After nearly 30 hours in a bus I have finally landed in Bariloche. The bus ride was a bit uncomfortable thanks to a bad cheeseburger and seats that didn't recline fully like they were supposed to but none the less it is time to get rowdy. I met a couple of cool people on the bus who I stayed with for the first two nights in town and then they moved on to the snowboard sessions hostel so I had the place to myself. What a great deal; I had a two bedroom arpartment on the 4th floor overlooking Lago Nahuel Haupei all to myself. The one tough thing from the trip after the cheeseburger was the fact that "Santa Rosa" had come and destroyed the town and the mountain. Santa Rosa is big snowstorm that usually marks the change of the season and ultimately the end of the winter season here. The storm was so big in Bariloche that the town came to a complete stand still and the mountain was in the same boat. 1.5 meters(4.5 feet) of snow in town made for huge lakes and puddles everywhere so lugging all of my shit around was a huge pain not to mention I was soaked from the knee down. The mountain probably took the worst of it losing two lift towers and a brand new lodge built last season. They reported 3.5 meters(10.5 feet) of snow up top and they don't do any snow control so the slab just built so big and then released from the ice layer created two weeks ago when it rained all of the way to the top. Luckily nobody was on the mountain then. This being said the mountain was able to open down low but with warm temps and new snow on an ice layer it was all but deadly up high and the thickest, nastiest elephant snot snow I have ever seen at the bottom. To say the least buying a lift ticket was a mistake but oh well I can check this place off of the list now.
This photo shows some of the new wet snow down low but more importantly it shows the bamboo that we skinned through on our way to Refugio Frey. I had envisioned bamboo to be in warmer less snowy climates but that was definitely not true here.
I found this grizzly bear along the skin track? It was weird though he was walking upright and talking? He said something about going to Ushuaia and eating fresh fish!
This is the last gulley on the way to Refugio Frey. It was an interesting adventure getting there as you can imagine with all of the new snow and relatively no snow for the majority of the season it was hollow and manky. Big waterfalls, downed trees, and hanging snowfields above you make traveling interesting in the backcountry.
Bamboo chutes and elephant snot make for a weird skinning environment.
This is one of many great photos I was able to take just out the window of my apartment. This place definitely didn't suck and I look forward to visiting again. The aesthetics can't be beat and there is more of a true town compared a majority of the other ski areas in South America.
This photo shows some of the new wet snow down low but more importantly it shows the bamboo that we skinned through on our way to Refugio Frey. I had envisioned bamboo to be in warmer less snowy climates but that was definitely not true here.
I found this grizzly bear along the skin track? It was weird though he was walking upright and talking? He said something about going to Ushuaia and eating fresh fish!
This is the last gulley on the way to Refugio Frey. It was an interesting adventure getting there as you can imagine with all of the new snow and relatively no snow for the majority of the season it was hollow and manky. Big waterfalls, downed trees, and hanging snowfields above you make traveling interesting in the backcountry.
Bamboo chutes and elephant snot make for a weird skinning environment.
This is one of many great photos I was able to take just out the window of my apartment. This place definitely didn't suck and I look forward to visiting again. The aesthetics can't be beat and there is more of a true town compared a majority of the other ski areas in South America.
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