Tuesday 16 October 2012

Patagonia – The Second Half Of The Trip Plus The Patagonian Photo Album


After the ski of the Whillans Ramp and the Cerro Grande mission the weather went bad to half bad and we weren’t really invited to do out for any more big missions. We had done our main objective and we had been getting the feel for the Torre Valley as well as the Fitz Roy Massif and even though we had some smaller objectives left on our radar, we felt like we wanted to focus on smaller adventures close(er) to the roads as well as the kick ass bouldering around El Chaltén.

Swimming up an awesome couloir in the Cordon Del Bosque mountains together with Bjarne and team Austria

In between some bad weather cycles we got some dry days for bouldering with our local friends who were showing us some of the best blocks in the area followed by detailed beta for every move. We had a great time bouldering, and it’s great to keep at least a bit of physical shape when on a ski adventure playing the weather game.

Then we had the great luck of running in to Mathias, Chris and Marvin from Austria who were in El Chaltén on a combined Ski and Climbing trip and who happened to have a car. They invited us to join them, and together we explored the mountains north of town including a beautiful couloir in the Cordon del Bosque Mountains and normal ski touring on Cerro Vespignani and Loma del Diablo.

Now I’m back in Chamonix looking back on another beautiful adventure with Bjarne. I’m really impressed and intimidated in a positive way by the Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre mountains, their size, their steepness, the long approaches and how wild they are. It’s not an easy place to go skiing steep descents, and there are not many high quality lines, but the ones that are there will keep future generations of steep skiers busy for some time. I’m also very impressed by our new local friends who invited us to their homes, pointed us in the right directions, gave us their time and knowledge, showed us around town and the boulder sites and in short were just awesome individuals living in an amazing place enjoying life (no one mentioned, no one forgotten – but you know who you are).

Part of the plan with the trip was to gather material for two new episodes that, if everything goes as planned, will be released in December. Till then, stay posted on what I do here on this blog or on my Twitter or Facebook.

Also keep an eye out for Bjarne Salén’s great episodes at his Video Blog or Facebook.

Now it’s time for me to prepare for another winter of skiing, climbing, guide courses and writing around Chamonix and elsewhere. 

Below is a selected photo album from our Patagonia trip. 

Bjarne in Madrid

El Calafate

Without our ski bags. We got them after three days. 

Poincenot and Fitz Roy in the sun rise on our first day

I quickly had to give up vegetarianism with only two restaurants open in town... 

Bjarne on our first recognacance trip

The down side of ski expeditions


The tyrolian traverse gives access to the Torre Valley

Seeing mighty Cerro Torre 


A poster in the climbing gym. Love it! 

The El Chaltén boulder room 

On our way to Laguna los Tres, and the Ramp mission


Seeing Poincenot and the ramp from up close

Bjarne skiing above camp on our first day


Sunrise on our way up to the ramp


Bjarne giving thumbs up before i start to climb. He just belayed me over the bergschrunds... 

Skiing high up on the Whillans Ramp

The view from the ramp

Poincenot, the ramp and Fitz Roy from when we walked out the following day


Patagonian wildlife 

A dream come true, to see a Condor 

Happy boys in our Cave 

Walking in to Cerro Grande

Bjarne in the early morning

The north couloir on Cerro Grande, a no go

Skiing high up on the east ridge of Cerro Grande 

Bjarne skiing on our way down from the plateau

Bjarne Salén in action

Our cosy Hilleberg house 

Myself at camp

Myself skiing a steepish couloir on Loma del Diablo

Bjarne, Simon and myself at Loma del Diablo

Bjarne blouldering

Natcho

Some of the great people we met in town



Macho and Simon playing

Me at local radio... Getting interviewed in Spanish.. 

Das Auto del Team Austria

Our mission

Bjarne, Chris, Mathias and Marvin at Lago del Desierto

A cold river crossing

The team

Marvin in the couloir


Rapping to get down the gully at the end of the day

Ski touring on Vespignani


The filmer can also deliver! 


One of our last boulder sessions before we went home.... 

2 comments:

  1. Hey man, what a great trip! Still very impressed of the Whillans Ramp descent, waiting for the videos! Be safe

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  2. hey andi, great pics. have a nice time and be safe. TEAM AUSTRIA =)

    ReplyDelete