My parents have a Globalstar phone they use on their boat. In the southern Caribbean the coverage is very spotty and they only get a few minutes of talk time before the satellite sets. It does seem to work to send email though. So check the coverage maps and try to find some online reviews from people who have used it in the same areas you will.
John, my llamas names are Popcorn and Chocolate Chip. We are best of friends, and they are great company. The higher I go the better they like it, and they love to watch me take pictures. They also attract wildlife because most indigenous animals have never seen llamas before and they are very curious about them. It is quite common for me to find a herd of elk or big horn sheep bedded down with my llamas a couple hundred feet from camp in the morning when I go to get them. They also have extremely keen hearing, eye sight, and sense of smell. I have had two encounters with mountain lions over the years, and both times my llamas tipped me off way before they arrived so that I was ready for them.
I do not have to bring in food for my llamas. They can feed on the alpine grasses or just about anything else that is there. Typically, we can go in with camera gear for 8 to 10 days before I have to replenish with provisions. If I leave my shelter and camera gear in the backcountry, then I can bring in enough provisions for three weeks. Well trained llamas are the perfect pack animals. I completely trust them with my camera gear because they have never damaged anything. They know how wide they are with their packs and will not rub up against anything.
You can see pictures of them on my website www.stephenwillard.com on a new webpage I just added titled "llamas and Humanity".
Stephen, thats incredible! And from the look of your web site you are able to get into some pretty incredible places. Thanks for sharing your story. You are a fortunate man.
If you ever need help with one of your 8 to 10 day trips let me know.
I keep a Spot device in my Stinson and put it in tracking mode when I fly. It sends a position report every 5 minutes and you can make your position info available on the Spot website. There are a couple other modes you can use to send predefined info via email, an OK message and a Help message, and a 911 mode that activates authorities for a rescue, e.g. you fall and break a leg.
George, I actually rent my two llamas from a llama outfitter 10 miles from my house. I get the same llamas every year, and I rent them for the season from snow to snow as the contract reads $800 each. The website of Stan Ebles llama ranch is www.llamapack.com. Take a peek. I could buy my llamas and board them at Stan’s place for $500 less a year, but I have had several llamas die over the years. So I just get new ones. I take all the older llamas from Stan who have had years of experience. There is a good chance though I may buy some younger llamas from him and board them. Llamas can last for 15 or so years.
You can buy packing llamas and then board them at a ranch or farm near your home. They are very inexpensive to maintain. Like any living creature including humans, the trick is getting well trained llamas that have not bend abused. Good llamas will not spit, and will never tug on the rope. They are very shy animals, and are very much like cats. You should not be loud around them and speak to them softly. They are social animals, and I highly recommend that you get two. A single llama on the trail is a sad llama with lower output. Two llamas on the trails are happy llamas with high output.
I let them eat as we hike, but Stan does not train his llamas to eat while you hike. I watch there stool output as means of monitoring there nutritional and energy levels. I know what grasses they love to eat and when there is some of there favorite grasses on the trail I will stop and let them rest and eat.
They do not like anything near the faces. So I apply bug repellant from behind their heads and to their legs to for relief. Remember happy llamas are very productive llamas. Stan requires that you take a four hour course on llamas before you can rent them.
You can find out more about llamas on google. I will post a separate thread when time permits.
I forgot to mention one of the most important aspects of llamas other than carrying all your gear into the backcountry, is that they keep you fresh and extremely productive. Before llamas, packing was at most 5 miles for three days of food and camera at 75 pounds, and then carrying around your camera at 11,000 feet all day long was exhausting. There were many times where I was just too tired to take off my pack and investigate if there was a possibility for a composition. Of course, that was provided I could see past my exhaustion to even find a composition.
When I switched to llamas my yields went through the roof. I remained fresh all day. With two llamas I bring in 12 lenses, cook tarp; an office consisting of a Palm Pilot, Palm keyboard, and table top that snaps on my tripod; a real tent instead of bivy bag; sleeping gear; 5x7 and 4x10 cameras and rain covers to protect them in bad weather; lots of film; two small portable butane lanterns; two heavy duty tripods; all the clothing to remain safe; a PLB; an iPod; starbucks coffee and a French press; cooking gear and food; film changing tent with collapsible table top; a GPS to mark all compositions; a small point-shoot digital camera to record all compositions; a database on my Palm Pilot to log all info about the compositions I have found whether I actually photograph them or not, so that I can revisit them year after year; and the list goes on and on. I keep more reserves of food, film, and fuel back at the SUV for replenishing.
When I return home, the digital snap shot, the GPS way point, and the database info on my Palm Pilot are all merged into the main database on my desktop computer for each composition. The GPS locations also gets down loaded to my TOPO map software so that I can actually see where each composition is on the map. Each record for each composition in the database has 122 fields that allows me to monitor the location, camera configurations, characteristic of the composition, print inventory, masking info, and all printing information for each composition. Currently, I am monitoring 336 compositions I have not photographed. Some of them I have been working on for five or more years with many revisits. My main database then gets upload to the database on my website where I use PHP and CSS programs to construct my website.
I always set up a great camp that has great vistas of breath taking grandeur. A great camp with good music keeps me upbeat and productive no matter how horrific the storms are in the high alpine of Colorado. A lot of people think what I do is recreational, but in truth, I work my ass off from 4:00 AM to 11:00 PM day after day for weeks and months on end in solitude with my llama buddies. Once in a while my llamas and I will take some time off to climb a few peaks during midday, and boy do they love climbing. I do not even bother tethering them. They just tag along right to the top.
Clearly, a satellite phone would be a nice addition to say hello to my lover (wife) from time to time and keep her posted with my change of plans :-) However, equally important, all of the things I have noted here would not be possible if it were not for my llamas. To me, my llamas are just as important as my cameras and lenses, and of course, my lover.
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