Wintertime Stoke in Patagonia

July 13th, 2010 by David Miller - Patagonia, photos, stoke

after 40-50 days of rain / snow, yesterday and the day before it was clear. layla and i hiked up cerro amigo. we saw a condor. that’s our word now, condor. super condor.

yesterday we walked out to the airstrip and looked back at the ridgeline where the condor flew.

cerro piltriquitron

layla kept looking at piltri and saying ‘mucha snow.’

it was clear but cold, maybe 40 degrees and windy. we all got cold after half an hour.

all the puddles that were in the shade were still frozen and layla got to break ice with her ‘stompers’. it was all super condor.

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all photos by laura bernhein.

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  • http://www.photojbartlett.com Jeff Bartlett

    Man, that second picture brings me to a way-off-topic comment. I first saw Cerro Piltriquitron in 2007. I’ve been back to El Bolson every year since but I’ve somehow never set foot on the mountain. I’ve actually gone twice with the intention of climbing it, but some silly reason always gets in my way.

    I’ve also wanted to ski the side you shot in the image. I see a pretty straight forward descent on lookers left and a really fun if the snow is good route straight down the middle.

    That being said, there is something about that mountain. It has captured so much of my imagination and so many of my daydreams that I feel like I know it personally, yet my only real connection with it has been its glowing effects at sunset over cold beer at the campground….

    (a side note: never knew you lived there until I returned from my trip this year. Next year, if I make it back down south I’ll make sure to say hello)

  • David Miller

    hey jeff,

    thanks for the comments. it’s cool you keep visiting el bolson. definitely give us a heads up next time you come through.

    piltri: i check the frontside for tracks every day (our kitchen window looks right out on it) but so far nothing this season. everyone who rides up there seems to stay up above the saddle near the refugio, where there’s deeper snow and probably alot less avi / crevasse / backcountry danger.

    i must admit that i ‘see’ a bunch of lines up there too, particularly the main face you could access by traversing directly south from the refugio where it opens up to this 2000+ vert beast (not picutred). there are some crazy looking chutes right of that as well.

    all of it is begging for a strong crew though, and i’m still kind of building that here. my one good bro is spending summer season guiding rafts in Colorado, and another bro went up to work at Cerro Catedral.

    we summitted piltri in fall, no snow, and i keep telling myself i want to explore up there again (and will before the season’s out) but in the meantime i’ve kept busy on the other side of valley, up in the cohiues where it’s all soft and deep and i can all the floaty turns i want.

  • http://www.photojbartlett.com Jeff Bartlett

    Do you take couchsurfers? :)