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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Vanity Fair
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    2,720

    TR: Summer of sorts.

    So while not the most epic skiingwise, I’ve had an eventful couple of months and figured I’d share. Forgive the high percentage of NSR content..

    Music:



    Summer at home was pleasant enough.
    It involved some wildlife,



    sleeping rough,




    some field work,


    And looking at light.


    While still trying to figure out how to arrange my quasi-annual South America pilgrimage, I happened on a chance to go to Nepal for three weeks working with some people doing research on a glacier in the Dhaulagiri region. I had a couple of days on either end in Kathmandu, the rest of the time was spent getting to and from the mountain and on the glacier.

    I’d never been anywhere near the Himalayas and while not skiing or even generally personal entertainment related, it was a pretty cool experience.











    We had a full on, classic expedition style deal with luxuriously large sleeping tents, mess tents, a toilet tent, 2 or even three warm meals per day and lots of people. We had about 1 ton of gear that needed to be carried from 2500m to 5300m. This involved a total of 64 porters and sherpas, about 20 of which stayed with us the whole time. It was extremely weird having them constantly around trying to serve you in some way and carrying all our shit, but I suppose that’s just the way it works in this context.

    The rest of our team was almost entirely Nepali and I shared a tent with a girl my age who works for an engineering company that makes climate stations. She had never seen a glacier or snow before.

    Supposedly the deepest gorge in the world, between the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges. A landslide had taken out a stretch of road and everyone took the scenic way for a little bit.


    Porters








    Our first camp


    Annapurna south behind Nilgiri


    Tukuche peak


    Our camp near the glacier at about 5300m


    First light on Dhaulagiri


    Moving up


    We had some disagreements about what sort of gear is appropriate (note rope around the waist instead of harness).





    some random mountain


    Just short of 6000m



    Find the person.




    My tent buddy and her first ever snow man.


    A horseload of chickens


    Roadside watcher


    Annapurna range from the road


    As for South America, the Nepal trip kind of cut things short a little bit. I would have preferred to go earlier in the season but whatever.

    There is a place on the fringes of the Darwin range called Bahia Yendegaia, just across the border from Ushuaia, that I had been wanting to check out for a while. Getting there is kind of complicated because of border issues and general remoteness.

    Freak and I would have liked to have at least one other person along but a third friend bailed out short notice and we didn’t manage to convince anyone else to spontaneously join us. We were initially planning on about 2 and a half weeks in the area but had to cut it down to 10 days, including getting to and from Yendegaia, because of communication issues with the ferry company we needed to get us there. It is basically a supply ferry with some space for passengers that runs from Punta Arenas to Puerto Williams once a week and will stop in Yendegaia on request.





    Last edited by klar; 12-03-2012 at 01:31 AM.
    Ich bitte dich nur, weck mich nicht.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Vanity Fair
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    2,720
    There is a small estancia in the bay. There is one guy that lives there year round catching and taming wild horses and hunting wild cows. There are one or two other people there at times doing I don’t know what and the occasional fishing boat comes to visit. Other than that it’s pretty much the end of the world.

    José from the estancia took us inland about three hours by horse and dropped us off in a snowstorm at a nice and sheltered campsite. There are no real maps of the area and information in general is sparse, so we had only a vague plan that consisted mainly of “go and see”. We knew we might spend all our time there sitting out weather in the tent and that even with nice weather we wouldn’t be getting super rad because we had no way of communicating with the outside world and would be in deep shit if either of us so much as twisted a knee. So all in all we weren’t expecting much skiing and had to adjust our ambitions a little because of how things worked out with partners and schedule wise.

    We spent 4 nights under this cliff sitting out snow, rain and very, very strong winds.







    Finally we had some ok weather and moved our camp higher and into a side valley going off near the snout of Stoppani glacier.







    The next day was also nice but our route finding attempts were not successful and we got turned around by dense forest, fucking up a chance to ski.

    We walked around pant less quite a lot because there was a stream to cross every 100m.




    We did get in a few turns the following day, before having to hike back down to the lower camp to catch our rides out to then catch our boat back to civilisation. We know more now and I have some ideas on how to better pull off a trip to this zone, so perhaps we will get a chance to come back some day.









    Note ocean in the bg.








    Last look back at the elusive promised land (freak’s pic):



    Since we had a few extra days left and had not really skied yet we rented a car and drove from Punta Arenas to Chaltén for some comparatively easy touring. Maps and trails and a town to come back to do make things somewhat less complicated.



    We knew Vespignani from the year before, it is one of the most straight forward options around and sees lots of traffic. We significantly improved our “carrying our skis around to actually skiing” ratio.







    freak’s pics:







    For the last ski attempt of the trip we hiked in to Laguna Torre, camped there and then headed towards Cerro Solo. We got about 2/3rds of the way up and then turned around because of slabby conditions on steeper than we thought terrain above rather large exposure. A little frustrating but still more skiing than we had in Yendegaia and a day in spectacular scenery.

