Wednesday we were feeling a little tired and sore from our day on Cerro Godoy. It was a beautiful day so we thought a mellow tour in the valley of the Glaciar Martial would be nice. Being the 9th of July, it was Argentina's Independence day- a big national holiday, so it was very crowded. The line for the single chairlift was huge, so we put our skins on...
Nice and warm today!
Once we got above treeline though, the wind was there to greet us. Yikes! To get out of the wind we thought that hiking up and skiing a small couloir would be a good idea. Ice axes back out- I thought this was going to be a mellow day?
What looked like powder was actually really tricky styrofoam snow. Exhausting but beautiful.
Back down to the top of the ski lift, the Refugio was open this time! Vino Caliente!! (a hot wine concoction that lifts the spirit). What a cool place.
Some shots of a typical taxi ride back to the hostel with skis riding shotgun.
That night, we ate some Hamburguesas Completa (Burgers with Ham, Cheese, and Eggs- yes eggs- we will be making them this way at home from now on). Then we passed out and didn't wake up until 11:30 the next day.
Thursday morning, our legs would not allow us to ski, so we took a shuttle to explore the Tierra del Fuego National Park. On the way, we saw this couloir... very tempting.
The shuttle dropped us off at a bay and then we walked for a couple of hours on some nice footpaths enjoying the scenery. Birds and Rabbits and Lenga trees galore.
the dreaded lenga tree...
2 hours of walking in the snow left us with cold, wet feet. The fire at the refugio with some hot chocolate was wonderful. Notice the photo of this place in summer, so green...
