Video: Walking the Roads of Argentina

In 2016, a pair of travelers visited Argentina, exploring both the Salta Region in the north, and Patagonia in the south. Along the way, they shot some very dramatic video footage, which has now been assembled into this beautiful clip which not only reveals the roads of Argentina, but plenty of other breathtaking images of landscapes and people too. This well crafted short film is a joy to watch, and will get your wanderlust going as well.

 ROADS OF ARGENTINA from Guillaume JUIN on Vimeo.

Chad Kellogg Dies While Climbing In Patagonia

There was sad news out of Agentina this past weekend as the news broke that American climber Chad Kellogg has died while climbing in Patagonia. Kellogg was climbing Fitz Roy with and Jens Holsten. The two apparently successfully topped out and were beginning their descent when a rope dislodged a rock that struck Chad in the head. He reportedly died instantly.

The accident occurred late last Friday, but it took Holsten some time to descend safely and walk to the nearest village. The news has slowly filtered out since then and the climbing community is still reeling. Due to the remoteness of the accident, his body will not be recovered.

Kellogg was well known for his speed climbing on Rainier and Denali. Over the past couple of years, he even made a couple of attempt to break the speed record on Everest.  Chad enjoyed climbing remote peaks and opening new routes with a variety of close climbing partners. His legacy will include new routes in the Himalaya, the Andes, and China.

My condolences go out Chad's friends and family.

Video: Scenes From Patagonia

We all know that Patagonia is one of the most spectacularly beautiful places in the entire world. But, this video remind us of that by taking us back to that iconic destination to share some wonderful scenes of life and landscapes of southern Chile and Argentina. Truly one of the great wilderness destinations on the planet.

Moments from Patagonia from Ivana Varesko on Vimeo.

Nat Geo Tells Us Where to Backpack in 2016

2016 is just a month old, but if you haven't started planning your travel yet, you're probably missing out on precious time. Thankfully, National Geographic is here to lend us a helping hand with some great suggestions of where to go backpacking in 2016.

The complete list contains ten total designations, ranging from Argentina and Patagonia in South America, to Zimbabwe in Africa, to Vietnam in Asia, with plenty of other options inbetween. In fact, every continent is represented on the list with the exception of Antarctica, which means just about no matter where you go, there will be some exceptional hiking spots nearby.

Beyond just creating a list of excellent backpacking places, Nat Geo also offers some great travel advice for those visiting these places. For instance, they'll tell you how to get there, how to travel around once you arrive, and just where to stay too. The various write-ups for each destination also include tips on what to eat, when to go, and what activities you absolutely should not miss out on.

All in all, this is a fairly comprehensive travel piece with some good suggestions on where to go backpacking this year. While the individual articles do a good job of setting you on the path to going to that particular place, they also leave plenty of room for you to explore and plan your own excursions and activities too. Think of it as helpful advice from those who have been there before, with just enough information to get you intrigued and started with your planning.

Find out what other destinations made the list by reading the entire article here.

Video: Into Patagonia with Endurance Runner Dakota Jones

As most of you know, Patagonia is one massive, sweeping, and spectacular wilderness. It covers more than a million square kilometers of space, and yet is home to less than 2 million people. Recently, American mountain runner Dakota Jones visited that place in an effort to explore it for himself and meet a few of those people along the way. This video takes us with him as he goes into Patagonia and discovers all of the wonders that can be found there. This is an amazing short documentary that you should sit back and enjoy. It's well worth the watch.

Patagonia Expedition Race Now Underway in Chile

The legendary Patagonia Expedition Race returned from a three-year hiatus yesterday when 18 coed teams of four embarked on what promises to be one of the most challenging adventure races of their lives. Over the course of the next ten days, the competitors will run, pedal, climb, and paddle their way across more than 600 km (372 miles) of the most spectacularly beautiful, and incredibly grueling, terrain on the planet.

Anyone who follows adventure racing has no doubt heard about the Patagonia Expedition Race. For years it set the standard for the sport, offering some of the most physically demanding courses ever. The famously bad Patagonia weather often played a role, with cold conditions, heavy rains, rough seas, and high winds often impacting the outcome of the event. Sadly, the race was off the schedule for the past two years, but has now returned bigger, and badder, than ever.

