Cascade POW dump and Awesome 4 day hut to hut trip!!!

After a white knuckle drive from Montana to Seattle, we finally made it over Snoqualmie pass and dipped into the city. A good thing we drove thru the night, because the Cascades were getting their biggest storm of the year, OVER 6 FEET, and the pass was closed the next day. Closed the pass was, but after a day of rest my legs were ready to ski 30+ inches overnight at Crystal Mountain, HAVE YOU EVER CHOKED ON SNOW it was sooo DEEP??? Yea... ill stop rubbing it in, but it was one of the best days of my life! After skiing the storm Sarah and I headed into the Cascades near Mount Rainer to ski into two different huts part of the Mount Tahoma Trails Association. The first day, we had great snow on the skin in and made some fun turns around the cabin!

Bruni's snow bowl cabin!

 Then it rained...alot... unfortunately we had to switch cabins and ski 5 miles in the rain to get to our new cabin, High Hut. When we got there, we were soaked and played boggle and many other games until all our stuff dried out.

 

Drying our stuff at high hut after skiing in a downpour or rain.

Just as we were sad and deciding if we should just leave and ski back to Seattle, we work up to a sunny Mount Rainer!!!!!!!

What we woke up to after 2 days of rain!

Extremely excited to see Rainer and the sun, we decided to ski around the hut and have a fun day in the snow!!

Getting ready to ski the "Outhouse chute"

Dropping into the outhouse chute with Rainer in the background

Sarah layin down some turns!

Cool lenticular clouds on Rainer!!!!

 After skiing a bit, we decided, hey, its such a nice day, why don't we build ourself a couch and then just relax and look at Rainer!? Well we got a little carried away, but this is what we made!

On our couch with High Hut in the background!

On our couch with Rainer in the background.

 

We left the cabin with smiles after a great 4 day ski trip, but unfortunately were greeted by 2 extra miles of  dirt road that we had skied up 3 days before :( The Cascades are funny that way I am finding out....

Presidents Day Yurt Ski "Jimmy Dean Weekend"

 

After a short trip to Denver and Winter Park to visit my parents and friends, Sarah and I loaded up the 4Racer and drove to the great state of Montana to meet my friends for a backcountry yurt skiing trip into the Southern Swan's. We have been doing the trip ever since my senior year in college and this year marked the 3rd annual trip. Although many members of the original crew have moved to different towns and states for various reasons, we still were able to rally 11 people for the weekend including Jennings, Paul, Kristen, and Kirby who drove a 12hr leg on each side of the 3 day weekend to make the trip!! The snow was drifted and deep and without Old Man Yurt (Keith Carparelli the original instigator of the 1st Yurt Weekend) we ended up taking a few extra hours to reach the yurt. After all the hard work of getting in, we got settled in and strapped on our skins to head uphill and check out the goods to be had in the hills. What we found did not disappoint. We made deep turns all weekend long, ate lots of good food including our yearly helping of Jimmy Dean sausage, and played many games of Stump with good friends.

The Crew!! (left to right) Myself, Krister, Brad G, Kirby, Paul, Sarah (on the ground), Jared, Brian, Kristen, Jennings, Marc

Skinnin up the ridge

Painting our picture thru the burnt tree's

Paul showin us how to drop a knee

Playing a friendly game of stump! (one of the many)

Getting ready to drop in!

Sadly the weekend had to come to an end and we will have to find another excuse to rendezvous! Sarah and I are off to Seattle to ski in the Cascades for the next week or so, looks like its gonna be deep! Man I love winter....

Frey Again! Bye Argentina, Hello Winter!

The weather decided to give us a sunny end to our trip, so we decided to pack our backpacks and trek up to Frey and the Cathedral Spires for some quick alpine climbing to end the trip! The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we were able to climb 2 days close to the Refugio.
 

The Cathedral Spires (Cerro Cathedral)

(Frey Needle) Aguja Frey

Sarah leading up the final splitter pitch on "Diedro de Jim"

Me finishing up the climb with Laguna Toncek and Refugio Frey below!

On top of Aguja Frey after an adventurous climb on the "Sifuentes Monty y Weber" (or a variation... we got lost!)

Back in Bariloche, we decided to soak up our last day in night in town with the views, an asada dinner, and our last taste of street food before the long flight back to the USA!

Sunset beer at the hostel after a long hiking day back from Frey and our last night in town

Now a quick visit to Denver and then off to Montana for Prez Day Yurt Ski Weekend!! I will miss the South American summer, the beauty of Northern Patagonia and the people I met, but I am super excited to get the skis in some powder and the ice tools swinging once again!!

The Adventures of Sarah and Brad in Argentina Part I

Sarah finally arrived to town and after a night in Bariloche we decided to rent a car and head to the very small town (if you can even call it a town) of Piedra Parada for some rock climbing and to escape the incoming rain in Bariloche. We had been planning on heading to this climbing destination for awhile after viewing the video from the Petzl Rock Trip www.youtube.com/watch?v=QllWNEGBKic a few years ago and deciding it was a must visit location! 

Piedra Parada (standing rock) It is the inside of an old volcano, the outside has eroded and all that is left is the magma chamber from within.

The spot not only lived up to the expectations we had for it, but the beauty of the river and the amazing rock easily exceded them! It was probably one of the most incredible and fun places I have ever rock climbed!

The great entrance sign!

Mario's Ranch camping common area.

We showed up to the beautiful camping area on Mario's Ranch and immediatly loved the quaint and fun vibe that the area had. Sans a guide book we headed into the canyon only to be pointed to climb a 6b we later found out was called Mickey Mouse and one of the most classic climbs in the canyon. The rock is volcanic and many climbs have the characteristics of Swiss Cheese with featues that provide incredible big jug holds on overhanging rock. I often found myself laughing every time I reached for the next hold because they were all so unique and different than anything I have ever climbed before!

