Gear Junkie back in USA
February 25, 2010
My head is still spinning. My feet are damaged but on the mend. To say the 2010 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race was a crazy time would understate the experience. But after almost seven straight days of racing — and hundreds of kilometers traveled on bike, foot, and kayak — Team Gear Junkie completed the full course through Tierra del Fuego and managed to grab a 4th place finish. Check out the race updates and photos from our reporter, T.C. Worley, here. And below there are a smattering of photos from Worley capturing some of the action from the week. There will be more updates and extensive gear reviews to come as I wind down and get back into real life here at home. Until then, I have to say a huge “thanks” to my teammates Jason Magness, Chelsey Gribbon and Daniel Staudigel; to T.C. Worley, our crack reporter and photographer onsite in Patagonia; to Dennis Piretra at Wenger (who convinced me to sign up for this crazy event in the first place!); to the Gear Junkie readers who cheered us along the way; my wife and family for taking care of things (like our three kids!) back home; and to the passionate, hard-working, and tireless staff and volunteers in Chile who made the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race possible! —Stephen Regenold
For more of T.C. Worley’s photos, go to: http://www.studiobluempls.com/
To tbymrtn: Those are packs from Aarn Design of New Zealand. http://www.aarnpacks.com/
We take serious objection to the title of this post… as currently only one has made it back home while the rest of us are dealing with the aftermath of the 8th largest earthquake in recorded history. We are currently in Bariloche assessing options as the news is showing photographs of giant cracks in the pavement and collapsed highway overpasses, which apparently keeps buses from traveling to Santiago. Even if we were to be able to get there, the news is also showing images of the destroyed passenger terminal and cracked runways. Was interesting to be woken up by a gyrating bed. Luckily the chocolate shops here in Bariloche are still open. Even more lucky that we rappelled from our last alpine spire climb in Frey a full 12 hours before the quake….and we thought a lot of the holds were loose…
- Race Updates
Stay tuned for article updates and photos from the 2011 race, where a Gear Junkie correspondent will report live with the team from Patagonia.
- Patagonian Photo Gallery
Take a spin through the 2010 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race photo gallery.
- Connect to the Wenger Patagonian
Expedition Race - WPER Race Site
- WPER Twitter
- WPER Facebook
- Meet the YogaSlackers
GearJunkie.com has teamed with three members of the YogaSlackers adventure group for the Patagonian Race. yogaslackers.com.
Welcome home! Can’t wait to hear all about it.