Report from October 4, 2023

Yesterday was day #1 of our 3,600-mile Patagonia to Antarctica road/boat trip.

We’re headed from Bariloche, Argentina to Ushuaia, Argentina.

The plan is to ski, river raft, kayak, and adventure along the way.

Day #1 Details:

• Miles Driven:  213
• Total Miles Driven:  213
• Hours of Driving:  4.25
• Latitude:  41.1ºS to 44.3ºS
• Good Food Eaten:  Don Chiquino – lasagna wasn’t great but the spinach ravioli was good

 

We have 11 days to get to Ushuaia and we plan on skiing in Esquel, Coyhaique, El Chalten, Ushuaia, and maybe more.

Once we get to Ushuaia, we’ll board a ship and sail down to Antarctica for even more skiing.

We’re feeling very grateful.

Yesterday we drove 5 hours from Bariloche, Argentina to Esquel, Argentina.

We drove straight up to La Hoya ski resort and hopped on the lift.

Right away, you see a plethora of steep, scraggily, short, fun-looking chutes to your left.

Tracks in the chute reveal their viability.

This place clearly has some rugged side-country terrain.

One lift leads to another which leads to another.

Hoya means pan and this place most certainly is shaped like a frying pan.

The inbounds terrain is mostly gentle and cruisy but that sidecountry terrain has teeth.

Yesterday was cold, a bit windy, with firm snow.

We stayed on the groomers and had a ball zipping around and teasing each other.

The views here are raw.

Mountain and desert everywhere.

Living in Equel would be a trip.

This place is deep.

After skiing, we headed to our very nice Airbnb, dropped off gear and headed to dinner at Don Chichinos.

Very fun, very American “Soda Fountain” style.

We had lasagna and spinach ravioli and they were filling.

From there we hit the sack and got ready for an early morning involving a border crossing into Chile and a 2-hour, class 4 river raft ride down the world-famous Futelaufu River.

Vamos!

Photos