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Published: October 24th 2012
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Boot Packing
Hiking up to ski a gully We arrived in Coyhaique to warm weather and a summer like day we could tell that it had been nice for awhile and were skeptical about snow quality in the area. We picked up supplies at the super market then headed to the NOLS campo to get some information about conditions in Reserva Nacional de Cerro Castillo. We picked up a couple maps and alot of wonderful information, and were allowed to store our gear there while we disappeared into the mountains. We had gotten in touch with Kabir one of our NOLS coursemates who lived in Coyhaique and planned to climb with him the following day. We found a nice campsite next to a river where we stayed the night and sorted the gear that we were taking and what we were leaving. The next morning was beautiful and perfect for climbing, we picked Kabir up in town and headed to the climbing area to spend the day. We were skeptical about rock quality at first but the more traveled routes were good and some of the routes were really fun. After a full day of climbing we headed up to Cerro Castillo where we planned to spend a week
Skiing near Cerro Castillo
Joe shreding one of the many lines we skiied skiing and climbing. We got to the "trailhead" late in the day and after sorting food and packing gear we headed up the slopes. We dug a platform on the steepest slope i've ever camped on and finished dinner as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. We awoke the next morning to beatiful clear blue skies, since the stope was too steep for skinning we bootpacked to the ridge. When we arrived on top we were all very excited to get our skis off our backs and onto our feet. We spent the day traversing ridges towards a highpoint that would allow us a good view of the terrain ahead, when we finally reached it we pitched camp in potentially the most beautiful place any of us has ever camped. Morgan headed back out to do a couple laps while Lucas and Joe stayed at camp and relaxed, snow quality was wonderful and each run was better than ten at a resort. That night was super windy and we woke in the morning with our peak covered in clouds and our bags covered in frost, we were slow to get moving but eventually got everything packed. Again we spent the
Scouting the route
Morgan pondering the route to Castillo day traversing ridges headed to our destination of Cerro Castillo, the clouds quickly burnt off warming us up and making travel much more pleasent. We pitched camp that night in a saddle seperating two steep gullies, we spent some time looking at the map trying to place our location, we finally came to the conclusion that we were only a ridge away from Castillo. When we started travelling the next day we quickly discovered that our laction from the previous night was wrong and as we ate lunch we discussed our options. The bowl we were in had some fantastic looking lines so we decided to set up camp near the river and spend a couple days skiing before we hiked out. The first day we skiied a very narrow steep gully with bad snow which none of us were too fond of then we found a ridge above our camp that was stupendous and did a couple laps on it. The following day we headed to the summit of a peak nearby to ski some gullies and chutes that led into a high bowl, where we built a jump and spent the day playing around. We again finished the
Playing
Morgan busting out a 360 on the jump we made day by skiing the ridge above camp, which we all agreed was one of the best runs any of us have skiied. We could tell that weather was starting to move in so we decided to hike out the following day, our map showed a trail from where we were down the valley, but having allready spent some time in Patagonia Joe and Morgan were very weary of its existence. The hike out was hard especially with the extra weight of skis on our backs, and bushwacking through lenga with skis was no fun at all. We did eventually run into a "trail" which was no more than a stock path and with many entertwining routes was very difficult to follow. The trail led us to a campo which in turn led us to the Rt. 7 where we entended to hitch a ride back to our car. After waiting for about an hour Morgan finally caught a ride with a man who ran a horsepacking company in Puerto Ibanez. Unfortunately the ride only went to the intersection to Ibanez. Lucas and Joe were worried when Morgan finally got back with the car after an hour and a half. He
Luke skiing
Luke skiing the upper bowl near camp ended up having to hike 5 km after getting dropped off by the first ride till he was finally picked up again and taken the rest of the way to the car. A storm was brewing in the mountains we all headed back to Coyhaique and were happy to be out of the mountains and into our warm car. We spent a day in Coyhaique fixing gear and resupplying before crossing the border to Argentina and heading south.
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Cindy Glick
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Woohoo!
Hey Guys, It looks like you're having a great trip! I am sure We're in Georgia and went to TC's wedding, a gala affair that has served well to get the families together again. TC's dog got bitten by a copperhead snake right in his back yard, so Georgia is wilder than I thought. The forests are beautiful, many fall colors at this time of year. We are enjoying our time- we will see Aunt Barb and Uncle Tom today- they happened to be in Atlanta the same we are here. We will go over to Savannah Georgia to the seashore and then go north and hike on the Applachain Trail. Having a grreat time!!!!! TJ, my sister is with us. Always glad to hear from you, Love, Mom