We flew uneventfully from Milan and arrived Buenos Aires at 6:30 a.m. The taxi driver gave us a free tour of the city on our way to the other airport, Aeroparque Newberry. Checked in our bags and headed back to town to kill 6 hours before our continuing flight to
Ushuaia. Buenos Aires is definitely a city to spend some time in if you have a few days to spare. We didn’t, so we made sure to at least get a good steak for lunch and then headed back to the airport.
A bridge by Calatrava in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires
After a 3 ½ hour flight we made it to
Ushuaia. We checked into our Hostería, had dinner and crashed. No need to wake up early as the lifts didn’t start at Cerro Castor until 10 a.m. (still pretty dark at 9 a.m.) but the shuttle to the mountain did take 45 minutes or so.
Cerro Castor isn’t that big so it doesn’t take too long to explore all the possibilities and the immediate slackcountry. The main area didn’t really get any sun all day but it was nice to ski the eastern slopes in the morning and the western part in the afternoon to stay warm (plus ski the nicest parts of the mountain that nobody else was touching). Snow wasn’t great that day (windblown, variable hardpack) and the coverage was a bit thin but it was July and we were skiing.
A few photos of the surrounding mountains from Cerro Castor.
Argentina lost to Brasil in the Copa America this day
Skiing in C. Castor
The next day, we had hoped to meet up with Klar (
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=89919) but learned that she was taking the 5:30 a.m. bus trip north. We decided to head up to Glaciar Martial to look for her boot tracks. We also wanted to meet Claudio per Splat’s recommendation and to see the Refugio where Klar had been living for a few nights.
Top of the aerosilla at Glaciar Martial looking down on Beagle Channel
The Refugio was closed so we headed up towards the glacier. We took a right turn and headed up Cañadon Negro.
Every direction you looked there were possibilities for good lines. We chose the main route and headed up to the col. Unfortunately, we had left our ski crampons at home so had to boot it up when it got too steep. The snow was pretty firm as it had been windy during the previous weeks. The last pitch was a pain and required 4-5 good kicks to get a solid boot hole to be able to continue. By the time we made it to the top, it had quickly turned to near white-out conditions. After a 20 minute descent, we were back to the Refugio and headed back to town. It kept snowing for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
The next day, we headed back to Cerro Castor to enjoy the fresh snow. Not much (5-8 inches max) but fun. And it was bluebird
. We immediately headed towards the eastern facing slackcountry to enjoy the sun and to beat the crowds (only 3 other tracks over there all day).
Backside of Cerro Castor
to be continued...
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