Heavenly powder

Yesterday Cory I skied what we deemed to be our best powder day of the season. With stability predicted in the avalanche forecast (ie a "low" rating), we set out for long, steep, unrelenting north-facing chutes ... that I've eyed for quite some time, just waiting for the right day.

We thought conditions would be good, we had no idea that they would be over-the-top, remember-it-for-life amazing. We're talking thigh deep bliss! It was so good that we blew off the "pressing" responsibilities we had intended to attend to that day to skin back up the mountain for a few more turns of heaven. At the end of the day we had no regrets.

Beautiful Buenos Aires

Mom, dad and I finished up our trip to Argentina and Chile with a vacation ... in Buenos Aires. We spent one day touring the fabulous European styled city on cheesy, but quite effective double decker tourist buses ... you could just hop off and get on at 14 major points throughout the city. Then we spent the second day chillaxing by the pool ... not even leaving our hotel until 7 p.m. at night when we left for the airport to fly home. I also caught up with my friend Agustina, who I met when I was an exchange student in Rosario. And mom, dad and I went to see a super well done Tango Show ... complete with Argentine-sized filets of beef and mouth watering red wine. Yum!

Sheer size, such ice

And now ... to get entirely out of sequence ... here are photos from our very first day in Argentina ... when we went to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier near Calafate. The Perito Moreno is impressive ... both in sheer size and activity ... we saw some major calving while we were there ... a relatively common occurrence for that particular glacier.

The first photo below is a bit of an inside joke (with myself) because when I was an exchange student in Argentina (10 years ago when I was a junior in HS) a taxi driver cussed me out one day for shutting the door with too much force. In Argentina you're expected to swing the door gently in, and then give it a nudge to latch it. So I was a bit amused to see the sign on the door of the taxi that we took to the Perito Moreno that read: "close slowly." And the best part is, now, with my much improved Spanish, I know exactly what the sign directs me, the passenger, to do. No more awkward taxi encounters for me ... at least not in Spanish speaking countries!

Puerto Natales

Puerto Natales, Chile, is the homely coastal town we stayed in before and after our trek in Torres Del Paine. Here's some images from the few days we spent there. We stayed in a comfortable lodge overlooking the water and town, and indulged in the delicious seafood.

Torres Del Paine

Better late than never, right? Ever since we got back from Patagonia ... I've been going, going, going (those photos to come soon) ... so here, finally, at last ... are some of the photos from hiking the "Q" in Torres Del Paine National Park in southern Chile. We spent nine days "out there," staying in refugios that ranged from rustic to luxurious. The weather was nothing short of impeccable ... shedding beautiful rays of light on spectacular scenery ... day after day after day. We somehow managed to go the whole trek without any real rain ... a virtual miracle for Patagonia. For my mom and dad to take on this 80 mile hike after our 6 days on the ice cap shows a grit and determination found in few parents. The memories we shared will last a lifetime.