South: A Backpacking Adventure - Traveling Peru, Chile and Bolivia

What's it like to backpack through South America? Our four and a half month experience through Peru, Bolivia and Chile will forever remain one of our most tr...

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Video: The Beautiful Ride - A Motorcycle Journey Through South America

When filmmaker Jason Spafford decided to ride his motorcycle across South America, passing through Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia in the process, he brought his GoPro camera and a DJI Phantom drone along to capture some of the fun. The result is this beautiful short film that provides us with an amazing glimpse of the wild landscapes that he encountered along the way. Simply beautiful.

SOUTH AMERICA - THE BEAUTIFUL RIDE from jason Spafford on Vimeo.

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Avalanches Claim The Lives of Adventurers in South America

There was more sad news from the mountains yesterday, when it was revealed that freeskiers JP Auclair and Andreas Fransson were killed in an avalanche in Chile, while climber Liz Daley was caught in a separate avalanche on the Fitz Roy Massif in Argentina, and lost her life too.

Auclair and Fransson were skiing Mount San Lorenzo, a 12,159-foot (3706 meter) peak that falls along the border of Chile and Argentina in the Patagonia region, on Monday when they were caught up in the avalanche that claimed their lives. The two men, both well known in the freeskiing community, were there to make a ski film of their adventure. Outside reports that their deaths were confirmed yesterday when a helicopter flew over the mountain searching for them, but spotted their bodies high on the mountain instead.

Not long after the news of the passing of Auclair and Fransson, reports of Daley's accident surfaced as well. She was a professional climber and snowboarder sponsored by Eddie Bauer, who was in Argentina as part of a production crew shooting a snowboarding/skiing film as well. Liz was part of a team descending from Cerro Vespignani, a 7000-foot (2133 meter) peak that is found near Fitz Roy. The avalanche struck the team, but all other members of the group survived with minor injuries.

It has been a rough week in the mountains to say the least. The news of these deaths due to avalanche follows the loss of Sebastian Haag and Andrea Zambaldi on Shishapangma last week. These three separate incidences are a good reminder of just how dangerous our outdoor pursuits can be at times. It is sad to see so many talented and young adventurers lose their lives in such a short period of time.

My condolences go out to the friends and family of those who were killed in these tragic accidents.

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Introducing the Esmerelda Expedition - Across South America Without Motorized Transport

Explorers Web posted an interesting interview today with Francesco Magistrali, an Italian adventurer who is in the midst of a journey across South America using only non-motorized transportation. The adventure, which he calls the Esmeralda Expedition, began in Ushuaia, Argentina, and continued to Torres Del Paine and Los Glaciares National Parks in Patagonia, before heading on to Valdivia and Santiago, Chile. That leg of the journey was completed on a mountain bike, but Magistrali will also be traveling on foot, and kayak throughout his journey as well. Next he'll head to the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile, and then on to the Sala de Uyuni Salt Desert in Bolivia. From there, he'll proceed to Yungas, a dense forest along the Andes Mountains, before ultimately wrapping things up by paddling the Madeira and Amazon Rivers to the Atlantic Ocean.

In the interview with ExWeb, Francesco says that the goal of his expedition is to get to know the locals where he is traveling, and experience the unique environment in which they all live. He also undertook the journey in order to challenge himself, and to push his own limits, of what he can accomplish under his own power. He also talks about how he prepared himself mentally and physically for the travel, and the benefits of going solo versus having someone with him.

It took Magistrali about four months to mountain bike from Ushuaia to Santiago, where he has been spending some time visiting with friends and family before returning to the road. He says that the first leg of the journey has been an easy one, with paved roads and good weather helping to make positive progress. Francesco says that was all just a warm-up for the challenges that will come next, as the expedition will get much harder from here. He expects to reach the Atacama in October, before heading out into more wild, and challenging, areas from there.

In all, the expedition is expected to take roughly ten months to complete, covering approximately 10,000 km (6213 miles). You can follow along with Francesco's progress on his website and Facebook page. It looks like it'll be quite a journey when it is all said, and done.

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