NOLS monitors Chile protests
Update (March 28, 3:30 p.m. MST): The region has seen no changes since yesterday, as regional authorities and social movement leaders continue to meet. Tomorrow morning the Spring Semesters that began Jan. 22 will transition to their independent student expeditions. NOLS Patagonia is also preparing to support the Spring Semester that began Jan. 13 when it concludes April 1.
Update (March 27, 3 p.m. MST): The situation in Aysen continues to improve and move toward normalcy.
Update (March 26, 4:30 p.m. MST): Negotiations are yielding positive outcomes, and Aysen and Coyhaique are returning to normality. Sunday night’s earthquake was not felt in the NOLS operating area.
Courses will continue to check in regularly until they conclude.
Update (March 26, 8:15 a.m. MST): As a result of constructive talks between movement leaders and government representatives in Santiago, the political climate in Chile appears to be quieting. Fishermen dismantled a barricade between Aysen and Port Chacabuco, and a march for peace was held in Coyhaique Saturday evening.Sunday night, an earthquake struck central Chile, more than 600 miles from the NOLS base and operating areas near Coyhaique. Few injuries and no deaths due to the 7.1-magnitude quake have been reported. This blog will continue to be updated as more information becomes available on both matters.
Update (March 23, 5:15 p.m. MST): Today Coyhaique has been quiet, without any barricades on the streets. Movement leaders have been in talks with the government in Santiago and there is hope that there will be some progress on issues important to the protesters.
Transportation is moving throughout the region which is easing fuel concerns. NOLS had been able to stock up so all of our immediate needs were covered, but it is good news that the fuel situation is improving.
Update (March 22, 4:30 p.m. MST): Yesterday saw daytime marches in Coyhaique, and last night there was some looting in town. However, there has been no impact on NOLS students in the area or the NOLS Patagonia facility. There have been no impediments to transportation or any demonstrations between the students’ current locations and the NOLS facility. Movement leaders and government representatives continue to negotiate, and NOLS continues to monitor the political climate.
Update (March 22, 8:15 a.m. MST): Protests in the Aysen Region continue and remain mostly peaceful, but there have been some clashes between law enforcement and protesters. The protests have been directed toward the government, not tourists or travelers. NOLS staff living in Coyhaique have been monitoring the situation, as has the risk management team at NOLS headquarters.
All of the Patagonia semesters are still in the field far removed from any towns and are unaffected by the protests. However, NOLS has implemented some changes to standard protocols, and most courses are calling in each day for updates or possible changes to logistics.
Logistical changes are the biggest effect the demonstrations have had on NOLS Patagonia. Whereas courses typically end with students being dropped off in Coyhaique, where they spend the night before flying home (or staying in Chile, as some do), courses currently in the field will conclude at the NOLS Patagonia base about six miles outside of Coyhaique. NOLS has determined it to be most prudent to have all students stay at the NOLS facility and then shuttle them directly to the airport. The facility is a 260-acre campo (farm) located in a rural area outside of Coyhaique.
Update (March 16, 11 a.m. MST): Negotiations between protestors and the Chilean government broke down Wednesday, and protests in Aysen elevated. Police and Special Forces units stepped in, and demonstrations have since been peaceful. NOLS Patagonia is closely monitoring the political and social climate and student locations.
Courses:
Both Patagonia Year courses ended Wednesday, and most stayed at the NOLS campo, rather than Coyhaique, until their departing flights today and tomorrow. Coyhaique was peaceful yesterday.
The Spring Semester in Patagonia that started Jan. 13 is scheduled to transition from the mountaineering section to small group travel March 20. NOLS is considering the best way to offer this important element of the semester given the current situation.
Spring Semester, section 1 (started Jan. 22) is on the kayaking section and has been reporting daily without any concerns.
Spring Semester, section 2 (start date of Jan. 22) is currently mountaineering. At last week’s check in, everything was fine.
NOLS Patagonia has the fuel necessary for any logistical needs and will continue to survey the region’s protests and plan accordingly.
