Aventuras: June 2008

No, not the two sisters I met downtown last night... two of the 10,000 ft volcanoes outside of town here, and nearby Mt. Bailey. The spring/summer corn harvest is ON, and we've been taking full advantage.

The first, and probably most challenging of the three was Middle Sister.

Friends Jackie, Stacey and I started at Pole Creek outside of Sisters, hauling fairly heavy packs 4 miles in to about treeline.

We camped out at the foot of the Hayden glacier, which would be our route up the mtn the next morning. Things were looking grim after the half block of cheddar got air-lifted by a ravenous raven, only to find the shredded wrapper a few hundred yards away 30 minutes later.

However, sunset that evening over the Cascades more than made up for it.

With a shotgun start at 4:30am, we began making our way up.

Sunrise on the glacier... que linda.

We followed this ridgeline up to the saddle between Middle and North Sister.

At the saddle, we ditched the skins and got ready to really start going up.

On the summit by about 8:30am!!

Here's the view north from the top. That's Mt. Hood in the distance. We could even see mt Adams and mt St. Helens past that, but they don't show in this pict.

Next up, South Sister. They had just opened the road to access South Sister from the south, still a 12 mile roundtrip slog to the summit.

Despite a chance of afternoon showers, my buddy Jody and I decided to go for it on the summer solstice.

It was crazy windy up top...

Ominous skies were looming to the south.

But we made it back to the car just before the rain hit. :)

Friends Pete, Alicia, Jen and I made a quick run up on Bachelor on a bright sunny day.

It was little Cooper's first time skiing... what a trooper!!

Finally, Alex and I made our second attempt at Mt. Bailey... after getting weathered out once earlier this season.

The wildflowers were out in full bloom on the southeast ridge.

Bailey overlooks Mt. Thielson and Diamond Lake.

The dayz are getting shorter again, and we're still surfing these mountains!!!

Nice litte dip in Diamond Lake to top the day off.

I've really been slacking at putting up this post, but here it is... spent a good part of April and May in Argentina rendezvousing with two viejos amigos de futbol from UMR. Hass flew in from Sioux Falls, and Sebastian lives in Palermo, Buenos Aires. A dangerous trio, let the fun begin!

Flew into Buenos Aires, and spent the first week living the big city life.

Of course there was plenty of fine wines and meat!

The nightlife in Buenos Aires was loco!

We made it to the "Superclassico" match of Boca Jrs. and River Plate at Boca's home stadium... two of the biggest soccer clubs in Buenos Aires and one of the longest standing rivalries in the world!! Neither the game nor the crowd dissapointed as it was the craziest atmosphere I've ever witnessed for any sporting event, and Boca won 1-0!

Check out the video of the cheering that I put together at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK6sAgguP-4

Sebi and his brothers Martin and Pablo with us at the game.

Sebi brought us to a friend's wedding reception.

Hass and I with Sebastian's dad

Street Market

We got to hang out with Sebi's family a bit. He's got 3 sisters and 3 brothers!!

With Sebastian working full time and going to school, Hass and I packed up and took a 20 hr bus ride southwest to Bariloche.

Bariloche is a ski town in northern Patagonia with lots of surrounding lakes, fruit, and good beer! This is the view from our hostel!

We rented mtn bikes for a day and cruised around the circuito chico.

The autumn weather was beautiful for lots of good hiking around the area.

Ooooo that water was cold!

One hike we did took us to the top of the ski area "Cerro Catedral" apprpriately named after the Cathedral-like jagged spires at the top of the mtn.

The views up there were amazing!

Hass and I at the top.

Friends at our hostel "Pudu" which is named after a tiny species of deer. With good local beer on tap, vibrant young owners, and only $10/night I'd definitely recommend this hostel.

We took a beautiful 2 hr bus ride south to a town called El Bolson, which means "big bag." El Bolson is in a fertile valley right below mt Piltriquitron, which is said to give off positive ions. The vibe kinda reminded me of Mt. Shasta, CA.

Something like 70% of the nations hops are grown in this area, hence the good beer selection.

After Hass left, I headed to Mendoza... wine country!

Hermanas!

Gaston's birthday party at the hostel.

Mendoza is located at the foothills of the eastern slope of the Andes, much like Denver. One of the best ski resorts in South America, Las Lenas is a couple hour drive up the pass towards Santiago, Chile... of course I was a month or two early for the ski season.

Near the top of the pass and border crossing, you can get good views of Cerro Aconcagua. At almost 23,000 ft, Aconcagua is the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas. It costs about 1,500 euros and two weeks to get outfitted to the top of this baby... maybe another day.

A natural Inca bridge.

Mendoza has got a great big beautiful park with a lake.

Due to the volcanic eruption in Chile while I was down there, my plans to go further south in Patagonia were cancelled. Instead, I headed further north to a town called Puerto Iguazu... at the "tres fronteras" corners of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. In this picture, I'm looking out at Brazil on the right and Paraguay on the left, all separated by rivers.

This part of Argentina is more of a jungle, which made for some interesting wildlife.

And of course, the reason that everyone comes to Puerto Iguazu is to see the cataratas (waterfalls).

The Iguazu falls is a bit of a tourist trap, but for good reason. One of the natural wonders of the world, there are 275 falls along a 2 mile stretch of river... bigger than Niagra!