Alexandre Rezé: When undergoing extreme adventures, I discover my strengths and limits
Words: Conan Marshall
Photos: Alexandre Rezé
“If your dreams don't scare you, you don't dream big enough” a quote from legendary explorer Mike Horn, during a conference in Toulouse.
Listening to Mike was Alexandre Reze, founder of Patagonia Dreamin. Alexandre is a devout mountaineer based in France, who is resolute in pursuing his alpine adventures. A few years ago, Alexandre became enchanted with ideas of exploring the mountains of Patagonia.
“These words from Mike Horn perfectly illustrate the state of mind that motivated me to undertake my first expedition in Patagonia.”
In this Q&A, we talk with Alexandre about his journey so far, completing two solo expeditions in Patagonia.
He shares with us his upcoming challenge in 2022: to cross Patagonia's ice field with zero waste.
Patagoniadreamin.com
“To do things alone is a good way to go deep inside yourself, to be real with yourself without any interference, to establish or recover an internal dialogue that modern life does not always allow.”
How were you introduced to your love of outdoor adventure in Patagonia and elsewhere?
It all started with my move to Toulouse to finish my studies, in the south-west of France, close to the Pyrénées, in the year 2000. From then on, I have been doing some mountaineering activities like hiking and skiing.
In 2010 I started to practice more often and to discover snow pads then ski touring. At the same time, I offered a trip as a gift to my goddaughter “anytime anywhere” and she elected to go to Iceland. Therefore I organized a summer trek in Laugavegur in 2011 and that’s probably when I really became interested in outdoor adventure, as many trips followed after that.
At the end of 2017, my father suffered a severe cardiovascular event. He survived at the end but only partially recovered. This made me reflect on my life and what I was really willing to do for the rest of it. Eight months later, in August 2018, I was performing my first solo expedition in Patagonia.
Why Patagonia?
I wanted a winter expedition with skis and pulka (Nordic style sleigh pulled by a human) and was available only in August. So I had to go to the southern hemisphere.
Antarctica was far too difficult and expensive. Looking on the internet, I discovered that Patagonia had the third continental ice cap in the world after Antarctica and Greenland. This would be my playground for my first project “Hielo y Fuego en La Patagonia”!
You have completed two solo expeditions in Patagonia over the past few years. Take us through these adventures…
Expedition 1:
15 days - 2018 - Campo de Hielo Sur: Puente Electrico (El Chalten) to the Lautaro Volcano and back
Morning views in the mountains.
This was all new to me. I had already done some treks in solo but never any expeditions. So I put together a plan of things to do: training with the alpine club I belong to, camp in the snow especially when the weather was awful in the Pyrénées (I destroyed a tent because of strong wind), practising ski and pulka, reading as much as I could about Nordic trips, testing the installation of my expedition tent in an industrial freezer which temperature was -37°C.
When I arrived in Patagonia I thought I had prepared as best as I can but I was still full of doubts. When I registered at the national park house in El Chalten, the ranger told me flatly: “Es loco ir solo en el Campo de Hielo”, which means that this is crazy to go alone on the ice field. Then we discussed my previous experiences, my preparation and my equipment and ten minutes later he offered to drive me till the beginning of my trip. Since then Jorge Lenz and I are friends and still in contact. He supported me for the later 2019 expedition.
The 2018 expedition went well overall since I came back safe. But it was no doubt eventful: my stove was not working properly because of incorrect fuel (I managed to fix it), I had to carry my stuff along the “Lago Electrico” (lake) which required two trips each time, then once close to the volcano Lautaro, I underwent more than 150 km/h of wind which I was, fortunately, able to manage properly because of the quality and good installation of my tent, as well as because of the big snow walls I elevated around.
Then there was a big snowstorm which buried my tent. The snow walls became a trap. After digging for ten hours during the day to prevent this from happening, I had to resign: climbing Lautaro would be for another time. I extracted the tent from the snow at 8.30 pm, then skied in the night till 2.30 am. And installed again my tent in the dark.
The following day was quiet at the end but a strong gust took my drone away in the morning and I lost track of it. All my videos were stored in it. This was a big frustration! I swore I would come back to capture other images.
Back in the valley of Rio Electrico where I thought I was safe, my tent went upside-down with me inside the last night because of a vortex created by a strong gust. Nevertheless, my feeling was that the experience was great at the end, and I did come back!
Alexandre Reze
Bivouac at the foot of the Lautaro volcano
Expedition 2:
July 2019 - 9 days - Campo de Hielo Sur: Puente Electrico (El Chalten) to the Lautaro Volcano and back + attempt to climb (up to 800m from the summit, stopped by two avalanche flows)
Because it was easier to organise and less costly, I decided to repeat the 2018 expedition with two objectives: making a short movie and climbing Lautaro. I optimised my equipment to be lighter and managed to do it in 9 days what took me 15 days the previous year. The weather helped also because it was better.
