Beckey, our trustworthy 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser with Austin behind the wheel as we pushed south through Big Sur, CA.
Austin making the cracks go and taking in the midday winter sun in Joshua Tree, CA.
Continuing to push through the Southeast portion of the US we found great climbing just outside of Tuscon. Carson is climbing an ultra-classic up on Mt Lemmon.
Austin takes in the Mexican frontiers as we top out on Pico de Orizaba at 18,491’ setting a new altitude ceiling for our climbing and skiing.
Beckey handled the rough roads of Guatemala with poise and dignity. Road closures, enormous potholes, and boulders threatened to block her path but she pushed on amidst stunning backdrops.
We wrote about this experience earlier for MSR in a piece entitled, “La Cueva Del Aguila” or the Cave of the Eagle. Here Austin ascends our fixed line nearly 1,000’ feet off the deck in what was a very memorable first exploration of a hanging cave steeped in local Guatemalan lore.
Given that the back tailgate of trucks is the preferred mode of transport in Central America we felt we had to oblige when the customs when getting from point A to point B.
Stunning volcanoes tower over Lake Atilan in Central Guatemala. Many of these behemoths are active and are quite a sight to see at night.
Long surf days in Central America begin with dawn patrols and tended to slow down for a siesta by midday. Shade was never an oversight for us pale boys from the North.
Costa Rica brought friends and amazing waves. Here is our amigo Kev from San Diego getting curled outside of Mal Pais.
The Pan-American Highway which accounted for the majority of our driven miles fails to connect from Panama to Colombia. To solve this issue we partnered up with another overlander and shipped our vehicles across the gap.
Parque Nacional Cajas sits high above the Ecudorian town of Cuenca. The park tops out at 14,599’ and is stunning, lush and wild. With a friend from the States living in Cuenca we hiked through the park taking in the grandeaur and making time to sample the local selections of tea.
Climbing in Ecudor was an experience. The rock would typically be dry by midday but it was always “adventure” climbing regardless. Here Austin is sending a sustained off-width crack in Ecuador that wasn’t friendly on exposed skin.
With the wear of the Pan-American Highway and the elevation changes of the Andes it was only a matter of time before Beckey began to bleed a bit. Fortunately, Austin has a gentle touch and is well trained in first aid.
We set out to climb glaciers in the northern reaches of the Andes in Colombia. Nevado Tolima at 17,110’ was our goal to help acclimatize for larger peaks as we pushed south. The jungle and the weather formed an allied front against us and pushed us back from our goal. Regardless, we had an incredible experience which can be read about along with other climbs in a past post entitled, Colombia Climbing.
Austin preps gear for our 11 pm start at nearly 14,000 on the slopes of Chimborazo in Ecuador. Needless to say we did not sleep well that night.
From the summit of Chimborazo we spotted Cotopaxi and Tungurahua to the East.
Never before had we used a taxi on an approach to a climb or ski. But in Peru it is economical and efficient. Just make sure you don’t take the driver’s opinions on route beta too seriously.
Camped well above 14,000’ near Hatun Machay in Peru we had incredible views of the Cordillera Huayhuash and stellar sport climbing at the nearby crag.
Austin conducting some glacial route finding deep in the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. We climbed and skied above 20,000’ up the slopes of Nevado Copa near the town of Huaraz.
Cash transactions and excellent service are the name of the game at many of the roadside gas stations in South America. Here Austin is just praying it is indeed gasoline that we’re buying.
The trek to Machu Picchu along the Salkantay Trail was stunning. High passes, towering peaks and more llamas then I had ever seen.
Machu Picchu at sunrise is the only way to experience this deeply historical and spiritual place. The trial of hiking from the valley floor with full packs up a stone cut Inca path in the dark gifted us this absolutely unforgettable experience.
Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat located in Boliva just above 11,000’. No speed limits, no roads and an infinite number of places to make a campsite.
Beckey and the Mano del Desierto in the Atacma Desert alongside the Pan-American Highway in Chile. Chile marked the end our journey and this photo serves as a fitting gesture waving, “see you later.”
Story and Photos by Carson Bowlin
This journey from Seattle through Central and South America was an important experiment for us both. Our lives “Off-Belay” traversed almost half the globe with a stat line that clocked over 19,000 miles driven, 15 countries crossed, 2 continents explored and 1 new passport issued courtesy of Bolivian hospitality. Climbing and skiing provided structure for this odyssey, but key relationships and the gift of unobstructed views inward served to fill in lasting meaning.
For all our lives my brother Austin and I had committed ourselves to the idea of linear achievement. Practicing and competing to be the best across academics, sports, our jobs and so it goes. But what if we were to press pause on our established careers in Seattle and Manhattan that we had originally pursued with such vigor? What if the trajectory we both were on suddenly hit the brakes and took a sharp detour? We wanted to know if the lens through which we had learned to see the world could be tilted in a different way. We found it disappointing how at the time before we departed there were people who would instantly ask upon hearing about the trip what we planned to do when we returned. Those questions were irrelevant to our cause and only served to galvanize our conviction in the importance of our experiment. Our deep fear was institutionalization, predictable thinking and a linear existence from which many never break free. We aimed to set forth and take control of our own lives by stepping out from the societal stream. In a way we had to give up our past lives in order to save them. An author we brought along in the book bag put it this way, “…he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine (Chesterton).”
After much mechanical, financial and logical planning we cut the mooring lines and pointed our 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser, affectionately named Beckey after our local climbing hero, southward. We had a year, more or less to take our Pacific Northwest sensibilities on the road to play out the adventure of our lives. Ahead of us we knew lie uncertainty, sickness, challenges and constant problem solving. Obstacles of a degree that we had never dealt with before but that we knew were surmountable because they stood between us and our ambitions.
In addition to our trip website (offbelay-americas.com), we partnered with MSR to help share the stories of our epics, our insights and our adventures. The following posts were written from the front seat of Beckey and shared on The Summit Register as we continued to push south. The following pictures and commentary feature a number of the highlights and noteworthy adventures from our journey.
Brothers hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Carson and Austin Bowlin were on an adventure of a lifetime traveling overland from Seattle to Chile climbing, skiing and surfing along the way. Their trip partners included Nuun, Mountain Safety Research, TorFab, and KAVU. Their trip south was documented at offbelay-americas.com. After returning from South America and receiving a huge hug from their Mother, they now reside in Seattle, Washington and spend significant time in their backyard range of the Central and North Cascades.