We arrive in Patagonia to clear skies, and the hope that we will catch a window of good weather for climbing down here. But the wind soon picks up and that fleeting sense of optimism is blown away as big clouds invade the Fitzroy massif. We meet up with local hardman Bean Bowers, who informs us that the forecast is an epic storm. Fortunately, the funky town of El Chalten is protected in a rain shadow, and has some of the best bouldering this side of the Equator.

The lovely woman in the photo above is Roberta Nunes. She was a legendary and beloved climber who tragically died in 2006. In her honor, we have formed an expedition to South America with climbing trio Cedar Wright, Renan Ozturk and Sean “Stanley” Leary — who was Roberta’s friend, lover and soulmate in the last years of her brilliant life.

The objective of our trip is to fulfill a timely promise Stanley made to Roberta only days before she passed away: That if she were to die one day, Sean would cast her ashes in two places: her homeland of Brazil, and amongst the granite peaks of Patagonia, which inspired Roberta like no other region. Along the way, we will attempt new routes in her honor, film the journey, and wrap the whole thing into a cool TV episode for National Geographic International that will share Roberta’s spirit with millions of people around the world.

So we are off, first on a hectic beeline to the southern reaches of Argentina, which looks and feels and pretty much is the end of the Earth. God damn it’s beautiful. We can see why she liked it here.

You can also follow the action on Renan’s stellar video dispatch blog at: http://verticalcarnival.blogspot.com