{"id":17844,"date":"2019-09-04T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T12:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/?p=17844"},"modified":"2025-02-10T12:02:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T15:02:24","slug":"the-ultima-esperanza-pioneers-and-glaciers-in-balmaceda-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/report\/the-ultima-esperanza-pioneers-and-glaciers-in-balmaceda-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u00daltima Esperanza pioneers and glaciers in Balmaceda hill"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/span>A day of sailing to the past begins, the Fjord history, exactly the <\/span>\u00daltima Esperanza<\/span><\/i> province in the <\/span>Magallanes<\/span><\/i> region. Land of pioneers and explorers, a magical and inhospitable place, full of beautiful age-old landscapes sculpted by glacier ice throughout the years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Too early today, a beautiful sunrise delighted us from the Patagonian Andes, where the impressive <\/span>Balmaceda<\/span><\/i> hill is located, 30 nautical miles approximately to the north of <\/span>Puerto Natales<\/span><\/i> city. It has an altitude of 2,035 meters above sea level and belongs to the largest surface National Park in Chile (3,524,648 hectares) called <\/span>Bernardo O\u2019Higgins<\/span><\/i> Park, created in 1969.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coordinates: 51\u00b028\u201930\u2019\u2019S 73\u00b006\u201911\u2019\u2019W<\/span><\/p>\n

Google Maps: <\/span>https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/CmPHZCk5nZizYn6a6<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"

Historical dock, Puerto Natales.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The <\/span>\u00daltima Esperanza<\/span><\/i> fjord isn\u2019t just admired for the beauty and biodiversity of species that live in it, but it\u2019s also considered a constructed and modeled landscape by the progress and decline of large glacier areas since about 19,000 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ice swinging in the zone has left marks and traces on each rock, valley, and mountain, giving a big geology show along with the sea that connects to the Pacific Ocean, which is also the maritime entrance to the <\/span>Torres del Paine<\/span><\/i> National Park, by sealing the <\/span>Serrano<\/span><\/i> River.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Map of the <\/span>\u00daltima Esperanza<\/span><\/i> fjord by Google Maps.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

A little of history\u2026 the fjord is a large sea extension located between <\/span>Monte Balmaceda<\/span><\/i> from the North to <\/span>Isla Guanaco<\/span><\/i> to the South and it\u2019s the geographical limit of the <\/span>Canal de Se\u00f1oret<\/span><\/i> in front of the coasts of the <\/span>Puerto Natales<\/span><\/i> city. The fjord was named <\/span>\u00daltima Esperanza<\/span><\/i> [Last Hope] by the Spanish sealer Juan Ladrillero, in 1557, who was looking for the entrance route to the <\/span>Estrecho de Magallanes<\/span><\/i> in his vessel called <\/span>San Luis<\/span><\/i>, but when he realized about the failed search and felt the frustration, he declared it as his last hope to find the channel by sealing from the Pacific Ocean. A year later, in August 1558, he finally found the <\/span>Estrecho de Magallanes<\/span><\/i> – a geographic location better known today as <\/span>Bah\u00eda Posesi\u00f3n<\/span><\/i> – on the eastern border of the <\/span>Estrecho<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Ladrillero\u2019s discoveries, 300 years later, the second expedition that crossed these territories, in 1829, was the auxiliary schooner Reina Adelaida commanded by Lieutenant George Williams Skyring, and thanks to Pilot James Kirke, the entrance is appointed as the most useful entrance to the district and the Pacific Ocean.<\/span><\/p>\n

The third expedition to arrive at the fjord, which was the first one belonging to the Government and the Chilean Navy, in 1889, was commanded by Commander Ram\u00f3n Serrano Montaner in the <\/span>C\u00f3ndor<\/span><\/i> tender. Due to this expedition were given the place name to the glacier, <\/span>Serrano<\/span><\/i> river, and <\/span>Cerro Ben\u00edtez<\/span><\/i>, where the <\/span>Cueva del Milod\u00f3n<\/span><\/i> is located, in honor of the Ensign Alejandro Ben\u00edtez.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1893, the German Captain Hermann Eberhard Schmith arrived at <\/span>Puerto Consuelo<\/span><\/i>, being one of the first settlers in the zone. In 1895, he – accompanied by sheepherders – discovered the <\/span>Cueva del Milod\u00f3n<\/span><\/i> and prehistoric animals\u2019 remains that lived in <\/span>Patagonia<\/span><\/i> around 14,000 years ago, by the end of the Pleistocene. Today, the <\/span>Cueva del Milod\u00f3n<\/span><\/i> is an important tourist attraction in the <\/span>Magallanes<\/span><\/i> region and a conservation area according to the Natural Monument category.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between 1919 and 1945, the explorer and Salesian missionary Alberto Mar\u00eda de Agostini became the first and major diffuser of fjord landscapes and <\/span>Patagonia<\/span><\/i> channels during his travel to Buenos Aires and Brazil. Nowadays, he is considered the greatest expeditionary, photographer, and mountaineer due to his great passion for nature, describing the zone as \u201csupreme beauty\u201d in his book \u201cThe Patagonian Andes\u201d<\/span>.<\/span><\/i> Also, De Agostini National Park in <\/span>Tierra del Fuego<\/span><\/i> was thus named to honor him, as well as the <\/span>Torre Sur <\/span><\/i>[south tower] (one of the three mountains in Torres del Paine National Park), where he stood out as a great mountaineer and mountain climber of the majestic mountain in <\/span>Campos de Hielo Sur<\/span><\/i> [Southern Ice Field].<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Balmaceda glacier, a historical image taken by Alberto Mar\u00eda de Agostini<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

