Antarctica 2011

Orcas!

Summiting some remote peak in King George Island!

I finally, seated down and sorted out some pictures from trip to Antarctica, pictures says more than anything!!

We left Nov 8th, with 4-6 foot seas across the

Drake Passage

We visited first South Shetlands Islands, where we didnt land as first since was in a total blizzard, then at the end of our journey we came back to ski there with sun!

Compared to Antarctica trip in 2009, weather was more challenging what personally I like it more, as my Slovenians friends said to me once in Patagonia: " grr, is sunny.. Sunny is ok, but bad weather, yes ... adventure!! " I love blizzards!!"

Anyway, we went south all the way to the Anvers Island through one of the most beautiful places on Earth , the Neumeyer Channel, skiing near Mt Franze area and across that area in the continent we skied beautiful peaks surrounded by amazing fiords near Almte Brown Base (Arg)

That area offer endless, endless opportunity for backcountry skiers, sometimes the limitation could be the access , the strong winds and the packed ice where is difficult to transit in the little zodiacs.

Our crossing back through the Drake Passage was amazing and wild, finding big seas of 30 ft , the wildest experience that I had in the ocean!

Huge huge thanks to Doug and Karyn, thanks to First Ascent for support too!

Thanks to the crew on the Clipper, to Laurie and his zodiac crew, to captain Gunner!

... thanks to life! Yahhhhuee!

Skiing the farm!

leopard seal below!

More pictures in our facebook page here :

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150418601769796.379794.76867224795&type=1

Exploring, driving and Skiing 1400 km along the Patagonian Andes

Road tripping in hidden Patagonia , skiing and exploring more and more every year

keep reading below is the full story ...

Camilla Skiing in Magical turquoise Patagonia

Camilla skinning and dealing with Patagonian winds somewhere in Deeper Patagonia

We just finished a 12 days ski journey driving and exploring valleys and peaks, leaving from Bariloche at 7.00am on Oct 15th 2011 and just made it back home this afternoon Oct 29th.

This was one of the most beautiful ski trips in Patagonia that I have done, and skiing was really only the excuse to explore and see new places, because half of the time we were hiking, driving and just a percentage was skiing, but this is what it takes to get to new terrain and see more off the beaten path. The plan was about driving and stopping in the places we found worth it to take some days and get into deeper mountains.

Personally I would had like to have 30 days to do this trip, or maybe my entire life to explore and ski some of the most scenic peaks along the way from Bariloche all the way south to El

Chalten, where Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre are located. But of course is not all about skiing, driving, eating, sleeping and laughing but I wish it was sometimes... (or maybe this should be the life plan?? )

We explored some valleys in Cerro Castillo area where was amazing the amount of potential skiing that is down there, some terrain tricky to access but in general stays excellent for Backcountry skiing in Chile until early November.

Cerro Castillo area, the entrance of the Wild Patagonia where winds, peaks and glaciers gets a bigger dimension

Exploring and skiing back valleys in Southern Chile

Hanging out in Local Gaucho ranch after getting soaking wet until our underwear!!

Fitz Roy area offers all kind of excellent ski terrain, culuoirs/ chutes of 700/800 mts, glaciated peaks, peaks in the Patagonian Ice cap , etc... all what you can imagine.

Access could be tricky sometimes too, but not too bad ...

Tom earned his turns to ski right below Fitz Roy, Mermoz and Guillaumet...

Thanks Tom and Camilla for your support in coming in this trip, specially for your flexibility in dealing with the Patagonian weather, the rustic lodging and the wild roads. Is a trip for people with a good sense of adventure!

Dont miss the pictures and check more in Our Facebook page... thanks for reading

Camilla Skiing in Magical turquoise Patagonia

What was happening September and October?

One of the most beautiful things that happened this September was to work with the guys of www.southpolepush.com:

Two adaptive athletes, with the attitudes of Bulldozers, are training with two guides to get the team to the South Pole this next January 2012. They came to the Argentinian Andes to pull sleds behind their sit-skis, camp out on the ice, and PUSH towards their goal.

They have the power and the attitude that inspires others to "push" their own limitations. Johnny D. has continued training as a professional athlete and achieved 2 Paralympic Gold Medals. Grant, aka Captain Korgan, suffered a spinal cord injury less than 2 years ago and is a person that only inspires love. His happiness taught me a lot. Because he does not leave room for anything other than positive thoughts, he has already recovered feeling and movement to his knees. Check his site here...http://www.korgmovement.com/

Also this winter, we did more than six backcountry skiing trips to Frey hut, finding the classic chutes and skiing in between the golden spires, and found some nice new hidden terrain.

We have tons of pictures, but thanks to GO PRO we have a nice little video to share ...

So, now we are in October , and I just came back from a trip from the Volcanoes tour in Chile where we climbed with Tom and his friends. Volcan Osorno, Volcan LLaima through the North face of the beautiful challenging 2000 mts climb. Then we did also Volcan Lonquimay, first in a total blizzard getting 200mts below summit and then again in good powder/ corn day .

Also , we did half way of Volcan Villarica due bad weather and awful conditions (no visibility and super icy)

As you might now the winter was strange due delays, cancellations on flights because Volcan Puyehue ashes... but here we are moving forward... check how it looks the constant eruption of Puyehue from top of Volcan Osorno!!

Tomorrow, 15th of October we are heading to Cerro Castillo and Southern Patagonia to ski the last of spring in Deeper remote Patagonia before heading to Antarctica for most of November!!

That's all Folks!!

Jorge Kozulj

www.andescross.com

August have been amazing for skiing in Bariloche area

During this first week of August 2011 we have been skiing in "Fairyland", amazing tree skiing in the Andes of Bariloche area with a foot and more of fresh snow...

We haven't had the opportunity of skiing in the alpine much due stormy weather, but

really we can not have it all, so storm=snow, snow=powder and fun!!

Here some pictures from the last days in Northern Patagonia!

Now starting a beautiful 9 days adventure and hope we get the same conditions!

When in Bariloche is stormy, you can always ski amazing "Lord of the Rings" forest!

Thank you for reading and keep up to date with snow and mountain conditions in Argentina in Our Facebook page or reading our blog !

Marcos and Norway team giving hard time to his mountain guide!

Marcos leaving his ski tracks in Wonderland !

Ole, shredding hard in the Patagonian Trees...

© All pictures - Jorge Kozulj-www.andescross.com

Skiing Argentina July 2011

This last week of July we had an excellent week of backcountry skiing using the lifts

of Alta Patagonia Cerro Catedral in Bariloche to access the goods. The snow have been spectacularly dry without wind what keep powdery conditions during the past days.

Also, we have been skiing in Volcan Copahue, Caviahue in between Mendoza and Bariloche having a great volcano skiing adventure for few days.

Today, 31st of July, was an awesome skiing day, lap after lap until our legs got totally exhausted, the conditions in the backcountry of Bariloche area are amazing right now.

You know how it is when the powder bug bites you, you need to keep going on an on until the alpenglow!!

More new snow expected after this mid-week!

Here some pictures of skiing the Andes of Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina this last few days!

Enjoy and come to visit!