    Freak enjoying life.



    Artsy pic by freak:



    That was about as miserable as it looks





    Finally on snow









    Solo on the left.

    Ich bitte dich nur, weck mich nicht.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Vanity Fair
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    2,720
    Stop in Calafate to watch a rodeo:



    Unplanned extra day in Punta Arenas because of strikes in Spain that caused our flight to be cancelled:



    We took a tourist tour to see a penguin colony on a nearby island. On the boat we met a girl from Iceland, who, after some coaxing, told us she was waiting for flying weather to go to Antarctica, where she will spend 50 days xc skiing alone over 1000km from the tip of the peninsula to the south pole. Great, totally random encounter with a super nice, super humble lady that is a strong contender for ”most badass person I ever met”. Her blog is mostly in icelandic but I’m hoping some pictures will show up when she’s back: http://www.lifsspor.is/





    Plane view, Fitz Roy b-side:


    Perito Moreno glacier


    Hatsa la proxima, Patagonia. I hate you but I love you.


    More on Nepal
    More on Yendegaia
    More on Chalten

    Back home now. Sharky, sketchy conditions that can be made to look better than they are…




    But it’s a beginning.


    Last edited by klar; 12-03-2012 at 01:39 AM.
    Ich bitte dich nur, weck mich nicht.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Between a rock and a soft place. Aberdare and The Brecon Beacons, Wales
    Posts
    3,208
    You just put the Awe in Awesome.

    Thanks.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    out there on the neon avenue
    Posts
    4,030
    Nice work again Klar, thanks for posting. I spent some time in the that region running the Annapurna circuit back in 2001. Amazing country indeed, doesnt look like much has changed.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    closer
    Posts
    5,672
    not half bad
    It's a war of the mind and we're armed to the teeth.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    grapes and grapes
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    3,331
    massive, very impressive
    "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms, their energy. Your cares and tensions will drop away like the leaves of Autumn." --John Muir

    "welcome to the hacienda, asshole." --s.p.c.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    CH
    Posts
    1,872
    As my good friend Marco would say.... Amazing!
    #1 goal this year......stay alive +
    DOWN SKIS

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Eurozone
    Posts
    2,726
    Stunning shots, thanks for sharing.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    crown of the continent
    Posts
    13,947
    i heart Klar TR's...

    Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there's a fit about to get thrown
    And I never hear a single word you say when you tell me not to have my fun
    It's the same old shit that I ain't gonna take off anyone.
    and I never had a shortage of people tryin' to warn me about the dangers I pose to myself.

    Patterson Hood of the DBT's

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Portland
    Posts
    2,034
    Yeah, well for my summer I...umm....FML

    A-fucking-mazing trip and photos, thanks for sharing!
    Be careful about buying snowboard goggles for skiing. Snowboard goggles come in right eye and left eye (for goofy-footers) dominant models. This can make it hard to see correctly when skiing because you are facing straight down the hill, not sideways.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    NorCal
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    2,573
    What an amazing adventure - thanks for posting up.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
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    In the shadow of the moon
    Posts
    2,697
    Great Living!

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Camden, innit?
    Posts
    2,178
    Awesome - love the pics from the Darwin range
    fur bearing, drunk, prancing eurosnob

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    365
    Sometimes I think I'm cool because I live in Colorado and get to play in the mountains a lot. Then I see a stunning TR like this and realize I'm not. Great pics, amazing scenery. I need to travel a bit.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    19,221
    FKNA KLAR.

  17. #17
    WestCoastPDR Guest
    FKNA x2....

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    750
    You are my hero!!!! I hope to have another opportunity to enjoy both of your company and epic adventures once again.
    Shameless spam: Trip reports and Gear reviews and if you want to support what I do follow me on Instagram @KyleMiller411

  19. #19
    Hugh Conway Guest
    Most awesome Mlle Klar

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    gone
    Posts
    1,134
    Quote Originally Posted by MotoBeak View Post
    I need to travel a bit.
    its basically always cool


    Quote Originally Posted by Kyle Miller View Post
    I hope to have another opportunity to enjoy both of your company and epic adventures once again.
    are you coming back to europe by any chance?

    freak~[&]

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    prb
    Posts
    1,425
    FKNA x 100.

    your job rocks my vacation.
    looking for a good book? check out mine! as fast as it is gone

  22. #22
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Juxtaposition
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    5,733
    Klar, just so you know, your money would be wasted on photography and writing classes.

    Please never say it is time to settle down.
    Life is not lift served.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    260
    better than a plate of momos. thank you

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Washington
    Posts
    223

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    3,173
    Thanks, Klar!
    "The skis just popped me up out of the snow and I went screaming down the hill on a high better than any heroin junkie." She Ra

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