Technical Difficulty, Physical requirement & Categorización de Senderos.
Outdoors activities like hiking, trekking or mountaineering require a minimum of physical shape and good health. It is very important to keep in mind that conditions (meteorology, seasonal – especially on glaciers and river crossing-, etc) may vary a lot during the season and even in one day. Hence, the general feeling of difficulty is not only defined by physical effort in terms of distance and elevation gain or drop but also by the amount of days of any given programme, it will vary also if you stay in hotels or camp, the duration of the trek (a day hike or several days), the weather which can be specially rough and unpredictable in our area, technical difficulty, isolation from the village or medical center without the possibility of immediate return, the kind of ground in which we are going to walk (trail, scree, ice, snow, etc), and finally it ultimately depends on each person’s abilities, mental preparation and attitude in critical moments. Although the Patagonian Andes are not very high in comparison with the Central Andes of Chile and Argentina, the frequent harsh weather in the region will determine a high mountain environment even at very low altitudes: above the tree line at 1000 mts (300 feet) with no more protection from the forest, bad weather becomes extremely harsh, as well as in the even lower areas of the ablation zone of the glaciers that penetrate to the west. Also the fact that most of the programmes are scheduled for late spring and the southern hemisphere’s summer, this should not rule out very cold weather and winter conditions. The following grade scale is just for orientation and we strongly recommend you to ask any questions that you may have regarding each program’s characteristics in order to make a good programme choice and preparation. Grades scale according to the Santa Cruz province’s Tourism Department:
understood as the knowledge grade and experience that will be required to the participants regarding the use of technical equipment and specific techniques.
no knowledge of techniques and equipment required for the activity/programme.
some degree of knowledge of techniques and equipment required and also previous experience for the activity/programme.
high degree of knowledge on techniques and equipment as well as previous experience in the activity/programme.
Four Levels:
it only requires the ability to move/walk individually.
requires endurance to carry out a prolonged/lengthy activity.
requires enough physical shape and strength to carry out the activity/programme successfully, to reach the goal and without affecting the enjoyment.
it could require from the participants to take to the limit of resistance both the mental and physical effort. It involves a higher degree of risk.