Update (March 8, 11:15 a.m. MST): Yesterday, the Aysen Social Movement agreed to open its barricades, as Minister of Energy Rodrigo Alvarez is on his way to Aysen for negotiations now. Supply trucks and buses have been able to pass through, and gasoline and food have already started arriving in Coyhaique. NOLS Patagonia is still awaiting diesel for buses, but hopes the blockades have come to an end. NOLS will continue to monitor the social climate and update this blog.
Update (March 2, 10:00 a.m. MST): The Aysen Region is experiencing continued peaceful demonstrations. Though there has been no violence at any of the roadblocks, NOLS has arranged travel to limit crossing and time on the road. Based on continued monitoring of the climate, NOLS has determined it is prudent and appropriate that courses continue as planned.
Update (Feb. 22, 1:30 p.m. MST): Because the demonstrations have not abated, the two-week sea kayaking course has been canceled. All enrolled students have been contacted, and the possibility of a Baja sea kayaking course is being examined. The seven courses already in Patagonia remain unaffected by the protests.
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Over the past week, the Aysen Region of southern Chile, where NOLS Patagonia operates, has been disrupted by demonstrators demanding governmental reforms. These predominantly peaceful protests have led to food and fuel shortages due to strikes and protesters' roadblocks.
NOLS Patagonia is not affected by the food shortage and has been able to secure fuel to support the seven courses currently in the field.
NOLS has, however, experienced long waits at roadblocks. NOLS management in Chile is closely monitoring the events and is considering canceling the 23 and older Patagonia Sea Kayaking course. The school is working with those students now.
“Our assessment, at this time, is not that there are issues of personal safety or security, but there is an increased probability of disruption to our operations to the point that a shorter course like the two-week 23 and older sea kayaking course may be very negatively impacted,” said Director of Admission and Marketing Bruce Palmer.
NOLS is monitoring activity in the area and examining numerous logistical options should a need for transportation arise.
Permalink | Posted by Casey Dean on Mar 28, 2012 in the following categories: Patagonia
NOLS Patagonia Course Update
NOLS Patagonia has been in full swing over the past two months. In fact, at one point we had nine courses in the field simultaneously. The Patagonia Year students are on the verge of finishing their 5-month adventure. In the second half of their course, they have lived with Patagonian families during their cultural section, learned the ropes of rock climbing in their rock section, paddled the Chilean coastal waters in their kayaking section, and are now embarking on the final leg of their journey: the independent student expedition, in which they will use all the knowledge they have gained to hike for ten days on their own without the direct supervision of instructors.
Currently, three semester courses are also in the field: the JSPM 1/13 and two JSPM 1/22 sections. The 1/13 section finished their month-long kayak section in the Isla Guafo a Golfo de Penas area and are currently exploring the mountains of Bahia Murta and Cerro el Colmillo. Meanwhile, the 1/22 sections just had a rendezvous in the remote coastal village of Caleta Tortel. There, the kayakers transitioned to mountaineering and vice versa. Now the mountaineers (JSPM 2) and kayakers (JSPM 1) are exploring Cerro Blanco and the coastal features near Tortel, respectively.
Additionally, there was a 4-student fly-fishing (WSPF) course that fished Rio Norte for nearly two weeks, a Chilean Mountaineering course that explored Bahia Murta and Cerro el Colmillo, and a Chilean Educator course that hiked near Cerro Castillo and Cerro Sin Nombre. (Photo below by Jim Ferguson)
Permalink | Posted by Nathan Fry on Mar 9, 2012 in the following categories: Patagonia
HidroAysén Makes Route of Transmission Lines Public: likely to impact NOLS Patagonia classrooms
On December 15th, HidroAysén, the company proposing the construction of five hydroelectric dams on the Rio Baker and Rio Pascua in Chilean Patagonia, has released the proposed route for the project’s transmission lines. The project will not only dam two of Patagonia’s wildest rivers, but also require the construction of nearly 2,000 kilometers of towers and high-tension power lines. That’s more than enough mileage to stretch from Seattle, Wash., to Los Angeles, Calif.,
The approximately 1,600 power line towers will be 50 meters (164 feet) tall and require a swath of land 70 meters (about 230 feet) wide cut underneath the line. The visual impacts of the transmission line will be significant as it passes through national parks, priority conservation sites, wetlands and indigenous communities.
