On September 25, Argentinian kayakers Alexis Valladares and Sebastian Clemente will begin paddling a unique 1,300km route. They will begin on the Quillahue River in Moquehue, Argentina. From here, just three kilometers from the border with Chile in the Patagonian Andes, they will work their way across Argentina toward the Atlantic coast.
The planned route across Argentina. Photo: Remandoalatlantico
A first?
On social media, Clemente explained that the project has been years in the making: “Several years have passed, shaping the journey. For a long time, we collected information, maps, winds, kilometers to do, food, risks, etc., to get to this point.”
The pair believes their route may be a first. “We have not found records of anyone who has done it before,” Clemente wrote.
Other documented expeditions billed as paddling from the Andes to the Atlantic have not followed the same route. For example, Leonardo Proverbio and Roberto Trinchero crossed the southern Patagonian Ice Field in Argentina in 2016, covering just under 800km. French paddler Aurelien Rateau crossed from slightly further north in 2011, starting from near Fitz Roy and paddling/trekking to the Río Santa Cruz and eventually the Atlantic.
Their journey should take roughly a month, and they will travel light, “with very little equipment, only what goes into some bags inside the kayaks.”
