Posted: Jun 23, 2009 11:25 am EDT
(ThePoles.com) Linda Beilharz’ big goal is a journey on the four Icecaps of the World. She has skied to the South Pole, crossed Greenland and is on her way to the Southern Patagonia Icecap with her expedition teammate and husband, Rob Rigato. Linda talked about their different strong points, why the four Icecaps, her biggest challenge, the gear and preparations in an interview with ExWeb’s Correne Coetzer.

ExplorersWeb:You skied form Hercules Inlet to the South Pole in 2004. Why did you decide to do the SP?

Linda: I had been gradually increasing my level of adventure, from a beginning as a bushwalker in Australia to doing some low level mountaineering. The more time I spent in alpine areas the more I wanted to do – but not necessarily climbing peaks. I was attracted to the polar icecaps by their remoteness and the challenge and also a feeling that my skills suited the long journey over the ice better than climbing. I actually went to the Antarctic after a trip to Greenland fell through – so I had less preparation than I’d intended.

ExplorersWeb: How did it come that you have decided to do the other three Icecaps as well?

Linda: Initially I thought that doing a trip to the South Pole would be the biggest trip of my life – but I came back wanting to go back or do more of something similar. I’d heard of the 7summits as a goal for mountaineers and thought that a series of icecap journeys would be suitable for me. Eric Philips, another Australian, is the only other person I know who has done that group of trips. This is an arbitrary goal but it’s been good to have something to aim for. Each icecap is different and takes me to a completely different part of the world. Learning a little about the countries and cultures around the icecaps is part of the journey – though we don’t have enough time usually to do both the trip and spend a lot of time in the country.

ExplorersWeb: It is only the two of you going for Patagonia. What are each one’s strong points or contributions as a team member?

Linda: Rob and I have been married for 28 years – so we know each well. I have slightly more experience in the alpine environment but Rob has more experience in the outdoors, having worked as an outdoor educator for over 30 years. Rob is more pedantic about things – which frustrates me sometimes when I want to get going but which is a huge asset in terms of safety, and persisting with solving problems, whether navigational, equipment or securing our shelter. Rob makes a great snow wall, takes lots of great photos and knows about geology and history. I am well organized, good at whiteout navigation, calm and have good energy for the planning – whether before or during the trip.

ExplorersWeb: What do you think will be the biggest challenge on Patagonia?

Linda: The South Patagonian icecap is in mountains and is accessed by ascending a glacier. The mountains attract a huge amount of precipitation and I expect that we will spend time waiting out weather and maybe having to wade through fresh snow. We are going in winter hoping that we will be snowed on rather than rained on and expecting the normally strong winds to be less strong. The ascent of the Jorge Montt glacier is a route finding nightmare - it will be very interesting but also demanding physically and mentally as we work our way up.

ExplorersWeb: Did you prepare different for this expedition? What did your preparations involve?

Linda: Our preparation is, as usual less than ideal as work and other demands of life mean that we didn’t do quite as much exercise as is ideal and don’t have quite as much time to check out the area before heading off. We did the usual tyre dragging to improve our sled pulling fitness and just did as much other physical exercise as we could fit in. We are working with the Patagonia Mountaineering School to do a shake down trip for a few days before the expedition starts and to talk to us about local conditions. Working with people who know the local area is the best way I know how to find out about what we can expect.

ExplorersWeb: What gear do you take that is different from previous ice expeditions?

Linda: We will be taking more mountaineering gear this time – so we can rope up on the glacier, belay ourselves or the sleds and secure the tent on ice. We’re taking little kiddy toboggan sleds rather than our usual big ones, so we have less weight to carry at the start and the end when we will have distance to do over rock.

ExplorersWeb: How do you feel at the moment?

Linda: Some trepidation about heading off into a place I don’t know – this is a combination of excitement and fear, hoping I’m up to it, hoping conditions are favourable, hoping we make good decisions. I’m expecting to be in awe of a beautiful landscape and to thoroughly enjoy seeing this part of the world. I’m wondering how on earth we have ended up with such a pile of gear and how we are going to move it across the icecap!

Check in tomorrow for an interview with Linda’s expedition partner and husband, Rob Rigato, about rescue support, permissions, length of the expedition and daily reports.

Linda Beilharz was born on 15 April 1960 and is a resident of Bendigo, Australia. She works as an Executive Officer at Women’s Health Loddon Mallee. Linda and her expedition team-mate, Rob Rigato, are married for the past 28 years and have two children, a daughter Jeni (25) and a son Michael (27). Linda loves reading and to be in the bush. Her favourite book is Martin Edmond’s "The Supply Party“. As for music she likes folk and world music.

Rob and Linda are intending to ascend the Jorge Montt Glacier, traverse the Southern icecap in a south-easterly direction and descend the Upsala Glacier to Lago Argentino. The route across the icecap will take them past Vulcan Lautoro and the Viedma Glacier, providing glimpses of the magnificent Mont Fitzroy. The descent of the Upsala Glacier will take time, they predict, and may involve portage of their sleds over the rocks beside the glacier and down to the lake where they will be met by a boat. They will take food for 23 days.

There are two Patagonian Ice Caps. The southern Ice Cap spreads from Jorge Glacier (N) to Balmaceda glacier (S); it is 350 km long. The Northern Ice Cap is located between 46° and 47° South, being 120 km long and 30 km wide.

The surface of the Northern Patagonian Ice Cap is at about 1200/1500m of altitude. However, the area includes the highest peak in Patagonia: Mt. San Valentin, almost 4000m.

The Southern Patagonia Icecap, or Hielo Patagonio Sur, is 400 km by 80 km. The cap is long and narrow. It has been crossed several times east/west and west/east, as this direction is shorter and the main difficulties of the glacier can be avoided. But only once before has the cap been crossed in its full length.

There are two main obstacles on the route: The first obstacle consists of a wall that must be climbed to reach the Glacier. The second - and worst - obstacle is a big rift with a huge ice fall right in the middle of the glacier.

In 1998/99 Chileans Pablo Besser, Rodrigo Fica, Jose Montt, and Mauricio Rojasa achieved the first and only complete crossing of the Southern Patagonian Ice Cap. However, their trip can’t be considered unsupported, since they used a pre-placed cache.

The first traverse of the Northern Patagonic Ice was achieved by British explorer Eric Shipton, accompanied by Spaniard Miguel Gómez and Chileans Eduardo García and Cedomir Marangunic in the (austral) summer of 63-64 – their 37-day-long traverse was not complete though, since they exited the ice by the flank of Cerro Arenales. The first complete traverse from San Rafael to Steffen Glacier (N-S) was done by a French team led by Ilario Previtali. The team also climbed Mt. San Valentin on the way, completing the feat in only 26 days in March 1993.

In the winter of 2006 Pablo Besser (leader), Nicolás Von Graevenitz and Francisco Urzua) completed the traverse of the Patagonian Northern Ice Cap. Pablo claims this has been the first complete crossing of the Northern Ice Cap achieved in winter - a double success for Besser, since he was also on the team that first crossed the (larger) Southern Ice Cap back in 98/99

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