Monday August 13th was a milestone day for the Avalanche Professional community. SnowProject (the Argentinean business I work for in South America), delivered the 1st gathering of Snow and Avalanche professionals in Argentina and Chile. Workshops on Snow Fracture Mechanics, Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain, New techniques in avalanche rescue, and the latest rescue equipment attracted significant attention among the Argentinean and Chilean participants.
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| Primer Encuentro de Profesionales de La Ciencia de la Nieve y Avalancha. |
The days prior to the event were very busy with logistics and finalizing didactical material, but the Argentinean are serious about the "Asado", an dI had an overdosis of meat and protein!
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| Erik and Julian (Owners of SnowProject making dinner preparations) |
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| Asado in an Argentinean grill - flash picture |
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| Asado in an Argentinean grill - picture lighted by coals |
Sunday morning, before spending the whole day working with the workshop material, I went on an early morning jog for 5 kms along the lake. The night sky is so different from the northern hemisphere, and everybody should at some point in their lives visit the southern hemisphere to get a view at amazing night sky with different star formations.
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| Lacar Lake in the morning with cerro Sabanas in the background to the left. |
Anyhow, I guess most want to know how is the snow. The simple answer is, wet at lower elevations and dense at mid elevations, and windblown at higher elevations. Yesterday ski tour was the first time in the snow since mid June 2012, when I skied in the Sawtooths. needles to say, It feels so GOOD to be touring again! Even when the snow was less than ideal, I loved every minute of the ski tour.
We started the ski tour from the base of Cerro Chapelco, the local ski resort. But we headed to the west and away form the ski resort.
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| At the base of the climb. Horses are available for "horse back riding" in the snow. |
Erik and I climb through the Lenga forest. among quiet and wonderful terrain.
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| Erik |
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| Chago with obscured Cerro Escalonado and C4 Peak |
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| Chago |
After spending few hours wondering in the woods, we skinned to the resort boundary and skied back to the resort base. The conditions above tree line did not look promising, the wind was howling and the snow was heavy.
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| Ski Run at Chapelco Ski resort named "El Italiano". |
After we returned to San Martin, I visited tha grocery store, got fresh vegetables for my first cook session in Argentina. I have to point out, the eggplants here are beautiful! It is a shame I had to cook them and not use them for decoration.
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| Chago cooking. |
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| Grilled red peppers with cheese stuffed with sautéed eggplant, garlic, tomatoes, and carrots, and green raisins. |
Some other Argentineans were also doing cool dishes, chek the picture for a baked dish I have NO idea what it is. But I have to tell you - IT LOOKED DELICIOUS!
I am going ski touring in few minutes. Check the blog tomorrow for video and pictures.
