Argentina Blog 2010

So this is the last blog entry for the Peak Leaders 09 Argentina course…….sad times. The unfortunate truth is that I’m now sat at home in my parents living room, trying to ignore the carriage clock ticking in my ear, and reminiscing about the last week we spent in Argentina. Although the aforementioned week involved a lot of travelling it’s a week that I will never forget as it opened our eyes to another side of Argentina, one that didn’t involve steak houses, ski slopes and Jagerbombs!

After an epic night in Esquel, Eskeletor as it’s affectionately known by the locals, many of us hadn’t caught much sleep so it was a relief to know we were about to embark on a 10 hour bus journey. The journey, which the majority of us slept through, took everybody across the Patagonian desert, the biggest desert in South America, to Puerto Madryn on the Atlantic coast. Without visiting Argentina you can’t really understand how empty the middle of Patagonia actually is; we’d literally drive for two hours without seeing a single settlement or car. The road we took was very straight, in ill-repair and surprisingly narrow, just about wide enough to fit two cars side by side…..which was surprising considering it was the main road that ran from the east to the west of Patagonia. It seems that the Patagonian’s don’t really have much need or desire to travel around their country, as a people they stay fairly fixed and get on with whatever they do in their local area. Anyway, I’d love to tell you all about the scenery but for the majority of time I was sound asleep; nevertheless you’ll hear all about it when we travel back to Bariloche, later in the blog.

Before arriving at Puerto Madryn we made a quick stop at a famous Welsh Tea House ‘Ty Te Caerdydd’ for afternoon tea. The place was a little surreal with a giant tea pot in the garden, little old ladies running around serving tea from pots with pink tea cosies and pictures of Princess Diana literally everywhere. It seems Diana had visited the Tea House in the mid nineties because it was one of the most revered in the whole of Patagonia……she obviously hadn’t tried the Plum jam, minging. Anyway, none of us had the heart to tell the owner, a tall dark Welsh looking fellow, that Princess Di was no longer with us, so we ate a vast array of cakes and sandwiches in relative silence in the comfort his living room then left. Once we arrived at Puerto Madryn, around 9pm, the majority of trainees either went to bed or tried to grab a table at one of Puerto Madryn’s famous fish restaurants.

The next day was a very relaxed affair, for most anyway! I believe the only trainee to wake-up before midday was Sophie Ward who took a brisk run along the beachfront to view the crimson flocks of Flamingo’s. The remainder of us met in the hotel lobby at 1pm to jump on a bus to view a colony of Sea Lions. At this point a few foolhardy trainees, led by Hamish ‘Armstrong’ Carmichael, thought it would a good idea to cycle the 12km to the nature reserve. Needless to say an hour later we passed this foolhardy gang 7 or 8km into our journey, at the back were James and Tim who couldn’t wait to tell us their harrowing tales of cycling on sand and other such tales of desperation and woe. At the front, a mile or further on, were Kathrine ‘the machine’ Liver and Petty who didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about. On arrival at the nature reserve the smell of fish was overwhelming, which isn’t the most pleasant smell. A short walk to a viewing platform overlooking the Atlantic and down below us lay a colony of over one hundred Sea Lions, a weaving mass of grey and brown that occasionally parted when the males began getting rowdy with one another. During this time David and Sophie made us all feel completely inadequate with the size of their camera lenses…..I’m not ashamed to say I had lense envy. After a while we’d seen enough of the Sea Lions and in honesty the smell had got too much for most of us, so some of us boarded the bus and a few trainees cycled back. That night, whilst at dinner, a bomb was dropped; apparently the only road between Puerto Pyramids, where we planned on watching the Whales, would be closed from 7am in the morning which meant a very very early start.

