Tierra del Feugo

We spent our last few days in Patagonia on Tierra del Feugo. There was a dubious rental car, a flat battery, a flat tire, rescue by propane truck men, a lake... and lots of Guanacos. Photos are here.

Patagonia Paddle

Well, we got to paddle. We started on the Serrano river... went up the Tyndall, portaged through a bog to the Geike, pulled our boats up the Geike... got into the lake and paddled around icebergs. Then we paddled back down the Geike, into the Serrano, and down to the Fijord where we got picked up by a big red boat back to Puerto Natales. Our guide, German (that´s his name, not his nationality) was fantastic and we spent 3 great nights camping out in the wilderness. Photos are here.



Our next plans involve more boats, possibly aeroplanes, and hopefully coffee. We will see what works out!

Cerro Torre and Fitzroy

Big mountains and big views, and more days on our feet. Pictures are here. Now we want to figure out a place to go sea kayaking when we leave El Chalten...

From Chile to Argentina

After 6 days hiking in the Torres del Paine park (the last set of photos) we have moved over to Argentina and El Chalten... "treking capital of Argentina". The weather has given us everything from snow to hot sunshine and we have been able to get out into some amazing landscape, full of rock and glaciers. It looks like a combination of the Peak District, with a bit of Scotland, and the Alps all thrown together. The crazy weather and wind always serves up something unexpected too. We got up onto the Tunnel Glacier for a look around, and found it was a very beautiful place to be looking at. Uploading photos is very slow... but here are some.

We will spend the next week or so here in El Chalten... then... do something else. I want to see penguins.

In Patagionia

I am.

Photos will randomly appear here. Somtimes... then a whole load of stuff will no doubt appear when I am back. That is the way of things.

Mt Cain Telefest

Paul and I head to head in the Tele-slalom

Mount Cain always delivers. It seems to deliver something different every year, but the goods (of some kind) are always there. This year we had lots of people who couldn't make it, missed ferries, rain, wind, people I didn't know sleeping in my bed, wardrobe malfunctions, and another crashed-out run in the tele-slalom.

On the other hand we had sunshine, amazing views, fun skiing, folk music, happy coincidences, a cupboard to sleep in, a $9 PVC trench coat, a nail-biting head to head for Paul and I (at last) in the tele-race, free stuff, great food, hot chocolate, and a spontaneous meeting-up with Marc and Nikki. You can't argue with that.

More photos to come no doubt, but here are Jacek's to start with. Here are Kala's photos. Here are Andy's (no, not me) photos. Here are Jas' photos.

PVC coats as skiwear - the future?

Everything, and nothing.

I've no photos to share, so here are some more of Paul's from Sorcerer, and here's Lina's quick report from TransAndes, which looked awesome... nice going Lina!

Well, I've been up to a few things. I spent Valentine's weekend on Vancouver Island with Marc and Nikki, doing a skate-ski clinic with Strathcona Nordics. We did a load of downhill skills training, which is pretty hilarious on skate-skis. Inspired by this, we took a few rides on the chairlift and did some downhill-skiing on our skate skis. How can something so wrong feel so right? Nikki had to head back to Victoria for work, so Marc and I had a Valentine's lonely-hearts night in with another Comox resident (who's name I have already forgotten, sorry!) watching a Kung-fu movie and talking about home-built aeroplanes and bike racing. Not a bad rescue of Valentine's day!

Last night I has a beautiful paddle with Johnny at Deep Cove. I've graduated to paddling a solo boat (thanks for the loan Stu!) and got my first experience of bioluminescence. I couldn't stop staring at the green glow in my bow-wave and when my paddle hit the water... and the tiny green stars winking in and out in the water. Amazing stuff. 

It's not long until I head down to Patagonia to see Lina and explore "The end of the earth". It's going to be great to see Lina again after all this time and hear about the adventures. But, before I go I have to go and have fun at the Mt Cain telemark festival this weekend, and then head back over to the Island (again!) with Margeret the following weekend to get our CANSI Telemark Ski Instructor's course done. Phew.