I prepared myself in advance by training hard with overload as much as I could, also I prepared my technical equipment with my f-stop Shinn backpack with extra batteries, carbon fiber tripod, versatile lenses because it has an ideal size that resists efficiently against snow, rain, ice by keeping my photographic equipment in perfect conditions and everything necessary for an adventure like this, however, if you feel like the most prepared person, you realize that it is not enough or you forgot something, or something comes out suddenly or it is just the weather and the ice that reminds you don’t feel like home.
One night in the middle of the ice, a storm broke over us and the wind hit our dome house where we were staying, the cold felt all over our bodies because when it’s windy, the temperature goes down to 10°C, none of our sleeping bags kept us warm enough to tolerate the cold air and wind. The night felt endless in our bodies, we waited the wind calmed down its fury against us. The cold air along with the wind took the water from our skin, we dehydrated quickly and because of that our skin cracked while the night was endless for going to sleep. During this trip, I discovered new techniques to protect myself and develop my work efficiently. For example, I became minimalist about equipment and carrying weight so that you don’t overload your backpack or solving simple problems because if you don’t control them on time, they can become catastrophic like injured feet after walking a distance of 50 kilometers which is the same as having a wound exposed to air or any other movement like walking on millenary ice that can end up with a person falling into a crack that will never go out.
One of the best moments of this trip was being able to walk freely kilometers and kilometers of millenary ice, contemplate the purity of the landscape surroundings, drinking pure, crystal clear and clean water extracted from ice, feeling how a crack is opened under your feet, sleeping while you look up the starry sky without any light even the tiniest star of the firmament, having peace and time to take pictures of the scenery that very people has been allowed to glance and enjoy it, walking on the glaciers that will support life on the planet, however, it is worth noting that glaciers are retreating almost 1000 m per year, without any ice recovery, even so, it was mesmerizing to see kilometers and kilometers of ice that were surrounding us completely that became our base to walk, sleep and eat. We saw glacier cracks and walls in front of us that were just ice and nobody have never walked on before, we got filled with natural energy. In the Patagonian culture, food is very important, it means get together to drink mate, have a good conversation, eat fried pastries, roast meat and sharing stories. I was lucky to participate in this tradition, eating around a bonfire with wood from local forest, eating roasted meat from animals fed without any chemicals, freshly ground vegetables and eating fried pastries while they are hot.
For this excursion, it is always advisable to have a full understanding of the potential environments to face, you need to be prepared physically, mentally and technically to survive in extreme environment conditions that might be there such as storms, cold air, lack of sleep or lack of food because if you are not prepared enough, you start loosing control of your mental and physical abilities which are the main cause of accidents and deaths in extreme places like Southern Patagonian Ice Field. One of the tricks I used was putting inside my backpack a double cover for the ICU where I had my camera equipment and above it putting all my clothes and my sleeping bag in order to avoid my batteries running down early. Another trick was carrying a duct tape that can fix everything and it is useful for emergencies to patch wounds, cuts and clothes when an accident occurs during the trip, besides sleeping as much as you can because the lack of sleep causes small errors that can end up in bad accidents.
I am a photographer dedicated to live my life to the extreme in every adventure I go, experiencing it firsthand. I love telling the story from the inside as a narrator and adventurous person. If the adventure is at the the coldest place of the planet, I will be there doing what I love, generally you can find me in deserts, mountains, oceans, rivers or glaciers, everywhere someone is practicing a extreme sport, that’s where my home is, my photographic studio, my favorite place of the planet. Now, I hope traveling to the Sahara Desert to cross it again by rally driving for several weeks inside the endless dunar field and sand, but first, I will go to the glaciers of the Llaima Volcano in Chile to live a new adventure and see their unceasing cracks and stormy weather. You can check out my work and my excursions on my Instagram account @paolophotojournalist, currently I find myself visiting most of the Patagonia and looking for the best sportsmen and the most beautiful landscape to shoot.
This trip took place in the Aysen Region, in the extreme south of Chile, specifically in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, starting on January 05th, 2021 until January 25th, 2021. For this adventure, I travelled with my f-stop Shinn 80L backpack, one of the best mountain backpacks and having the Pro XL ICU, I reduced my photographic equipment with two cameras, three lenses and one drone. I chose this versatile and resistant backpack for its suitable capacity for the most severe environments, I needed to have enough space to carry my mountain clothing, rain clothes, food, sleeping bag, security equipment, climbing ropes, etc. Along with that, this backpack would be tied up, dragged over and transported without rest during this excursion. This backpack was created to give its utmost in the most intense environments, all this gear was a gift from Cuarto Digital, a photographic shop located in Chile that are responsible for bringing this brand to South America, which is very important because in Chile there are great extreme outdoor photographers and they need the best equipment for their adventures.
Paolo Avila is a person who loves simple things, born in Chile, country of natural contrasts, high-performance athlete, he is specialized in photography, extreme sports and also a survival expert. Nowadays, his life is divided by two suitcases, one for his clothes and the other one for his cameras. His backyard is the airport and his home is where no one can go, inhospitable deserts, giant glaciers, enormous mountains and rough rivers. He is passionate about living to the limit and capture the moment, experiencing adventures and taking photos firsthand. He loves feeling the adrenaline running through his body while he is descending waterfalls or covering up in the snow to survive. Having this lifestyle, Paolo is sponsored by different brands such as Lippi, Nikon, Cuarto Digital and Stanley that motivate him to keep living to the limit and he has been called to be part of the greatest teams created by Restart, which have worked in the most difficult events of the planet.
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