Two Beers and a Pretzel

Saturday the 21st -

After renting those boots for the glacier hike and in lieu of the soles of my shoes already become worn, I decided to buy a nice pair of ankle high boots.  To break them in, I hiked another trail to the Southwest of town that takes 12 km to rise 1 km.  Katie and Erin were also on the trail ahead of me, but there was no way O could catch them.  I could tell these were heavier, and only made it about 10km and 750m before meeting the girls and turning back.  The way my knees feel today, I made the right choice.

Early in the day, you could actually see Fitz Roy in it’s entirety, so I got a pretty cool pic mid-hike…

However, instead of boring everyone with more and more photos of stunning scenery, I took a 10 minute time lapse video (compressed into 40 seconds) of clouds rolling around Mt. Fitz Roy.  This ought to give you an idea how patient you have to be to get a picture like the one above of the mountain without a veil of clouds.

I got back into town and stretched and rested before going out for dinner.  The sun had already descended past the mountains, but after dinner, the low clouds became luminescent, then dark as the sky turned dark blue and pink…  but I never actually saw the sun set – not that I feel like I missed anything…

Yeah, Patagonia is pretty nice…

So today, Sunday, is dedicated to letting my knees recover from 4 days of mountain and glacier trekking, catching up on the blog, and planning the rest of the South American portion of the trip – which is already a month beyond the original plan.  Tomorrow morning I leave for 2 days on buses with a night in Perito Moreno (the city) to get to Bariloche.

Friday, Feb 20th-

Cool Baby!!

That was today in 2 words.  We all took a bus and a boat to the ‘Glaciar Viedma’.  This is the largest glacier in Argentina (33km long) – although our guide noted that it had receded nearly 200 meters in the last few years – where Moreno (the one from last week) is one of the few ‘stable’ glaciers in the world.  Both are fed by the Patagonian ice field, which is the 3rd largest in the world behind Antarctica and Greenland.  Look on a satalite map of Chile and Argentina and find the massive white spot between the two countries in the Andes…  That’s the Patagonian Ice Field.

Although the face of Viedma is not as impressive as Moreno was, this glacier seems to send off a lot more large icebergs – which our boat pulled right up to…

Once the boat landed, our groups broke up.  Erin, Katie and I went with 2 other girls and a guide to attempt ice climbing.  Lynne had an early bus to catch, so she went with the other group to trek on the glacier.

So yes, with pick-axe and crampons, we climbed a near vertical wall of ice.  I actually had to buy some waterproof gloves, a hat that covered my ears, and rent some ankle hich boots.  It’s surprisingly easy once you get used to the motion. Our guide brought us to a cliff on the glacier that was about 15-20 meters tall (50-60 ft) and pretty close to vertical – probably about 80 degrees.

When I climbed up, the guide asked if I used to row because I went up really fast, pulling myself using my upper back.  I assume Erin & Katie my former rowing to the guide.  Either way, Ice Climbing was very fun, and surprisingly easy.  We each climbed twice.

After the climbing, the other 2 girls the we didn’t know left to go back to El Chalten with the trekking group.  Erin, Katie and I hiked down to base camp to have lunch with our guide.  Then we got to go ice trekking on the glacier ourselves.  Just three of us with a guide – it felt like a private tour.

We hiked across crevasses, caves, arches, overhangs.

Here’s a sweet arch..  the thin spot is about 1 meter, so we could have risked walking on it – except for the sheer cliff with a 30 meter drop on the other side…

I even filled my water bottle with fresh as you can get – glacier water.  It was really, really good.  Here’s what it looks like underwater in a creek flowing on the glacier…

Finally, our guide had a treat for us at the end of the trek.  Bailey’s on the rocks – in fresh glacial ice!!

Erin and Katie are catching a bus on Friday night.  I couldn’t find a bus until the 23rd, so I’ll try to meet them in Bariloche later in the week.  Lynne left just after we got back to town (good luck at school!!).  Erin, Katie and I may be crossing paths again, as we’re traveling to many of the same places in the next 2 weeks.  If not, I had a blast trekking with these girls.