Cold Rain and Snow

In case you were wondering, the answer is yes, the weather does get worse.

We went back up to the Refugio for another week. Most of the time up there was spent waiting for the weather to change. Which it really did not. We got up there just as the wind arrived. You really don't notice bad weather until the last kilometer of the hike up. So it was an enjoyable hike up. We just had food in our packs so we moved quickly. The wind didn't hit us until the last 100 meters of the 10 kilometer hike. Wow, it really hit this time though. I was literally leaning into the wind and it was completely supporting me. The night time was fairly windy and the next day was pretty poor weather. We got out and climbed a bit in the afternoon but it really wasn't too enjoyable. Luckily this time we brought a lot of food with so at least we ate well every night.

The next few days were more of the same. We just became pretty tolerant of poor weather. It was cold. You know the type of weather where you can't feel if your fingers are holding onto the rocks but you have an incredibly painful sensation in your fingertips so you assume it's a good hold. Well, a few of those days in a row will really break a girl. I did say more than once how "I only ever want to climb at Indian creek." turns out I'm somewhat of a fair weather climber... Last night rained. All. Night. Long. Then we woke up and it began to snow sideways, backwards huh? So we came back to Bariloche in the wettest hike ever reported in history.

Despite the suffering we did get some nice little day hikes in and the snow certainly made for some wonderful scenery.  Good thing we had such good company up there too.  There was a strong crew of hopeless fools waiting for a window to squeeze in another pitch before letting the truth of the matter become a reality.  We played plenty of card games and  laughed, a lot!

We are beginning to think of some warmer options for the next few weeks. If we anted cold and snow, we would be home skiing with all of you! There will be plenty of time for all of that when we return so for now, we are on a suns out buns out mission!

Peace love health all ways!