A Little Skiing Out of Ushuaia

Ushuaia harbor.

Got out skiing for a few hours today. No real plan…just cruise up to the glacier and tour around to get my legs back under me and grab a feel for the conditions. I’m glad I brought a couple pairs of skis with me, since the snow conditions are extremely variable, ranging from 6” of powder on top of crust, to…well…just crust. I skied on some fattish skis today, but I think I will opt for some narrower and shorter ones tomorrow…just to switch things up.

Alaska’s Scott Fennell, skis with the wind.

One thing is for sure, is that when the wind blows down here…it freaking howls, and at times it was all I could do to stand up and/or stay on the slope. Of course the wind seemed to really kick in right when the shin track was traversing a steep and firm slope, or when I was booting a short steep and firm section with skis in hand without wearing crampons. Luckily the temps aren’t that chilly, so it makes it a bit more bearable.

The terrain in really cool around here, with steep sided canyons lined with tons of couloirs, both long and short. However, since I am now in the southern hemisphere, I have to keep reminding myself that the south facing stuff holds the good, as opposed to the north facing slopes being more powdery in the northern hemisphere.

Religion in Ushuaia.

Skiing with Scott Fennell from Alaska today, was little hard to really get good photos today, since every time we started to descend, the wind came in or it was just really flat light. My roommate here at the hotel shows up today, Thomas Laakso from Black Diamond, and I hope he can bear the music I have rocking out of my little iPod speakers, since it’s literally all Pearl Jam. Not like that is a bad thing though.

The town of Ushuaia has a population of close to 70,000.
Click photo for larger image.