Torres Del Paine

Nellie and I left our Buenos Aires hostel for the airport at 3:30 in the morning, and somehow managed to go 14 straight hours without consuming any food, except for a bag of airplane cookies. A series of  last minute buses were really to blame. Needless to say, we were in a frantic hunger-stricken delirium when we arrived at Puerto Natales. Luckily we made it to a restaurant before collapsing.

We set out for the park at 7:30 am the next morning. We hiked a beautiful six-day/five-night circuit in Torres del Paine national park in southern Chile. The park feels like it's at the end of the world and is famous for its huge granite towers. We were fully decked out with waterproof gear, but miraculously managed to totally avoid rain, and even had a few bluebird days.

The park is an extremely popular hiking destination, and we arrived at the trailhead in a four bus caravan with 200 other hikers. To avoid some of the crowds we hiked the backside of the mountain range in addition to the the classic route on the front, making an 'O' shaped trek overall. The mileage is entirely impossible to say, since maps, the internet, and trail signs all disagree, but we're estimating 65-75 miles.

See below for the day by day breakdown. Note that you can click on a picture to zoom in. Some of them are really great full size.

Day 1
After a rainy bus ride to the park the skies broke just as we hit the trail. Nellie and I ended up hiking in shorts in the sunshine. It was a great start.

We knew that Nellie's co-worker was in the park at roughly the same time as us, but that's about it. Lo and behold, as we were setting up camp at our first campsite, IN STROLLS JUSTIN! It was incredible. We had a great dinner together, and the next morning, parted ways (we were trekking in opposite directions). Nellie is now two-for-two for random run-ins in Torres del Paine.

We had been warned that there were mice in the campsite and hung our food from a tree to protect it. But despite our efforts, we awoke to chewing noises outside of our tent in the middle of the night. THE MICE ATE OUR BACKPACKS!! They chewed the plastic tabs and the rubber tubes from our water sacks. I have no idea why they would chew non-edible plastic. They are pure evil. We vowed revenge.

Nellie and I at the start of the trek.

It had rained hard the night before we got to the park and the rivers were swollen.

Crazy blue lakes and blue skies! The blue color in the lakes is caused by the glacial silt in the water.

Nellie on a calm beach with clear water.

The towers, in all their glory.

Nellie and Justin!

Day 2
In 2011 there was a fire in the park caused by an illegal campfire, and we spent the entire second day hiking through a burned forest. It was a bit sad.

Toward the end of the day we reached the enormous Glacier Grey. We set up at a nice campsite near the glacier and each had a beer while watching icebergs float by on the glacial lake.

Pretty flowers in the burned forest.

The towers were looking more like Mordor with the mist.

Looking out at Glacier Grey. It drains from the icefield in the background, which is 220 miles long.

In front of Glacier Grey.

Standing guard at the campsite. Note the excellent rock placement.

Day 3
The third day dawned with disappointment: the mice had struck again. We had hung our food bag from a tree branch with a thin string, but a mouse had climbed up the tree, out the branch, and down the string, and had then proceeded to chew through our nice waterproof stuff sack to eat a few bites of cheese. Gah!

Leaving the campsite behind, we climbed higher and higher above Glacier Grey as we traversed John Gardner pass. It was a serious climb, but the views were great, and it was snowing lightly at the top of the pass. We arrived at the next campsite quite tired.

Nellie gazing out at the icefield.

Nellie and I at the top of John Gardner Pass.

Sliding down a snowfield at the top of the pass. Note the excellent "penguin-style" form: knees bent, chin high.

Day 4

We took a short fourth day and didn't hit the trail untill noon. The views were great and it was nice to have a lighter day on the trail.

Looking back at the pass in the morning sunshine :)

Perros Glacier tumbling into a small lake. I tried to scramble to touch the bottom but couldn't make it.

Lago Dickson, with more glaciers in the background. 

Our next campsite was right on the Lago Dickson.