Sarah sending through the cheese pockets!

Laughing my way through the fun holds on the rock!

Inside the Canyon

The quick fix on my broken sunglasses :(

Our awesome camp table and the spot of many Truco games (the national card game) won by Sarah.

When you don't have a cork screw sometimes you just gotta break the bottle!

We met many fun foreign climbers and it seemed like there wasn't a single bad route in the canyon! Of the many nights we spend in the canyon, we mad a small drive to the smallest town around to watch the Bronco's (my favorite team) face off agains the Seahawks (Sarah's favorite team) in the Super Bowl, the local patron's had a lot of fun watching with us and chearing for both teams, although there was much more chearing being had for the Seahawks :(   Unfortunately tho, after an excelent trip in the canyon, toward the end of our trip the weather started to turn bad (darn you Patagonia!!) Sarah and I started looking at the map and deciding where to go next when we spoted a hot springs 100 kilometres away in Chile! It didn't take too much convinving to pack up our tent, leave the wind and rain and start driving!

We made it to Chile safe, and were amazed at how lush and river full the Futaleufu and Pumalin National Park area's were!

A road side water fall!

Not too far from home, cows roam the roads here just as in Montana.

 

Picture break!

We spent one afternoon in Pumalin National Park, and then took off to sit in our sought after El Amarillo Thermal Pool! The pool had a quaint mountain rainforest location and we shared the spot with many Argentines who enjoyed spending the day with us Gringo's.

The beautiful mountain hot springs location!

Soothing our sore bodies from the many hard days climbing!

Hot shower with our Chilean friend before a cold river dip!!

Now back in Bariloche, its time to refuel with some good street food and beer! Hopefully the weather will allow for a short trip to Frey before we have to fly back to the US!

The Argentine Adventures of Brad and The Bash Brothers

After our day climbing near the lake, the storm really started to move in. The weather did not mess around switiching from hot hot summer to cold fall and winter in alpine areas like Frey, dropping snow in the mountains. Since we didn't want to wait around 2 days for the storm to pass, we decided to head to the desert (only 40km away) for dry climbing! Thank God that the Bash Brothers have a car and can make this possible. We headed back to Villa Llanquin (where Bob and I previously spend a week) this time with The Bash Brothers, Camila (Marco's Girlfriend), and Tyler (a friend of mine from the Hostel I am staying at). We had a great day escaping the rain and Camila even did her first lead!

The whole crew

Out of the Crux and into the jugs I go!

Rock album cover

The next day the weather was seemingly getting better and we decided to risk our luck being optimists and head to Ventanna to climb (an area beautifully situated above the lakes in town). Although the day was partly sunny and we got glimpses of the snow covered peaks and Fray, it was also partly rainy and we were constantly switching coats.

First sunshine and views in 2 days! The Mountains got quite a dusting of snow

The distant view of Frey

Deciding that we weren't going to risk our luck again with the bad weather, Santi and I decided to head to the desert again this time to the Enchanted Valley with his friend Thomas from Buenos Aires. The Enchanted Valley is this amazing sport climbing area on super featured volcanic towers perched right next to the Limay river. The weather was perfect, with beautiful blue skies and sunny weather for the first time in a few days! Santi and his friend Thomas were busy working on 8a and 8b projects respectivly (wicked hard!!!) while I was having plenty of fun climbing in the 6's!

Thomas projecting an 8b

The beautiful view across the Limay.

The next day, Santi needed rest and Marcos and I decided to head out to a sub alpine granite area called Cerro Lopez only 15 min from where we were camped. We could not have picked a better day and climbed an incredible 6 pitch route called the Thunder and The Zebra! The route was a little slabby and run out for my liking, but I was able to free my mind of fear and truck on when it was my turn to lead.

Marcos and I pre climb!

the wall we were about to scale!

water fall on the hike in!

Awesome summit pic from the top of Cerro Torre what a beautiful day!

After getting down the route safely (thank God we had a 70m rope, ARG guide books aren't reliable), we were welcomed back to our cabin with a big Argenetine asada (BBQ) dinner!

Santi the Asadador! (you always clap for the griller when the food comes to the table)

The BBQ included 2 types of chorizo and steak with a salad! It was grilled over wood and charcoal. Mmmmmm! We even finished the night with some Malbec and a few games of Truco (the national card game).

The next day Santi wanted to finish his project at The Enchanted Valley, so we headed out for another day in the sun and finished with a dip in the beautiful Limay River!

Down valley on the Limay

Acorss the river more climbing is to be had, as long as you have a boat!

Santi almost finishing his 8a project (1 take.... soooo close!)

Me flailing on a hard overhanging route!

Yesterday was my last day with the Bash Brothers and thus, we decided to go out with a bang and head to the Psicobloc for the day for some deep water soloing. It was a great way to finish off a great trip with them. They provided me with such great Argentinian hospitality and it was great being able to get a closer look to the culture of the country. Mate, asada, mayo, cookies for breakfast, driving ARG style etc... Hopefully it will not be the last time that we climb and adventure together!

Here are some fun pictures from the sunny day!!

The Beautiful Psicobloc!!

Bash Brothers going Bash Style!!

Marcos sending high as Santi hits the water!

Me, getting scared!!

Santi attempting the hard side (of course).

Now that the bash brothers are off to El Chalten I am taking a rest day or two to do laundry recoop my muscles and get ready for the next 2 weeks, when my awesome girlfriend Sarah will come to town (on Thursday!) and we will rent a car and head to Piedra Parada, and who knows where else!

Ciao for now!