Category: Outdoors

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In the presence of giants

Two days of near perfect weather welcomed us to the austral paradise of El ChaltƩn. As our bus pulled into the town and we saw Fitz Roy and its neighboring peaks dominating the horizon as the sun set, the energy of the mountains struck us. The beauty of the landscape and excitement about tackling the next climb or trek filled the town, and no matter where we went, we overheard snippets of shared beta, retelling of gorgeous days in the mountains, and in typical Patagonia fashion, rumors of the next weather window.

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Hello, Patagonia!

We thought that weā€™d be short on light when we arrived at around 7PM to the airport at El Calafate. However, after taking a bus to town, walking and checking in to our hostel, and going grocery shopping, we still caught the sunset at 10PM! Our time in this beautiful town was short and sweet ā€“ limited basically to our night at the hostel and a visit to the Perito Moreno glacier.

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Cathedral Pass

After an incredible night’s sleep, we awoke in Lyell Canyon ready for a more mellow day of hiking. We began by walking through the lush river valley, stopping often to admire the wildlife and scenery. Eager to see what the trail had in store for us, I took the lead and nearly walked into a deer casually grazing feet from the trail. One of us was startled, and it wasn’t the deer!

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Donohue Pass and Lyell Canyon

Day 2 took us over Donohue pass and into the beautiful Lyell canyon

We woke up to gorgeous skies on the second day, and started off to tackle Donohue Pass, our most elevation gain in a single day of the entire hike. The trail (which was more of a series of 50 foot muddy segments split by large patches of snow) began by descending toward a rushing river. After admiring many waterfalls, we reached a water crossing where we encountered a group (pack? school?) of PCT hikers, who splashed right through the cold water rather than finding the dry log bridge.

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Multisport day

Mammoth is a pretty rad town – after a day of snowboarding, Alan joined me at the local crag for a few climbs. The approach was a casual three minute flip flop hike, and this was our beautiful view from the top of the wall!