Half dead the trainees descended upon breakfast at 5am, it wasn’t a pleasant site. Back on the bus for 6am and we were off along the coastal rode to Puerto Piramide as the sun rose over the Atlantic. Puerto Madryn is a strange place, strangely enough it has all the charm of a run-down Kent/Sussex sea-side resort. It would be very easy to forget you’re in South America were in not for the half built tower blocks, mass of Ford and Chevrolet trucks grunting up and down the gridded roads and the endless mix mash of randomly designed housing…no building in Puerto Madryn bares a single resemblance to any other building in Puerto Madryn. Anyway, after a two hour drive through the dawn we arrived at Puerto Piramide, a small fishing/tourist port that sat on a beautiful beach surrounded by sandy hills. Puerto Piramide sits on the Valdes Peninsula looking back across a giant bay to Puerto Madryn, which is so far away you can’t even see it when you’re stood on the top of the cliffs. Unlike Puerto Madryn, Puerto Piramide has a sleepy feel to it, wooden shacks line the beach with hastily nailed together wooden signs….unsurprisingly the old clichés like Moby Dick’s Whale tours and Captain Hooks Restaurant shamelessly made an appearance. As we’d arrived so early we all piled into a beachfront restaurant, much to the dismay of the barman who clearly thought he’d been given the graveyard shift, to have coffee administered intravenously. After a quick shot of the good stuff myself, Charlie Baddeley and Alex Willan decided to scale the highest hill in the area to view the port and the surrounding landscape and fifteen minutes later we’d succeeded….without Oxygen!

After a couple hours spent hanging around and enjoying the sea breeze we all grabbed a lifejacket and boarded the giant Zodiac that was perched on the beach. Apparently the locals aren’t allowed to build a peer within the national park area so the boat operators have to use giant tractors to pull the boats in and out of the water on big metal trailers. Once on our way the captain, a stereotypically bearded and heavily weathered gentleman, navigated away from the beach and out to the depths. The purpose of this trip was to see the Southern Right Whale which comes to the Valdez Peninsula to breed. Southern Right Whales are pretty big; fully grown females can grow as long as 18.5 metres and can weigh up to 130 tonnes, which is roughly twice as much as a Challenger II tank. Less than five minutes into our tour we could see in the distance a young calf jumping out of the water so the captain carefully made his way through the choppy water to the where the calf had last been spotted. Once we got close to the calf and its mother the captain skilfully manoeuvred the boat alongside and all the trainees’ lept to the side of the boat that the Whales were on. Even Lara, who’s arm was in a serious cast, wasn’t shy about muscling in on the action. As the calf lept continuously into the air, in an attempt to hit the pestering seagull that hovered above, the mother popped her head out occasionally for a breath of air, leaving behind a stinking cloud of water vapour. After an hour spent following Whales back and forth across the bay everybody seemed to have taken photos that David Bailey would have been proud of so we headed back to shore passing other wildlife on the shore, including a gulp of White-Bellied Shag Cormorants (thank you Wikipedia) and a lone male Sea Lion bathing on the rocks. Once on land the trainees went for lunch at one of the many shack restaurants that lined the sandy streets of Puerto Piramide. Once everybody had eaten we took a short drive to the nature reserve’s museum and on to a beach to view yet more whales. On this occasion they were no more then 30 metres from the beach, frantically paddling against the incoming swell and onshore winds in an effort not to be beached. That night a few of the trainees hit the town but I think it can be safely concluded that Puerto Madryn is severely lacking in any South American flair when it comes to nightlife.

The next day was an epic bus journey that started at Puerto Madryn and finished 800km away at El Boson where the final party was being held. There’s not much point in describing the whole journey to you as it’ll bore you to tears but I’ll briefly describe the scenery as it was so epic. The Patagonian desert is a vast sandy landscape with wide rivers running calmly through it and large sandy hills that have been blown into all manner of shapes by the wind. Occasionally in the low sheltered valleys you’ll see a ranch; visible only by the tall, narrow willow-like trees that shelter it from the wind and afternoon sun. As the majority of the landscape is formed from sandstone and other sedimentary rocks there are lots of canyons and rock faces with very little in the way of vegetation except for bushes and tufts of grass. The roads are narrow and very straight; it seems as though they only bend if there is a sizeable geographical feature in the way. Anyway, as we drove closer to the Andes and gained a bit of height large pools of salt water appeared along the side of the road and to my amazement a lone Flamingo sat in the middle of one minding his own business. Natasha, who was sat next to me, clearly thought I’d been toking on the old Crack pipe when I stood up and shouted that I’d just seen a lone Flamingo in the middle of the desert. Fortunately Ivan (the everlasting-know-it-all) explained that it was quite common to see Flamingo’s in this part of the desert and my credibility was restored. As we neared the Andes the sun set over the snow capped peaks and cries of ‘are we there yet’ reverberated around the bus.