A NOLS Patagonia student fishing on the dam-threatened Rio Baker. Photo Credit: Rich Brame
The proposed route bisects numerous National Reserves including the Cerro Castillo, an area that NOLS Patagonia courses use frequently. Another concern for NOLS is that the power transmission lines will potentially come very close to the NOLS campo in the small town of Coyhaique the launching point for all our Patagonia expeditions.
An overhead view of a portion of the NOLS campo outside of Coyhaique. Photo Credit: Bruce Smithhammer
For more information on the impacts of the HidroAysén project visit Conservacion Patagonica and the Patagonia Defense Council websites.
Permalink | Posted by Dave Clark-Barol on Feb 16, 2012 in the following categories: Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability, Patagonia
Patagonia Summer Season Begins!
The NOLS Patagonia summer season is off to a great start. In the last two weeks, we've had 6 courses leave for the field. The weather here has been atypically warm and sunny and generally beautiful and, while I hope not to jinx them, we hope it remains this way throughout the rest of the season.
Three Andes Mountain Traverse (AMT) arrived at the branch on January 6th and left the following day. They will all be in the mountains for one month and will finish their courses on February 8th. AMT1 (see photo below) started by hiking up Rio El Cañal towards the Meliquina Ridge. Currently they should be traversing the Meliquina Plateau, which they will continue to do for approximately one week before heading to Leones, where they will finish their course.
The AMT2 students (see photo below) rode the NOLS bus south towards Cochrane to start their course at Cordón Salto, where they've been hiking for the past 10 days. At the moment, they are ferrying their re-ration food and fuel to their next hiking destination at Cerro San Lorenzo, the second-highest peak in the Patagonian Andes. They will spend most of the remainder of their course exploring this magnificent mountain before embarking on their Independent Student Group Expedition (ISGE) in the Cordón Esmeralda region.
The AMT3 course will spend their course exploring Cerro Colmillo and the surrounding area. On this mountain, they will develop their camping and navigation skills before moving onto the snow and working on glacier travel and alpine climbing techniques.
The January 13 Semeter Course (JSPM 1/13) arrived at the campo and spent 2.5 days finishing their Wilderness First Aid requirements. Throughout the following two days, they were issued kayaking and mountaineering gear and they bagged nearly two tons of food to sustain them over the next 12 weeks. They left the NOLS branch Wednesday morning heading towards the Archipiélago de Los Chonos, where they will be sea kayaking for the next month. They plan to paddle NW from Puerto Aguirre out to the open ocean before heading east again to their pick-up point at Las Toninas.
Last but certainly not least are the two PY courses. They arrived back at NOLS Patagonia anxious to get back into the field. The PY1 students are spending the month in their sea kayaks in the Archipiélago de Los Chonos. Starting at Las Toninas, they will paddle north, exploring the archipelago before arriving at Puerta Marin Balmaceda at the beginning of February.
The PY2 students are spending two weeks on the 'Cultural Section' of their course followed by two weeks of rock climbing camp near Puerto Ibañez. During the cultural section, students live with Patagonian families in order to get a real-world taste of the local culture. On the rock climbing section, they will learn safe and efficient techniques for climbing in sport, trad, and top-rope situations, often in areas that have never been climbed.
We wish all of our courses the best of luck and are anxious to hear all about their experiences in Patagonia!
Permalink | Posted by Nathan Fry on Jan 19, 2012 in the following categories: Patagonia
Patagonia Spring Season Comes To An End
We feel very luck to have had such great courses come through NOLS Patagonia this spring. In the last few weeks, we've graduated two 9/22 semester classes, two 9/30 semester classes, and watched the Patagonia Year students finish the first half of their course and receive Wilderness First Responder certification. We were sad to see the semester folks leave but excited to see what is in store for them with their newly-developed skills. We will see the PY students again in two short weeks after their vacation. It was great to meet you all and to spend the last few months with you! Happy Holidays!