In the end when I did climb the Lautaro only partially, which requires to go up for nearly 2000 meters, because I experienced two successive avalanche flows in the final stepper part to the crest, 800 meters away from the top. It was small and I really hesitated but the second avalanche flow carried down me for a couple of meters before I was able to stop with my sticks. Because there were big open cracks 300 meters below me (I had to pass it on snow bridges on my way up), I eventually decided not to go further.
That time, I came back with the drone and all videos! This gave birth to an 18 min movie called “Lautaro Loco”.
Have you ever had to deal with any life-threatening moments during any of your adventures?
When I was in the snowstorm in 2018, I really started to wonder how it would turn out if it was going to continue. I dug so long and strongly that I suffered tendonitis for six months and can still feel it sometimes.
Being upside-down in the tent was also a very stressful experience: I was sleeping when the tent was “sucked”. When I realised what happened, and how close was the river a few meters away, I really got afraid that a second gust pushes me into the water. I was not willing to try my Houdini skills! I had nightmares linked to the wind for a couple of days.
How does exploring the world and undergoing adventures in Patagonia and elsewhere benefit you?
I think that doing outdoors activities is first a great source of resourcing and relaxation. A good way to reflect on yourself and stop caring about useless things.
When undergoing extreme adventures, I discover my strengths and limits (physical and psychological): this is very useful for my day-to-day life. I feel more confident on one end and have more opportunities to progress on the other side. I train a lot in the cold and I am almost never sick. My body and mind endurance has improved a lot also.
To do things alone is a good way to go deep inside yourself, to be real with yourself without any interference, to establish or recover an internal dialogue that modern life does not always allow. A lot of people are questioned or afraid of this (not only about the increased risk during an expedition) because I guess they think they will be bored or discover bad things in them.
But being bored is necessary for the human brain to structure properly. There are no bad things in ourselves: there are just things and it is important to get to know it to be well balanced.
What about your upcoming 2022 expedition in Patagonia?
I will come back to Patagonia because I fell in love with that area and this is one of the most perfect lands for adventure. Instead of doing a short east-west crossing like in years 2018 &, I will perform the integral north-south crossing. As far as I know, this has been done only once by Borge Ousland and Thomas Ulrich. Borge Ousland plans to repeat it with Vincent Colliard as part of their Ice Legacy Project.
It has never been done in winter and it has never been done alone. On my way, there will be a volcano Lautaro, my old friend. This time I will climb it in an alpine way through its east crest to avoid the normal route that is too exposed to avalanche flows in winter. It has never been climbed at the time of the year. I will take with me a paraglide to attempt a take-off from the top, a first as well for sure!
This expedition will be prepared with a “zero waste” approach. This means that I will buy bulk food and pack it myself in reusable containers. I want to encourage people to use this approach in their daily life: if it is possible during an extreme expedition, it is possible at home!
This is organised in partnership with “Demain Sans Déchets” a local association I created to promote Zero Waste in my home city. The aim is to reduce plastic production and disposal because it ends in nature and create pollution even in remote areas.
I made a partnership with a French research laboratory (Laboratoire d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement – CNRS-Université de Toulouse-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées) that performs research on the migration of microplastics in the environment due to atmospheric transportation.
I will collect and filter samples of snow. The filters will be then investigated for any contamination by plastic. This will help to understand how plastics travel from our home to human activities free areas.
This expedition is called “Patagonia Dreamin”. The moto being, “What if making your dreams true could change the world?”. This is indeed what I hope will happen with the zero waste approach!
The iconic Fitz Roy from the Loma del Pliegue Tumbado - July 2019
What experiences have you had trekking and exploring around volcanoes?
I had a couple of experiences like the Stromboli (north of Sicilia) by night in winter or the Piton de La Fournaise (Réunion island east of Madagascar) which I saw erupting two times. And of course, the Lautaro twice as well.
Each time I could feel the impression of the incredible power of those volcanoes and felt very very small.
Eruption at Piton de La Fournaise - October 2017
As well as mountaineering, you have completed some long-distance cycling trips. Can you share some experiences from your bickpacking trip from Toulouse to Leon?
This was an adventure shared with my kids. It took us 18 days (including a 1-day break in a city for the birthday of my daughter). The toughest moment was clearly the ascension of a pass (several in fact) called Roncevaux with the heavy bikes. This was a choice: we could have passed on the coast instead. I was looking at the altimeter and every 100 meters of climb, we had a break. But the feeling once at the pass was incredible and the kids were so proud of themselves! A couple of kilometres later we found a restaurant with Spanish tapas to reward ourselves…
Another tough moment was when my daughter fell down at the end of the first day. I saw nothing but heard an awful metallic noise and immediately understood what had happened. For me, the trip was over but I said nothing, cured the injuries (fortunately small thanks to the helmet) and said we would see what to do after a good dinner and a good night. And…she bravely continued!
Long-distance cycling with all you need to camp and is the ultimate freedom. You discover things slowly but in case of an issue, you can easily cycle where to find help. We did a lot of detours when something was catching our interest. Heavy bikes catch people attention, especially with kids riding them, and this was a good way to start discussing with people.