A FORMER Canon Slade pupil is planning to go where nobody has gone before.

Chris Smith, aged 48, is in Southern Chile on an expedition to climb Angel Wings, an unconquered mountain.

He is a part of the four-man Saga British Western Patagonia expedition.

The peak is in the Cordillera Sarmiento de Gamboa, an uninhabited and remote peninsula in the Western fjords of Chile, below the Southern Patagonian ice cap.

This is the third time the team has been to the range, after two attempts to climb the highest peak in the range, La Dama Blanca, in 1998.

The weather in Patagonia is renowned for being very poor and is particularly horrendous in the area where the expedition has made camp.

During one month on the mountain in 1998, the longest period of good weather was just six hours and, on the second trip later that year, it was three hours in a three-week spell of storms.

The peaks are only of modest height -- less than 2,000 metres -- but they rise steeply from the sea with the glaciers calving off into the fjords.

There have been only a handful of expeditions to the area. The original objective of the expedition was to climb the highest mountain, La Dama Blanca, but, in February, it was climbed by a Basque team.

They spent 60 days on the mountain, following the route pioneered by Chris and his team in 1998 when they finished 300 metres from the top.

The expedition decided to go for Angel Wings, probably the second highest in the range, and a steeper, more technically challenging, mountain.

The expedition were taken to the area on the Penguin, a local ketch built in Britain in 1907, and now sails out of Puerto.

Chris said: "The 70-mile cruise through the Kirke Channel and into the Fjord of the Mountains was fantastic, with crystal clear blue skies and glittering snow capped virgin peaks stretching away into the distance."

The team was dropped off on Saturday, October 28, and set up base camp on the shore before setting off to explore a route up the Northern glacier towards the mountain.

Chris said: "Unfortunately, this route was too difficult and dangerous with steep greasy glaciers at sea level and dangerous avalanches.

"This meant that approach by the Southern glacier was be the only route but entailed a difficult, four-hour journey across steep vegitated slopes and through thick forest.

"By a sheer stroke of luck, a French yacht sailed down the fjord.

"The crew agreed to help and base camp was moved a mile down the fjord to a sheltered spot below the Southern glacier."

On the Monday, the weather was still holding, enabling the team to force a route up the glacier and through the first and second ice falls to the upper glacier by the Wednesday.

On Thursday, the team carried heavy loads up through the first ice fall to an intrmediate camp just below the second. Two expedition members, Niall Washington-Jones and Nick Banks, returned to base camp whilst Chris and David Hillebrandt took loads through the second ice fall and cached them on the glacier, marking the position with bamboo wands in case of snow.

Chris and Dave then returned to the intermediate camp, the plan being for the others to follow on the next day and for the four to go on up through the second ice fall and establish a high camp on the upper glacier.

Friday dawned with bad weather which foiled their plans but during a lull on Saturday, they managed to move up and dig in to make a camp at 600 metres.

The weather deterioated further but the route was followed to almost 800 metres before a 48 hour blizard set in.

The team returned to base camp on Wednesday to dry out and collect more food and fuel.

Chris said: "We plan to move back up as soon as the weather improves, then make an attempt on the summit from high camp."

You can follow the team's progress on the the expedition website www.saga.co.uk/exped <http://www.saga.co.uk/exped