Douglas Tompkins often kayaked on General Carrera Lake, straddling Argentina and Chile in Patagonia. Although born in Ohio, USA, this place had become his home. He had arrived decades ago to explore it and stayed to protect it. Tompkins was a businessman with a passion for nature who, in 1968, along with his wife, Susie Tompkins, had founded The North Face, the brand specializing in mountaineering equipment. For many years, he had dedicated a significant portion of his fortune to purchasing ecologically valuable lands and restoring them to nature. The goal was to legally protect them from future degradation by human activity. He acquired, restored, protected, and ultimately ceded these areas to be transformed into national parks.