Permalink | Posted by Nathan Fry on Dec 25, 2011 in the following categories: Patagonia
Patagonian Rendezvous
One of the classic pieces of a semester course in Patagonia is the rendezvous. The rendezvous is the time when NOLS Patagonia semester and Patagonia Year courses come out of the mountains or off of the ocean to switch to a new section of their course. At rendezvous students swap out gear, fix gear, re-supply, and put all the odds and ends of an expedition in order before heading back out into the field.
The SSP 9/30/2011 students just completed their last rendezvous. On Dec. 6th and 7th the SSP students met at Laguna Chiguay to plan ahead and prepare for their Indpendent Small Group Expedition (ISGE). Each of the semester courses has been broken into smaller, 4-6 people, groups. These student led groups spent their time planning their routes, preparing travel plans for each of their groups, and putting in order all of the gear and food that they will need for the next several days. On Dec. 8th NOLS Patagonia transported these ISGE groups to their particular road heads.
We look foward to picking the 9/30 groups up on Dec. 17th.
Tomorrow, Dec. 9th sees NOLS Patagonia go out to pick up the ISGE groups from SSP 9/22/2011. We are looking foward to welcoming back the 9/22 groups to the Campo and hearing their stories from their most recent adventures.
Instructor Dave Shade at rendezvous briefing SSP 9/30 ISGE student leaders on logisitcs and emergency procedures.
Permalink | Posted by Marco Johnson on Dec 8, 2011 in the following categories: Patagonia
Patagonia Student Updates
In the past few weeks we've had transitions for all of our courses currently in the field. We posted about the 9/22 Semester Course rendezvous two weeks ago so here's some information about the 9/30 Semester and Patagonia Year (PY) Courses.
The PY1 course finished their two-week hiking section through Valle Chacabuco and we met them on 11/2 at San Lorenzo to give them mountaineering gear. They will continue into the mountains at San Lorenzo, where they will mountaineer for the next month. On 11/1 the PY2 course also finished their two-week hiking section and they will spend their next month mountaineering in Valle Soler.
We met the 9/30 Semester Courses in Puerto Tranquilo next to Lago General Carrera, the second largest lake in South America. Over the course of two days we did the typical gear-related tasks, celebrated some birthdays and had a great time. The SSPM1 course will be kayaking in the Los Chonos archipelago for the next month while the SSPM2 course will be mountaineering in the Cordón Contreras in Valle Soler.
Good luck to all of the courses in the field. We'll see you soon!
Permalink | Posted by Nathan Fry on Nov 18, 2011 in the following categories: Patagonia
Rendezvous - Patagonia 9/22 Semester Courses
Normally, after a month of either paddling or mountaineering, the semester courses will meet up somewhere in the field to facilitate a "rendezvous", in which they trade gear and prepare for the second section of their course - the former mountaineers will get kayaking gear and vice versa. For the two 9/22 Semester Courses (SSPM-1 and SSPM-2), this agenda was interrupted by the recent activity from the Hudson volcano (see photo below), so both teams instead came back to the branch for their rendezvous.
It was great to see all of the students again and they seemed glad to be back for a few days to recharge their batteries (both figurative and literal) and to enjoy the impeccable weather. We were able to borrow some student-taken photos to get an idea of how life in the mountains and on the sea has been going.
(the following 4 photos were taken in the field by SSPM-1 student, Daniela Pennycook)
(the following 4 photos were taken in the field by SSPM-2 student, Matthew Merullo)
Good luck on your next section, 9/22'ers!
Permalink | Posted by Nathan Fry on Oct 31, 2011 in the following categories: Patagonia
Chilean Volcano Information
NOLS courses far removed from rumbling volcano in Chile
The Hudson volcano in southern Chile started rumbling Tuesday evening, and the Chilean government ordered the evacuation of a 25-mile radius of the volcano. No NOLS courses are within the evacuation zone; however, we are diligently working to determine the best course of action to respond to the situation. The primary concern for our courses is ash fallout, the extent of which is based on the actual eruption and the prevailing winds.
Please use the table below to determine where friends and family are at this time.
