Ski Argentina

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Argentina: A Skier’s Journey EP3 [Season 2] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.

I’m digging this Argentina ski/travel video by Jordan Manley; I recognize quite a few places and sights from our recent adventures in the Andes: the Santiago subway, the trucks along the highway at Penitentes, hot springs, roadside shrines, Fernet, asado, empanadas, volcanoes, and of course, wind!

The wintery snow scenes remind me of the winter I spent with mis amigos in Las Leñas, Argentina way back in 2002. Good times! See my photos from Las Leñas here.

Our Snowpack is Broken

Backcountry skiing in the San Juans, Colorado

As I mentioned in my last post, the avalanche conditions are extremely tender right now in the San Juans. Our snow pits revealed 2-3 feet of recent snow clinging precariously to 2-3 feet of rotten sugar snow – the worst winter avalanche ingredients possible. There is widespread “whoomphing” and shooting cracks. We took a conservative descent route, practiced our best safety protocol on the way down, and managed to stay out of trouble.

Avalanche crown, San Juans, Colorado

Here’s a picture of a slab avalanche in the gully on our way out (it had already slid naturally before we got there). In conditions this bad, any steep slope, not matter how short, has the potential to bury a person. We skied out of there on pins and needles, feeling that perhaps it’s not the time to be out in the backcountry at all, no matter how fluffy and tempting that powder is.

The snowpack is so fundamentally screwed that I can’t imagine the conditions improving anytime soon. It may be months before we can ride steeper lines again – maybe not until spring. The good news is that I’ll get a lot of work done this winter!

Sunny Ski

Skiing Red Mountain Pass, Colorado

Aimee getting some fresh tracks on her birthday on Wednesday. Earlier this week two feet of snow fell on top of an extremely thin and unstable snowpack, creating super sketchy avalanche conditions and numerous avy accidents across Colorado. So we’ve been sticking to the tamest routes of all, avoiding any avalanche terrain whatsoever. In any case, it feels great to get high in the San Juans again! Stay safe!

Flight Over the Rockies

Mt. Evans, Aerial, sunset, Colorado, January, winter

Aerial view of Mt. Evans (14264 ft / 4348 m) - January. Note the road winding up to the summit.

After the most stressful and frustrating two days of flying that I’ve yet experienced, I’m finally back home in Colorado. In the grand scheme of things I suppose that two days, no matter how stressful, is a pretty quick time to travel from the tip of South America to the center of North America! But for a 21st century man it was just a pretty crappy series of delayed plane flights.

The nice thing, though, about living on Colorado’s western slope is the opportunity to fly directly over the Rockies whenever flying through the Denver hub. The half-hour flight yesterday from Denver to Montrose was one of the more scenic ones I’ve done, since we went right after the sun set, right after a snowstorm cleared. I was snapping away at the window with my camera most of the time, happy to have a nice consolation flight after such a long two sleepless days. See more shots below! Continue reading “Flight Over the Rockies”

Ushuaia Blues

Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, Beagle Channel

Ushuaia Blues : Prints Available

The city of Ushuaia, on the Beagle Channel at the southern tip of South America - January. 

Our seemingly endless 15 weeks of travel through Chile and Argentina have finally come to an end, and tomorrow we start our journeys back home. It’s a bittersweet departure; on one hand I’m tired of traveling and am excited to get back home to Ouray. On the other hand, Claudia has to go straight back to Germany for a few months, so we have to say goodbye for a while. It’s a bummer, but fortunately I have a ton of work to catch up on which should keep me busy and hopefully make time pass faster during her absence!

After I’m back I’ll be going through my photos from the trip and in about a week or so I’ll post a gallery of my favorites. I’ve posted many of my photos already on this blog, but there are a few goodies left that my laptop monitor couldn’t handle. I look forward to sharing those!

Dientes de Navarino

Dientes de Navarino trekking, Chile

Last week Claudia and I and took a zodiac boat ride from Ushuaia to Isla Navarino, an island that is actually in Chile even though it’s right across the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia and Argentina. So, coming and going, four more stamps in our passports, which are nearly full of Chile and Argentina stamps after three months of border crossings between the two countries. By now, the amount of stamping and filling out of immigration forms has reached a certain level of inanity to us.

But I digress… our reason for heading to Isla Navarino was to trek around the Dientes de Navarino, a small but rugged mountain range on the island. We spent five days out there on this wild and adventurous route, enduring a full range of extreme weather and trekking through some spectacular scenery. See lots more photos from the trek below! Continue reading “Dientes de Navarino”

Glaciar Perito Moreno

Perito Moreno Glacier, El Calafate, Argentina, Patagonia, glacier

Glaciar Perito Moreno : Prints Available

Blue ice of the spectacular Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate, Argentina. 

Happy new year!!! Here’s a couple shots from the Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate in Argentine Patagonia. This is one of about seven or eight glaciers on the Argentina side that flow out from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field into large turquoise lakes.

Glaciar Perito Moreno, panorama, Argentina, Patagonia, glacier, El Calafate, Lago Argentino

Glaciar Perito Moreno Panorama : Prints Available

The Perito Moreno Glacier panorama, Argentina

The Perito Moreno glacier is unique because as it flows out from the mountains into Lago Argentino, it smashes directly into a peninsula of land. So, from this peninsula you get this incredible front-and-center view of the snout of the glacier, and you can watch chunks and columns of the glacier crashing into the lake. It’s a huge tourist destination, for good reason!

We’re now in Ushuaia, on Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. Tomorrow we head out on a six day trek on Isla Navarino – our final adventure of our three month trip!

El Chaltén Dream

Fitz Roy Range, El Chaltén, Argentina
Fitz Roy Range, El Chaltén, Argentina

We’ve just returned to civilization after 8 days camped out in the mighty Fitz Roy range near El Chaltén in Argentine Patagonia. One of my main goals of this return trip to El Chaltén was to capture a photo that I have been dreaming about since my last trip to Patagonia four years ago. I was prepared to spend a week or more waiting for the perfect opportunity to accomplish this photo, and to repeat the efforts with stubborn determination until I did it. I want to talk a bit more about my experience behind this “dream shot” since it epitomizes everything I love about mountain photography!

Continue reading “El Chaltén Dream”

The W

Torres del Paine, moon, Chile, moonrise

Cuernos Moonrise : Prints Available

A nearly full moon rises behind Cuerno Principal (2600m) - December. 
Glaciar Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile
Glaciar Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile

Last week we spent 10 days hiking the popular “W” Circuit in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. These spectacular mountains rise abruptly 3000 vertical meters (almost 10,000 feet) above a series of huge turquoise lakes. Although the finest views of the range are actually seen from further away across the lakes (like this), the W Circuit offers the opportunities to experience the three main valleys and highlights within the range: the Glaciar Grey, the Valle Frances, and Las Torres lake. Although most people hike this route in about 5 days or so, we took 10 days so that we could spend extra time in each valley along the way.

Continue reading “The W”