We arrived at the party venue at around 11pm and in fairness the vast majority of trainees were tired and not in the mood for partying. The venue was Nico’s parents restaurant, a homely little restaurant in the middle of nowhere that resembled a Hobit’s house. After a feast of Lamb and pumpkin stew and a few Stella’s, premium beer in Argentina, it was time for the prize giving. As I’d been living with everyone for the past 9 weeks it was difficult to choose prize winners, as everybody had improved so dramatically, but there were some skiers and snowboarders that had really excelled and caught the eye of their BASI trainers and Argie instructors. Prizes this year were handed out to the following people:

Friendliest and most enthusiastic trainees – Milla Ralph and Rosie Leach

Course joker – Will Murphy

Most promising instructor – Dan Hunt

Best freestyle snowboarder – Neil Patterson

Best freestyle skiers – Alex Morgan, Adam Coombs, Harry Lloyd, Jon Wade, Ed Pycraft and Charlotte Vantreen

Most improved snowboarders – Claire Craig and Andrew Lomax

Most improved skiers – Michael Davies and Ed Barry

After the prizes had been given out Colo and Ivan handed out certificates to everybody and the DJ, Nico’s brother, began pumping out Techno beats from behind the bar. As it had been a long day of travelling a large proportion of the trainees took the early bus home to make the most of their last day in Bariloche…..and a fair amount of us stayed behind to watch Colo and Ed’s dancing, play drinking games and fall asleep in the corner of the restaurant.

The next day was a very chilled-out affair as most trainees did absolutely nothing except pack their belongings and prepare for a final big night in Bariloche. Most of us woke with a bit of a hangover and after a big concerted effort by all the hotel staff and trainees we managed to get Harry, Ed and Adam on the bus to the Airport. Once at the airport we managed to delay the plane for a good 20 minutes due to baggage issues then said our goodbyes to Ronnie, Ivan and Colo. After a two hour journey we arrived in Buenos Aires which was definitely a change of scenery. A short bus ride took us to our hotel in the centre of town and less than a couple of hours later everybody was sampling the restaurants and bars of BA. Needless to say the nightlife and beautiful women in Buenos are second to none, the place is a buzzing cosmopolitan that feels more like a European city than a lot of cities in Europe. After a few minutes searching through the pages of his Lonely Planet Nezza P, Neil’s alter ego, selected a top notch restaurant and despite having a few difficulties hailing a taxi we were soon sat in a beautiful restaurant called Cluny being served delicious food and cocktails by a gang of very helpful waiters. The service, food and drink were first-class and the whole experience cost us less than £25 each; back in London you’d be hard pressed to find the same for less than £100. After a highly entertaining meal we jumped in a taxi and made our way to a giant club overlooking the sea called Mint to watch the sun rise…..for your information clubs in BA don’t get going until 3am. The rest of the trainees found themselves in the VIP section of a Techno club called Crowbar, a night organised by Charlie and Alex. Anyway, we all spent the night break dancing and throwing shapes on the floor and before I’d even had a chance to look at my watch it had got to 7am in the morning and I was stood outside a club in the middle of nowhere, with no money, a gang of local women following me (honest!), a certain Caribbean Sunset haired trainee hanging upside-down in a tree and in less than an hour I had to ensure that 40 trainees got on the bus to the airport……..the rest is history!

Argentina; what an epic way to spend a summer.

So we’re already into week five and all of the trainees have completed their level 1instructor qualification, meaning they’ll be teaching on an indoor slope near you very soon. Almost three weeks have passed since I last updated the blog and a lot has happened since then, including a week of powder, a week of rain and a week of beautiful sunshine.

Before I update you on this week’s antics I better tell you all about the last couple of weeks and BASI 1.

The weekend after I last posted the last blog we’d had a small dump of snow so the conditions on Monday were pretty good, unfortunately visibility was still a little poor as a grey, murky line of cloud sat at 1800m. Similarly to the previous week the wind was blowing but it was nothing that the guys couldn’t handle. As the majority of the students had taken Sunday very easy the Argentine instructors unleashed their wrath and made the most of the early morning powder. Ita, a former protégée of Ivan, wasn’t shy in taking her trainees on a few detours through the bamboo fields and into the trees; I’m not lying when I say that the screams and laughter of Daniella and Sophie could be heard across the resort.

