Report from October 12, 2023

Thursday was our last ski day in El Chalten, Argentina.

Last November, I’d skied the lower flanks of Cerro Vespignani just above the electric blues of Lake Huemul and in the shadows of the 11,171′ Fitz Roy Towers.

Although I’d skied it before, I really wanted to show the zone and its face-melting views to Greggy and Sasha.

Day #9 Details:

Miles Driven: 0
Total Miles Driven: 1,300
Hours of Driving: 0
Latitude: 49.3ºS → 49.3ºS
Good Food Eaten: La Tapera – incredible everything, see photos
Lodging: Guer Aike – epic tiny homes with full views of the Fitz Roy Towers

We traipsed up the Lenga forest, navigated the steep ropes course, and got ourselves on snow in about an hour.

From there, it was a couple more hours to the little subpeak just before the glacier.

I looked with longing eyes at a group climbing up the glacier to the summit.

I’ve been wanting to climb this peak since I saw it last year, but we didn’t have the right crew this year.

I’ll be back.

Maybe every year from now on.

This place has captured my heart.

We climbed up to the sub-peak I’d skied in November 2022.

In November 2022, it was so windy it almost blew one of my skis off the huge cliff to the north…

On Thursday, it was nearly windless…

Windless is weird here.

Almost unsettling.

We chilled on top, took fun photos, and reveled in the views of Fitz Roy, Cerro Torre, and more.

It was hot.

Hotter than I imagined it could ever be here.

I dropped in first and cut butter turns in snow that was neither fresh nor metamorphosed to corn.

It was fun, non-steep, and we skied fast.

Well, I skied fast until it got sticky towards the bottom.

Lake walker and Fitz Roy. image: snowbrains

The bottom was complex, with full strips of snowpack peeling off the smooth, granite rock beneath.

We hopped back on the knife-edge lateral moraine we skinned up on and cruised back down to Lake Huemul.

From there, it was shoes, ropes, and slippery mud back to the car.

I simply cannot wait to come back down here next year, get to the top of Vespignani, and ski more wild lines that we’ve scoped over the past few days.

Thanks so much, El Chalten!