Day 5
To squeeze the full circuit into six days we had to hike 20 miles on the fifth day. The terrain was gentle and the weather was nice, but we were definitely tired by the end of day. Much to our delight, there were fantastic hot showers at the campsite that night. They felt incredible.

The beginning of our long day...

Part of the route is on private farmland and therefore outside of the park. We're at the border here.

Huge hawks (southern crested caracaras) were patrolling a campsite looking for mice. They were totally unafraid of us and walked within ten or fifteen feet. It was awesome to see them up close.

Day 6
On our final day we left our backpacks at camp and climbed the valley to the base of the famous Torres towers. We had to start early so we could catch the bus back to town, and the sunrise was beautiful. The heavy crowds on the trails by lunchtime made us glad that we had started early, and that our trek had included the less-crowded backside of the circuit.

We had a nice sunrise.

Nellie with the famous towers. She has a very similar picture from four years ago.

Nellie was pumped to finish the Tabasco sauce!

Buenos Aires, Vamos!

We skipped one little detail on Friday, March 14, the day we met Sam and Dad/Jonathan in Banff, Alberta: we got engaged! Mike proposed on top of Tunnel Mountain, overlooking the city. It was beautiful and perfect. In celebration, we figured we'd go on a six week tour of South America! Conveniently, we already had plane tickets.

March 23-March 25. After a full evening, night, and morning of travel, we arrived in 75 degree and sunny Buenos Aires. What a welcomed change from deary and cold March in New England! We were champs and had a full day and night of exploring, despite sleeping on a plane the night before. I have to go on a tangent here briefly: it's quite an experience returning somewhere that used to be home, and feeling like a tourist. So many parts felt SO familiar; it was incredible. Street corners I knew I had walked on and stores I had passed every single day would just pop up in front of me. But at other times it was only disorienting jumbles of what should have been familiar but instead felt so foreign. I was excited to share a city that I love so much with Mike, but I hadn't anticipated how hard it would be not speaking Spanish very well anymore. It's especially difficult going back and forth between English and Spanish, in my head and out loud. I was pleased with my comprehension, but when I opened my mouth to speak, there were huge blanks where words used to be. It is slowly coming back, and it really is exciting having the opportunity to practice, but Dios! I spend a lot of time fretting over mis-speaks and slipping confidence.

On a positive note, the city smelled perfect. I was astonished at how familiar it smelled. Maybe it's a certain perfume or food, but I swear it radiates from the streets themselves. It just smells right. I loved it.

We stayed in Hostel Buenos Artes on the edge of Palermo. It was a perfect balance of funky/social and do-your-own-thang. It even had a great roof deck. Our room had bright pink walls and a big window that reminded us of our hostel in Prague.

Our three days had three themes, in no particular order: exploring my old stomping grounds, having Mike try every type of amazing Argentine food, and relaxing outside in the warmth. All involved lots of walking. In my opinion, we hit almost all the best places in the city.

1. We visited my apartment, my local restaurantes, and explored my barrio, Palermo. We bought my absolute favorite Guia T, which details all 464 bus lines in the city and happily zoomed around the city, utilizing the re convenient and new bus card, eliminating the frantic hoarding of coins. Given the ever-rising inflation rate, coins were practically useless anyways. We were champs and utilized the 'Blue Market' by bringing a few hundred in USD cash down and exchanging it on the street for 10.4:1 instead of the official 8:1. It felt like scalping tickets - everyone's doing it, but it's technically illegal. Just follow the calls of "cambio, cambio!" on Avenida Florida!

2. I'm pretty sure Mike got the full Argentine food experience. We had super panchos (somewhat longer than normal hot dogs with potato sticks on them). We had helado (soft delicious ice cream). We had empanadas multiple times. We had an extravagant steak dinner and cheap delicious Malbec wine. We had litros de Quilmes with bowls of maní. We had milanesa and pizza with the signature whole green olives atop. We had cafe cortado, agua con gas, and jamon crudo y queso for breakfast (unfortunately no one does breakfast like the USA...that's for sure). Last but certainly not least, we had choripan. Please see pictures of the glory below. We walked many miles for that choripan. But boy was it worth it. We did not have any mate, but Mike has tried that before. All in all, la comida was a total success. Sam and Tess, did I miss anything? The price was generally right as well.