The next day will forever be known as ‘Tuesday Bloody Tuesday’ due to the amount of carnage that occurred on the slopes! As the snow on the hill was still in great condition and the trainees had all had an action-packed day on the slopes on Monday confidence was high…….possibly a little too high. Special mention has to go to Fred Alliot and Addie Freyne who both had nasty injuries but were soon back on the horse. In total I believe we had a total of 9 injured parties that day, poor Colo spent most of the day in the medical centre.  The rest of the week was spent getting the trainees up to speed and sessioning the great snow and amazing off-piste in-between the trees and bamboo. The local Argentine instructors really put the guys and girls through their paces and a lot of the trainees who had never really skied in deep snow were all pretty confident gunning it through the trees at Mach 10 in waste deep snow by the end of the week. Tommy, Jago, Ita, Ivan, Peti, Marky, Teti and Jorge all did a really good job at helping the trainees get to the standard they all needed to be at for their level 1, despite not a single piste seeing a basher for the entire week.

Thursday night of the aforementioned week was the exam results party. After a swift drink at the hotel bar we all headed the micro-brewery in Bariloche where the trainees sampled the various locally brewed Ales and Lagers; the general consensus was that 60% of the beers we tasted were close to undrinkable. Fortunately the 12% Barley wine was one such unpalatable beverage; this factor probably saved a few hangovers…..unlike the enormous shots of Tequila which were being conjured up by the sadistic barmen. After our appetites for exotic local ale were quenched, which didn’t take particularly long, we all headed to La Cantina for a night of trusty Quilmes, Vodka Speed (a local version of Red Bull, not the amphetamine) and DJ Liv B in the mix. 

The weekend was epic, Friday night began with the usual weekly assault by Peak Leaders on Bariloche’s steak restaurants in an effort to find the coveted ‘best Steak in town’ title; Taquina and Alberto’s were amongst the restaurants that were descended upon by the Ganit’s…...no Steer is safe in Argentina while we’re here. So on to Saturday; I’ve honestly never seen so much snow fall in 24 hours. So much snow fell that the roads up to the resort kept closing, only 2 lifts were open to the public and the Airport closed. This last point was very unfortunate for the BASI trainers who were due to land at Bariloche Airport on Saturday morning but were left circling the runway for an hour before heading back to Buenos Aires via a small airport further south. Unfortunately I can only really talk for the small number of trainees that I took up the mountain on Saturday but I’m sure they’ll agree that Saturday was one of the best days of the trip. The snow was so deep, all the way to the base of the resort, that if you fell over and lost a ski the likelihood was that you wouldn’t find it without an hour search…...as one of the crew discovered. After catching the first bus up the mountain; myself, Charlie ‘Bad Boy’ Baddeley, Will ‘Honeyboy’ Murphy, Dan ‘Bling Bling’ Hunt and Michael ‘Kenya’ Davies ditched the girls and beat a large gang of young American Snowboarders to the untouched powder in-between the trees….you’ll have to look at the photos to get a clearer understanding of how much fun we had. After a couple of runs through the trees to the base of the resort we decided to build a jump onto a snow-covered tree stump so the guys could get some decent photos for the album. During this kicker session Michael managed to bury one of his ski’s a meter and a half under the snow and Charlie survived a human cannonball attempt, despite this it was a lot of fun. We even managed to persuade Will ‘I honestly can’t do it’ Murphy to try the jump, Will probably won’t thank me for saying he was being a bit of a wimp that day….but hey, you win some and loose some.

Sunday was another epic day but Saturday nights antics meant that a few too many trainees didn’t make it up the hill early enough to make the most of the blue sky’s and ridiculously deep powder. True to form the Snowboarders, particularly David and Gavan, were probably camping outside the lift station in an effort to get the first, freshest lines down the mountain. Later that afternoon the BASI trainers arrived, tired but surprisingly upbeat. At the end of the day we all gathered for Sunday night’s general meeting where the trainers (Roy, Les, Ben, Blair, Rob, Andy and Julian) were introduced and chatted through the following weeks schedule and course content.

