Report from October 29 & 30, 2023

Extremely rough weather sent us home from Antarctica early.

Our last ski day was a bluebird powder day on October 24 at Port Lockroy.

Since that day it’s been nothing but heavy wind, big seas, and vicious storms.

Day #28 & 29 Details:

Miles Driven: 0 (drove up to Martial Glacier and back each day, but we aren’t counting that)
Total Miles Driven: 2,112
Total Miles Boated: 2,124
Total Miles Traveled: 4,236
Hours of Driving: 0
Latitude: 54.8ºS
Good Food Eaten: Good empanadas at El Mercado
Lodging: Airbnb in “Infinite Sky” building in Ushuaia – very nice

We weren’t able to ski anywhere on the Antarctic Peninsula on October 25 (Day #8 of the Antarctica Trip & Day #22 of the Patagonia to Antarctica Safari).

Our captain steamed us up to the South Shetland Islands hoping for better weather and planning an early exit from Antarctica back to South America on October 26.

The wind and waves kept us on the boat that day as well…

Jessa and the Beagle Channel. image: snowbrains

On October 26, the captain made the decision to send it home to avoid ending up in the teeth of 2 storms raging through the Drak Passage.

3 days on the Drake was rough but manageable.

We arrived in the Beagle Channel on October 28, waited for our pilot, and finally docked back in Ushuaia, Argentina on the morning of October 29.

My plan was to ski.

I jumped off the boat with Jason Champion and my client and friend Boris for a ski on the Marital Glacier in Ushuaia.

We skied a mellow run with Chris Davenport’s crew to feel out conditions.

Boris had to bail after 1 run to join Greggy and Sasha to drive to Punta Arenas, Chile for his flight home.

Greggy and Sasha would then drive “Sendy” all the way back to Santiago, Chile…

Jason and I upped the ante a bit and skied a more challenging zone and the skiing was fun!

Crusty, spring powder.

We went back up for a final lap and a storm started to rage.

Snowing an inch per hour with a thick fog.

We ripped that final third run all the way back to the parking lot.

I went back to the boat, grabbed my gear and taxied to an Airbnb and got ready for an early morning.

On October 30, I woke up at 4:35am and prepped for the day.

Godoy Central Couloir in the middle. image: snowbrains

The Plan:

Ski the Godoy Central Couloir with fellow guides Jessa and Jason
Taxi back to the Airbnb, shower, change clothes, pack
Taxi to airport for flight at 1:15pm
Fly Ushuaia to Buenos Aires to Lima to Houston to Salt Lake City and take Lyft to Park City

We were hiking uphill by 6:38am.

I led the charge as I was the only one who’d skied the chute before and the only one with a flight that afternoon.

The skinning was easy right to the base of the chute on funky, styrofoam snow.

At the base of the chute, we started booting up.

I led the first two-thirds or so then Jessa shot up the final pitch like a rocket.

The top section of the chute was nothing but rime ice and still fun.

The chute proper held wind-crusted, very skiable powder.

I charged to the bottom and watched Jessa and Jason shred.

From there, I said goodbye and bolted for the parking lot and my cab scheduled at 10:15am.

I was able to ski down quite a way on the new 2″ of snow on gravel.

I made it to the lot at 10:17am and headed to the Airbnb.

Quick shower, change, and pack.

Champion in the Godoy Central Couloir. image: snowbrains

Made it to the airport by 11:15am and got good seats on my first 2 flights with Aerolineas Argentinas.

They charged me $150USD for my 2nd bag (bandits!) but they were using the offical rate for dollars (350) instead of the normal black market rate (900) so I changed money (for 800 pesos to $1USD) and got the fee down to about $60.