3. The parks were in fine form while we were there, and we took full advantage. During the day we lounged beside palm trees and lakes. At night we ate and drank outside in the warm air. I think we'd both agree that our evening meals were the best part.

Parque de Palermo - note the palm trees

My favorite bus! We didn't ride it.

My apartment! I look cansada.

CHORI...

CHORI....

CHORIPAN!!!

This cost $1.80. I should also mention that for quite a while, Mike was walking down the street chanting, "cho-ri-pan, cho-ri-pan!" I think it lived up to his expectations.

Mike looking good while enjoying an empanada and some cerveza.

Kicking Horse Part Two

Our time with Jonathan and Sam at Kicking Horse was incredible. We had 18 inches of powder on our second day of skiing, and even some sun on the last day. The mountain is so huge that there was untracked snow even on the day after the storm. I can't remember skiing in better conditions.

We stayed right at the base of the gondola. Really right at the base. We could have thrown a microwave from our patio onto skiers waiting in line. In the evenings Jonathan cooked some tasty dinners and we fought the good fight in Pandemic (but lost anyways). We even got a bit of spades in.

We're flying to Argentina tomorrow and don't have much time to write, so I'm going to go straight into the pictures!

The four of us in the sun on Monday. We thought the photo was narrower :)

The view from our patio. A pretty prime location.

Jonathan shreddin'

And throwing a spread eagle.

Beard growing competition.

Sam climbing the final pitch near the summit of T1

The Woods on the top of T1

Me coming off of Pride Rock.

In Fuez Bowl.

Under some powder pillows.

On the patio with beers after we were all done skiing :)

Omar wearing a tie in court.

Kicking Horse, Part One

It's hard to write these updates five days in the past because so many great things are happening right now! But we'll try. Tuesday was travel day. We had the most gorgeous drive across British Columbia in brilliant sunshine. Seven hours flies by when you're looking at amazing snow capped mountains the whole time. It was just us and a LOT of tractor trailers making our way east across the Trans-Canada Highway. We stopped for late lunch/dinner in Revelstoke, crossed into Mountain Time (it stays light so late!) and headed up Rogers Pass.

Golden, BC is a 4000 person town in the middle of nowhere. Perched above it in the Dogtooth Range, across a one lane bridge, is Kicking Horse Resort, our home for the next 6 days. It's a much smaller resort than Whistler, but has a great feel to it. The lodges seem new but unpretentious. Our room was just a stone's throw from the gondola. It was sweet. And apparently mid-week bluebird days soon after a storm aren't quite enough to attract a crowd - it felt like a ghost town.

Wednesday morning there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The sun was a much welcomed change. We skied some steep chutes and bowls and hiked up to a summit peak, which was scary (not for Mike), in search of some powder stashes three days post-storm. At the end of the day we may have even achieved a minor goggle tan. A massive pile of nachos and a pitcher of beer on an outdoor patio (in t-shirts and shades...ahhhh) wrapped up a fantastic day.

On Thursday I only skied a few runs in an effort to save my knee for the hard charging to come once my dad and brother arrived Friday evening. Mike skied another 7 hour day (I don't know how he does it) while I relaxed (t-shirt weather again!) on our deck overlooking the mountain. We went into town for a 5 pm dinner and were the only patrons. Ski days really throw off your eating schedule!

The stunning drive across British Columbia

Rogers Pass (and basically our view for most of the drive)

The view from our room's deck...wowzers

The summit of T1 after a hike. Don't look down, don't look down! 