Monday was a big day for everybody…..it was everybody’s introduction to BASI and all the trainees were keen to impress. Unfortunately the weather that week had other plans; I’m not exaggerating when I say that it rained solidly for the entire week, washing all the snow at the base of the resort away, turning all that beautiful powder to a crusty and sometimes slushy mess. In fact so much rain fell and snow melted that the water level in Lago Gutierrez raised a meter in just four days. Nevertheless, if there was a week when the BASI trainers could get away with poor weather and snow conditions it was this week as the trainees would be getting to grips with the central theme; this comprises of the building blocks that all BASI instructors use to teach their students to control speed, direction and line. The week generally consisted of time spent on the nursery slopes working on the trainees’ central theme, a couple of assessed teaching sessions, a small bit of work on Piste performance and theory and video feedback in the evenings. As I stated at the beginning of the blog all of the trainees managed to pass their BASI level 1 despite the challenging conditions; which means I’m now looking after 63 official BASI instructors! Friday night was spent in Alberto’s sampling fine Argentine wine and Steak, yet again, then on to South Bar and finally Cantena. Unfortunately Saturday was a bit of a wash-out but above 1400m the snow fell fairly heavily which meant that Sunday, although a bit windy, was another beautiful day with great snow. The majority of trainees made it up the hill and those that didn’t really missed out. After a great day on the hill Ivan organised a party at the hotel; we had a huge BBQ (Argentine style) and Bariloche’s best Tango band and Tango instructors showing the trainees some moves. Claire and David made it look sickeningly easily, Aine and Michael really struggled to get to grips with the steps and Flavio stunned the female population of the course with his extreme dance moves…..I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s on Brazil’s version of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ once the course finishes.

Finally on to this week’s antics; perhaps the most noticeable change is that the weather has been absolutely amazing. Blue skies, pisted runs, grippy snow and warm afternoons; the best conditions possible for the trainees to progress. All of the trainees have improved dramatically over the past few days and are now skiing/riding like instructors, fingers crossed they can keep improving throughout the weekend ready for Monday. During the evenings all the trainees have had the opportunity to chill in the sunshine besides the lake or in the water, which Rosie discovered isn’t the best of ideas, they’ve also had the opportunity to attend extracurricular lectures from the BASI trainers concerning ‘finding a job’ and ‘the route through BASI after level 2 success’. The next two weeks are really important for everybody……but I’m sure they’re ready for it!

Tom

So it’s been a week since I last submitted a blog and I’m sure you’re all itching to here what everybody has been up to.....

Last week I finished the blog telling you that it had been raining down at the hotel and was hoping that this rain would be falling as snow in the resort. Well, that night it snowed up at the top of the resort so our first day was spent dipping in and out of the pockets of powder on Cerro Cathedral’s wide open slopes. The first thing that really strikes you about Cerro Cathedral is that the resort is surprisingly big; on the piste map 1000 vertical meters of skiable mountain doesn’t seem much when compare to an Alpine resort but you can find yourself skiing/riding for quite a while before you have to jump back on a lift. Also, during the week the slopes and lifts are practically empty so you can end up covering a fair distance during a day.

After a morning spent navigating the resort with our guides and looking specifically at the rules and regulations imposed by the FIS (Federation International de Ski) we headed to the mountain restaurant for a hearty meal and a welcome glass of Champagne. Once we’d all topped-up our energy levels we headed out for another few runs before taking the chairlift down the mountain as the poor snow-cover meant that 2/3 of the resort was closed. That night the team had their first mountain safety lecture delivered by one of Bariloche’s mountain guiding legends and all-round nice guy Nico. Although there were a few heavy eyes the lecture was incredibly interesting and hopefully gave the guys a much stronger understanding of how and why avalanches occur; I know that I walked away with a much better understanding. After dinner the majority of trainees hit the hay in preparation for another busy day.

When I woke on Tuesday morning I knew by looking at the sky that there was about to be a big dump of snow; if I’d been in the UK I’d of run outside and bough my washing in…..which is surprising coming from somebody who almost always gets it wrong and ends –up with wet clothes. In Patagonia the locals can tell that it’s about to snow if the Condor’s are circling the resort at the bottom of the mountain and sure enough, before catching the first lift up the mountain, we could see these elegant 9ft wide birds gliding majestically above our heads. Anyway, Tuesday was to be spent navigating Cerro Cathedral’s slopes and getting to grips with using avalanche rescue equipment. During the morning the trainees were introduced to using an avalanche transceiver, probing the snow for body’s and shovelling effectively; you’d be surprised to what extent the trainees struggled with the shovelling part! At the end of the day I descended the hill safe in the knowledge that if there was any chance I’d be avalanched in Argentina I had a team of guys that would be able to find me quickly and effectively…..although in the time they’d take to dig me out of the snow the likelihood is that I’d be frozen solid! That night, after another mountain safety lecture and dinner, a large group of trainees descended upon Bariloche for what turned out to be quite an eventful night for a few of the trainees. I almost forgot to mention that throughout Tuesday day and night the snow fell very heavily; so much so that snow had fallen as low as the hotel and 40cm of snow had fallen at the base of the resort.