The teams arrived in Punta Arenas, Chile over the weekend where they went through mandatory gear and skills checks prior to the start of the race yesterday. As usual with an adventure race like this one, the competitors received their route information 24 hours before the start of the event, allowing them to plot their navigation points ahead of time. After the gun went off signifying the start of the race yesterday, they'll now spend somewhere between 6-10 days racing non-stop, 24/7 until a winner is crowned.

You can follow the PER on the race's official website or at SleepMonsters.com. It should be an interesting race to watch unfold.

Video: Traveling the Andes Mountains - Spine of the South

In 2015, photographer Eric Hanson spent seven months traveling the length of South America along the spectacular Andes Mountains. Starting in Ecuador and ending in Patagonia, he captured thousands of photos of the landscapes that he encountered along the way. The very best of those images can be found in this breathtaking video, which give us an incredible look at these amazing mountains. Sit back and enjoy this clip, it is gorgeous.

Spine of the South from Overland Collective on Vimeo.

Colin Haley Completes First Solo Ascent of Torre Egger in Patagonia

American climber Colin Haley continues to add impressive accomplishments to his resume. As both a skilled rock climber and mountaineer, he has completed some of the toughest routes in the world in Patagonia and the Himalaya. But on January 19 he only added to his growing list of accomplishments when he managed to complete the first solo ascent of Torre Egger, one of the most iconic and difficult towers in the world.

Located in Argentina's Patagonia region, Torre Egger is a sheer rock face that stands 2685 meters (8809 ft) in height. It is considered one of the crown jewels of rock climbing, often mentioned in the same breath as El Capitan, Trango Towers, or Torres del Paine which is also located in Patagonia. On January 19, after months of planning and preparation, Haley set out to solo that massive tower in what would become an very long day in the mountains.

Alpinist has all the details of the ascent, including the exact route Haley took to the summit, and some of the challenges he to overcome along the way. As you can imagine, it was not an easy climb, requiring 16.5 hours to complete the route. But even after reaching the summit, Colin faced more difficult on the descent. At one point his rope became hung up, and he had to spend several hours bouncing on it to get it to release a few inches at a time. Eventually it gave way, and he was able to finally finish his descent.

The solo of Torre Egger wasn't the only impressive climb Haley finished in Patagonia this month. Alpinist says that he and fellow American Andy Wyatt also completed a speed ascent of Monte Fitz Roy (3405 m/11,171 ft) on January 6, completing that challenge car-to-car in 21 hours and 8 minutes. According to the report, that would be the fastest known time for a round-trip ascent on that peak as well.

These are some impressive accomplishments over a span of just a couple of weeks. Congrats to Colin (and Andy Wyatt!) on a job well done.

Alex Honnold and Colin Haley Set New Speed Record on the Torre Traverse in Patagonia

It has been a good couple of weeks in Patagonia for Colin Haley. Not only did he set a speed record on Fitz Roy, completing a round-trip ascent of that mountain with Andy Wyatt in just 21 hours and 8 minutes, he also put up the first solo ascent of Torre Egger as well. That would be enough accomplishments for anyone's career climbing resume,  let alone just one month. But he wasn't finished just yet, as Haley was later joined by his friend Alex Honnold to set yet another speed record, this time finishing the Torre Traverse in an incredible 20 hours and 40 minutes.

What's the Torre Traverse you ask? Only one of the toughest challenges in all of climbing. In this case, it involved a north-to-south traverse of Patagonia’s Cerro Standhardt, Punta Herron, Torre Egger, and Cerro Torre in a single push. Those peaks are pretty much a collection of the toughest and most well known rock climbing walls in the region, with each being a considerable challenge on its own. Linking them up adds a new dimension to that challenge. So much so that it has only been done once before. That was back in 2008 when Haley made the same climb with Rolando Garibotti, spending three days on the attempt.

The Traverse has been a project in the works in Patagonia for decades, with some of the top climbers first envisioning it way back in the 1980's. At that point, one of the peaks – Punta Herron – hadn't even been climbed as of yet. Over the years there were a number of attempts to put all the routes together that were necessary to make the traverse, but it took until 2008 for it to all come together. It hadn't been repeated since, until Monday, when Haley and Honnold did it, and in a very impressive time.

According to National Geographic, the two climbers went camp-to-camp in 32 hours, with heir record time representing their actual time climbing. Considering the challenges that the Traverse presents, and the skill sets and climbing knowledge that Alex and Colin bring to the table, it seems likely that this record will stand for awhile.

Find out more details of the climb in Nat Geo's article here.