SSPM 1 (9-22 start date): Updated Info 2:50 pm MST 10/28/11 -- At the NOLS facility in Coyhaique. This course will head back into the field on Sunday, October 30. They will take a boat out to Pto Aguirre and paddle north toward Pto Cisnes.
SSPM 2 (9-22 start date): Updated Info 2:50 pm MST 10/28/11 -- At the NOLS facility in Coyhaique. This course will head back into the field on Sunday, October 30. Their mountain travel section will be 190 kilometers (118 miles) south of Volcano Hudson.
SSPM 1 (9-30 start date): Updated Info 9:30am MST 10/31/11 -- They are paddling north, which authorities predict to be safe from ash deposition.
SSPM 2 (9-30 start date): Updated Info 9:30am MST 10/31/11-- This course remains far south of the volcano.
PY 1 & 2: Both sections are 75-80 miles from the volcano.
We have staff in Patagonia as well as here in the U.S. monitoring the situation should there be any change in conditions. This blog will be updated as new information becomes available.
|
Course |
Departure date |
Roster |
|
Semester in Patagonia (SSPM) 1 |
9-22 |
E. Cordonier Instructors: C. Steidle, C. Parker, R. Hopeman, M. Fisher, F. Voullieme |
|
Semester in Patagonia (SSPM) 2 |
9-22 |
K. Bardi Berrocal Instructors: K. Silberberg, A Harmann, M. Bellese, R. Alvarado Avila, O. Soto |
|
Semester in Patagonia (SSPM) 1 |
9-30 |
J. Berkey Instructors: J. Troncoso Arias, P. Soto, J. Cea Valencia, F. Cancino Jorquera, P. Binfa Alvarado |
|
Semester in Patagonia (SSPM) 2 |
9-30 |
B. Baxter Instructors: J. Guppy, P. Logan, S. Robitshek, P Torres Faast |
|
Year in Patagonia (PY) 1 |
10-16 |
C. Anthony Instructors: T. Dumais, P. Blau, N. Murphy |
|
Year in Patagonia (PY) 2 |
10-16 |
S. Alexander Instructors: B. Winston, C. Sessions, K. Girard |
Map: Updated 3:05pm MST 10/28/11 --
Update: 11:30am MST 10/28/11 -- NOLS staff are looking at possible route changes to keep courses as far from ash fall out as possible, this includes researching alternative transportation routes through Argentina, establishing a temporary base of operations farther south in Chile and considering mountain routes north of Coyhaique.
Update: 9:30am MST 10/31/11 -- The volcanic activity is not currently increasing.
Update: 10:00am MST 11/02/11 -- The volcano alert has been downgraded to yellow from red as the minor eruption has ceased. NOLS is continuing with it's contingency plans, maintaining alternative transportation options and storing rations at a temporary southern base, as a precaution.
Permalink | Posted by NOLS on Oct 26, 2011 in the following categories: Patagonia
Patagonia Year Students Are On The Move!
The two Patagonia Year courses (PY1 and PY2) left the NOLS Patagonia branch on Wednesday, October 19th to begin the first section of their 5 month adventure. After two days of packing rations and gear, the students were anxious to get out into the wilderness...but not before a few classes from Betsy, one of their fantastic instructors.
Both courses headed south on a 10-hour bus ride to the Valle Chacabuco region. The PY1 course, led by Tracy (below on the left), began their hiking section in Jeinemeni National Park. They will continue on through Valle Chacabuco and on to San Lorenzo. The PY2 course, led by Betsy (below on the right) also started in Jeinemeni but will travel to Valle Chacabuco via a different route than PY1.
After two weeks of hiking, PY1 and PY2 (both shown below) will meet up with members of our staff to swap some gear in the field before climbing into the mountains. We wish you luck, PY students!
In other news, the two 9/22 Patagonia Semester courses will have their rendezvous this coming weekend, where the mountain section will transfer to kayaks and vice versa. Stay tuned for updates from 9/22 SSPM1 and SSPM2!
Permalink | Posted by Nathan Fry on Oct 24, 2011 in the following categories: Patagonia