At Wednesday morning’s breakfast a few of the trainees looked like they’d been tortured the night before…so much for the ‘few social drinks’ that had been promised at Tuesday’s dinner. Needless to say the programme ‘stops for no man…..or woman’ so after a few pints of Coffee and a long and slightly confused stare at their cereal the trainees made their way to the meeting room, (aka; Peaks Club, Club House, Hall of Love, Room of Doom, etc etc), for the first of the First-Aid lectures. Throughout the day I was surprised at how enthusiastic and involved the trainees were in the many drills and exercises. As an instructor you are always taught that the safety of the group is paramount and that ultimately a client’s life is your responsibility so I was pleased to see that the younger trainees were taking their responsibilities very seriously.

As Wednesday had been spent nursing hangovers and learning the basics of First-Aid in a classroom environment the trainees were very happy to be heading up the mountain on Thursday morning. At the base of the resort we were greeted by a snow-line that now continued all the way down to the resort, it had previously stopped 400m from the base meaning that skiers had to get a chairlift or Gondola back down the hill. Coincidentally Thursday was the first day that the sun was out and we could see the true beauty and splendour of Patagonia; I’m not exaggerating when I say that every view, from literally anywhere on the mountain, could have been a postcard. Throughout the day the mountain guides carried-out a number of exercises that gave the trainees a strong understanding of what to do if a medical emergency happened in a mountain environment…..they did a great job of holding the trainees attention, especially as there was so much powder around. Unfortunately, as group leader, I had the misfortune of having to ride between groups all day and therefore didn’t have a chance to shred the powder!!! Again lunch was fairly substantial and after food and a chat the trainees were soon bombing around the slopes trying to find the few remaining pockets of powder that I’d left them.

Friday……what a great day!! For the trainees this was the culmination of all the weeks exercises and lectures; a chance to take everything that they had learnt in the classroom and on the Piste to the backcountry. After picking-up our packed lunches from the crazy German bar/restaurant in resort and completing a few warm-up runs we unstrapped our ski’s and boards and began our hike through the deep unpisted snow to Cerro Cathedral’s hidden powder-filled slopes. About half way through the hike the trainees were split into their groups and were lectured on the different ways to monitor the profile of the snow; this is how resort staff and guides measure the stability of the snow…..you’ll all be pleased to know that on this particular day the snow was very very stable. With Nico, Jimmy, Craig, Colo and Lucas’s knowledge imparted we all climbed higher up the mountain where we took a break to eat our packed lunch. After lunch some of the trainees descended the backcountry to the frozen lake where they dug their own snow profiles and some of the other trainees, including me, followed Nico to the top of the mountain through a labyrinth of Rock’s and steep slopes. After a twenty minute hike we reached the summit where we had an unbelievable view of the resort and a great opportunity to take photo’s….not that anybody remembered to bring their camera! The ride back down the mountain was great fun and it was many of the trainees first attempt at riding a relatively steep and exposed section of off-piste; despite this they all skied/boarded very well and there were only a few tumbles which all ended in smiles and laughter……shortly followed by mockery and banter from the group. A special mention must go to Lara who ended upside-down on more than one occasion and who, whilst riding through the trees, managed to fall over a tree stump and down a hole only to be suspended by her board being caught on the aforementioned stump….in typical Lara fashion I found her giggling and completely unfazed by her ordeal!

On Friday night we all headed-out to a restaurant in Barlioche to celebrate Michael, Claire and Colo’s birthdays. A few drinks later the restaurant descended into chaos and the star attraction was no longer the steak but the vast array of previously undiscovered Argentine shooters. After the candles were blown out on the cakes everybody left the restaurant, to the owners relief, and made their way via a number of bars to Pacha where they mingled with Bariloche aristocracy, threw drinks on one another, fell asleep and danced with resident ballroom dancer and Peak Leaders trainee Rodhri. A good night was had by all which could be confirmed by the three people that managed to make it to breakfast on Saturday morning. Saturday was a very relaxed affair where some trainees made it to the mountain and went to the local swimming pool but the majority stayed in bed. Today promises to be the same as the training really goes up a couple of gears next week; as I write this blog I can hear a number of trainees planning a swim in the lake…..I better go and keep an eye on them!

Adios for now,

Tom (Group Leader)