Serrano glaciar, a historical image taken by Alberto Mar\u00eda de Agostini.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

In 1950, Joaqu\u00edn \u00c1lvarez Estefo, a tourism pioneer in the <\/span>Magallanes<\/span><\/i> region, settled down in the <\/span>Estancia Perales<\/span><\/i> (a guided excursion zone) at the foot of the <\/span>Prat<\/span><\/i> hill. He initiated – accompanied by very few people – the first tourist sailings in the fjord to visit the <\/span>Balmaceda<\/span><\/i> hill in a small vessel called <\/span>Roca<\/span><\/i> [Rock], whose name was assigned due to the peninsula that provides the entrance to the <\/span>\u00daltima Esperanza<\/span><\/i> territory. Today, his family legacy \u201cTurismo 21 de Mayo\u201d [Tourism May 21] is one of the most important tourist attractions in the <\/span>Magallanes<\/span><\/i> region, based on the sailing toward the <\/span>Balmaceda<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Serrano<\/span><\/i> glaciers and the nautical entrance route to <\/span>Torres del Paine<\/span><\/i> going up the <\/span>Serrano<\/span><\/i> river.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Vessels belonging to <\/span>Turismos 21 de Mayo <\/span><\/i>company.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"

Current record of <\/span>Balmaceda <\/span><\/i>glacier.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

A Before and after<\/span><\/p>\n

Following tourist visits and photographic records of the <\/span>Balmaceda<\/span><\/i> hill during the last years, we have observed and evidenced the considerable surface loss of the <\/span>Balmaceda<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Serrano<\/span><\/i> glaciers because of the continuous climate change effect and the increase of temperatures in the zone. Also, less snow falls every year on accumulation zones causing a direct and faster impact in the last 15 years<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Two images to compare the <\/span>Balmaceda<\/span><\/i> glacier.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The valleys and mountain ranges\u2019 beauty are surrounded by waterfalls and rivers coming from glacier melting. They are essential to the evergreen forest\u2019s ecosystem, where species proliferates such as Magellan\u2019s beech (Nothofagus betuloides), Chilean firebush (Embothrium Coccineum), and Canelos (Drimis Winteri). In these zones, live together several species of mosses and lichens, most of them are autochthonous from the southernmost zone of the planet. During our trip, we could also find small communities of Sea Lions, observe landscapes that change and contrast with the winter snow, and listen to the typical strong summer wind in the fjords and channels in the south of Chile.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We also found more special friends during our trip throughout the fjord: the native birds such as the Magellanic Woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus), the Kingfisher (Megaceryle torguata), the Imperial Cormorant (Phalacrocorax atriceps), and our birds’ king, the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus), among others.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I want to thank and dedicate this article to the \u00c1lvarez family and their workers, especially to Miguel Iturriaga Saavedra, who was my instructor and captain, the first pioneer to sail the <\/span>Serrano<\/span><\/i> river with tourists in 1988. He also taught me to sail, be a tripulant, and tour guide in the nautical route that connects the <\/span>Bernardo O\u2019Higgins<\/span><\/i> with the <\/span>Torres del Paine National Parks<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

References:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00daltima Esperanza<\/i><\/b> en el Tiempo<\/b> [<\/span>\u00daltima Esperanza<\/span><\/i> Over the Time], (2000) Mateo Martinic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Andes Patag\u00f3nicos. Viajes de exploraci\u00f3n a la cordillera patag\u00f3nica austral<\/b> [Patagonian Andes. Exploration trips to the southern Patagonian mountain range], (1945) De Agostini.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instituto Geogr\u00e1fico Militar (1970). Atlas de la Rep\u00fablica de Chile. Santiago – Chile – Instituto Geogr\u00e1fico Militar, Second Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instituto Hidrogr\u00e1fico de la Armada de Chile<\/b>. Atlas Hidrogr\u00e1fico de Chile – <\/span>Valpara\u00edso<\/span><\/i> – Chile – Instituto Hidrogr\u00e1fico de la Armada. First Edition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abstract and joint conversation with Francisco Mart\u00ednez Vidal, <\/span>Punta Arenas<\/span><\/i>, August 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A day of sailing to the past begins, the Fjord history, exactly the \u00daltima Esperanza province in the Magallanes region. Land of pioneers and explorers, a magical and inhospitable place, full of beautiful age-old landscapes sculpted by glacier ice throughout the years. Too early today, a beautiful sunrise delighted us from the Patagonian Andes, where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow57LVCw:productID":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2797],"tags":[2662,3067,2635,2636,2665,2667,2742,2859,2739,2566,3022,2829],"coauthors":[3338],"class_list":["post-17844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-report","tag-balmaceda-glacier","tag-carretera-austral-en-2","tag-chile","tag-climate-change","tag-environment-en-2","tag-glaciares-chilenos-en-2","tag-glaciers","tag-global-warming","tag-magallanes-region","tag-patagonia","tag-serrano-glacier","tag-torres-del-paine-national-park-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17844"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17847,"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17844\/revisions\/17847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17844"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glaciareschilenos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=17844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}