Canine Catorze!

Early start for today- up in the dark at 6. We took a shuttle bus we had reserved the night before to drop us off at a dog sledding place up the road. The drive was slow and we were nervous, trying to guess what the weather would be like as we peered through the oppressive fog. Our driver dropped us off at the dark and deserted refugio and left us in the darkness to ourselves. On go the headlamps and out comes the compass- where the heck are we anyway?

Full moon and fog eerieness at 7:45am


As we passed the kennels, the dogs woke up and gave us a good howl to wish us luck. click to play the movie (and turn up the volume)



We skated across the peat bogs on a cross country ski trail, eventually finding the cut trail through the lenga forest. Those woods were creepy to say the least. Eventually, we came out of the trees and the sun began to rise. Now it was into the upper valley through beaver damns and frozen ponds. Cerro Alvear, our goal, looms above:


Beautiful light, but the clouds are coming in, obscuring the mountains more and more.




Frustrated that the weather had not held up for us, we thought about what to do. Being in a white out like the one from 2 days ago up high above those cliffs seemed way too dangerous to tempt. Plus, the snow was icy, breakable crust. blech.

We thought it might be nice to go over the ridge to see the valley on the other side... but it was trickier than we thought.




Feeling like total fools, we gave up on that ridiculousness and went back down to the valley we had come from. Now, to our extreme disappointment, the clouds were lifting. Why hadn't we kept trying for Alvear?!


You can see the summit snowfield- looks like it may have been a little icy.


Disheartened, we skied out of the valley and then wrapped around to go up the next. Cerro Bonete looking good:




What an amazing place!


A sweet couloir on Punta Navidad:


And a view of Valle de Olum and the end of Cerro Cinco Hermanos across the way:


On our way back out, the sun shines on us for the first time in several days. Cerro Alvear on the right (which we would be skiing at this moment had we stayed the course)


Back into the lenga forest.


The snow is knee-tweak central, yikes.


Out of the woods and onto the cross country trail through the peat bogs. Cerro Castor (the ski resort) in the background.


Back to the ranch. We were in both of the valleys in the distance.


Los Perros!




And they're off! (click to play the movie)


And home for some mate and empanadas while watching the sunset and full moon over the harbor.