The chutes we skied coming down from T1 

"Ahh back on solid ground"

Mt. Baker

What day is it? I take it as a good sign that I'm asking myself this question frequently. After leaving Whistler in the typical Pacific Northwest Rain-Fog, we said goodbye to Dave and hello to the Dodge Avenger. We roared into Vancouver and tried to pose as Canadians. We had pho for early lunch and then visited the Museum of Vancouver in order to pass the time before late lunch: sushi+cappuccinos. I should mention here that so far Mike has managed to eat salmon, raw or cooked, at least once a day. He says he wants to be one with the bears. Finally it was time to head south to Baker. Between the torrential downpour, gulag-style architecture, and far too expensive parking meters (4 quarters gives you 20 minutes? What??), we agreed to cross Vancouver off the potential-places-to-live list.

By Saturday evening we had arrived in Maple Falls, Washington. The rain had melted all traces of snow. The only sign of life was a pair of patrolling Canada Geese, guarding the muddy driveway up to the 'Retreat Unit,' our trailer in the woods. We cozied up on the saggy leather couch and thought, well this will be romantic! Then Mr. Mouse peaked around the corner. Then I looked at the ancient gas heater. I suddenly realized my worries over tree wells palled in comparison to death by hantavirus or carbon monoxide poisoning. Long story short, the next day we had the owners put in a CO alarm, bought some mouse traps, and slept well (we sent two to mouse-heaven, but they died fat and happy after munching my chocolate bar and BOTH of our delicious plastic-wrapped muffins the night before).

Mike is going to be complaining now that I'm not even talking about the skiing! Mike skied a half day on Sunday and I hung in the lodge letting my knee recover. We both skied on Monday. The conditions were pretty wet, but fun nonetheless. The sun peaked out periodically. We had some great spring skiing runs, had fun on the runnels, and avoided the bergschrunds (observe my new snow lingo). The overall impression? A tame family/local mountain that happens to have some massive cliffs and overally-aggressive signage. And lots of snow.

After poaching some wi-fi (gotta download those Wire episodes...) in town, we built a campfire and went to bed. Tuesday morning we drove to Kicking Horse. Stay tuned.

The Retreat Unit

Crazy Monster Trees on the drive up to Mt. Baker 

Runnels caused by lots of rain. Mike called them butt cracks. I thought it was more like a giant's mattress.

Mike hucking a 360 off the half pipe. Note the chairs with no safety bars in the background

Whistler with Billy and Dave

Our first stop was at Whistler, which is an enormous place. Each of the mountains (Whistler and Blackcomb) is 1.5x as big as Snowbird. It seems like there are endless bowls and chutes, and the base village feels a bit like Disney World. Billy and Dave skied with us, which was great.

It snowed hard for a few hours on Wednesday morning, which made for a total whiteout at the top of the mountain. I've never skiied in such low visibility. It felt like skiing blind. On Wednesday night eight  inches of fresh snow fell and the skiing Thursday morning was incredible. We went to Blackcomb and skied powder all morning, including a huge run down Blackcomb glacier on the backside of the mountain. It was pretty wild to ski on a remote glacier surrounded by jagged peaks.

Billy jumped several cliffs, and had a few epic faceplants. Really first-rate thudders. He also landed some of them quite nicely. We all had great runs in the powder and made a few top-to-bottom runs which were a full 5,000 feet. See below for pictures.

We ate well, with highlights including a Mexican joint (in Canada!), spicy sushi, and some locally-caught salmon. Billy bought us all beers at the bar, capitalizing on the lower drinking age in Canada.

Tomorrow we're heading off to explore Vancouver, and then on to ski Mount Baker, where it may be rainy :(

The four of us. It was only sunny for about 10 minutes across the three days, but we caught it here :)

Powder turns Thursday morning on Showcase Glacier high on Blackcomb. Nellie's tracks are the middle ones.

After an epic run on Blackcomb Glacier

Nellie charging a groomer on Friday morning.

Dave shredding the gnar. Patent pending for the nose flap on the googles.

Nellie in the Bumps

On Wednesday morning at Whistler

Nellie with an Inukshuk at the top of Blackcomb (they're all over!)

Dave knows no shame. Luckily the rest of us weren't there to be embarrassed.
(He's lying on the glass floor of the peak-to-peak gondola)