Cold, fear and nights on the road: the Argentinian who camps alone in the most remote places in the world

The stars are starting to be seen. As the show darkens it regains all its splendor. Were it not for the low temperatures, Pablo Imhoff would choose to spend the whole night outside his tent. Likewise, he stays for a while contemplating the silence, and the immensity of the largest salt flat in the world: Salar de Uyuni. In minutes he will be 35 years old.

That experience almost escaped him. A few months before arriving in Bolivia, the Argentinian almost lost his life in La Puna when he tried to descend the almost 4,000 meters high of El Angosto, in Jujuy. “The weather is changing, as I descended on my motorcycle it started to rain. The water was followed by the hurricane wind, and the red earth turned into mud. I prayed not to get stuck...” The panorama became frightening. First you hear the thunder, then the lightning surprises you. The thunderstorm had broken out. He also had a terrible time when he decided to sleep in the Abra del Acay, the highest point of Route 40, 4895 meters above sea level and altitude sickness almost took him for a walk beyond.

Thus, at the limit, he walked through remote places in Europe and America. He knows everything about our country except Antarctica: he was even in the Falklands. The adrenaline keeps him alert and alive. For more than seven years, Pablo has been enjoying his life outside the box. He defines himself as a happy man. He managed to get rid of his professional career, his home, and his routine laden with obligations.

His only concern is finding daily stimuli... and a place to camp.

One against the world

“I will never forget the sense of ambiguity that I felt when I got on the bike and took the road. On the one hand, the joy of putting first, and on the other, fear and uncertainty. I had to break with many mental paradigms in order to undertake change,” she tells Infobae from Bolivia.

Until then, the Santa Fe worked as an optical technician from Monday to Friday in a laboratory in Sao Tome. On a vacation he climbed into his Gilera, and went out to venture. “There was something about freedom: to ride on two wheels without needing much more.”

When he came back from that break he couldn't stop thinking about the idea of kicking the board, “I got squarely into the universe consulted on blogs, or some budding Youtube channels. The more I investigated, the more I liked it, but the ghosts were always spinning in my head,” he explains.

He decided it a few weeks later. He told his family. He then sold some of his belongings, and he let himself go...

First objective: to go around Argentina

To start his journey, Pablo chose to do it in a Gilera, an Italian model that settled in the 1950s in Argentina, becoming an icon. “I used to race a bicycle, to a certain extent it has a relationship by its two wheels, the same style of vehicle that gives you freedom to access roads that are not busy... At the same time, it allows you to carry little.”

The chosen itinerary was Argentina. “Everything closed the national routes on a motorcycle with a local imprint,” he points out. So he departed from Villa María, Córdoba where I bought the Gilera heading south. “It took me three years and four months to get to know each province with all its changing landscapes, its climates, its traditions, and its people,” says Pablo, who according to his own experience is the invaluable value of these experiences.

From that journey he wrote his first book that was successfully sold, 'Crossing Borders' and allowed him to solve his next project: Europe

He spent three months driving around the old continent, joining Portugal, Spain, France, and Morocco. “It was beautiful. He lacked the adventure factor that one finds in South America. Everything is neat, the roads are well paved... Although it is a destination rich in culture and history, everything becomes somewhat predictable.”

The Alaska 2022 Project

During the pandemic he lived for a while in Ushuaia, planning his new voyage, this time on his way to Alaska. He was only able to resume the route in March 2021. “The goal was to revisit those corners after five years. Since it was not yet possible to cross borders, I crossed the iconic Route 40 again from end to end. This time with an Econo... People loved it.”

When he can, he moves to Santa Fe to visit friends, and family, but he does not imagine himself settled in one destination. “When I left Sao Tome I didn't know what I was looking for. Today I'm sure I found something better.”

For now he follows the roads of South America, but without a set date, he longs to set foot in the distant lands of Alaska.

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