I spent the last 5 days visiting family in Atlin and find myself suffering from severe northern withdrawl. No one writes of the Yukon better than Service – I’ll leave you with this. Hopefully my vacation snaps do the words some justice.

I wanted the gold, and I sought it,
I scrabbled and mucked like a slave.
Was it famine or scurvy — I fought it;
I hurled my youth into a grave.
I wanted the gold, and I got it —
Came out with a fortune last fall, —
Yet somehow life’s not what I thought it,
And somehow the gold isn’t all.

No! There’s the land. (Have you seen it?)
It’s the cussedest land that I know,
From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it
To the deep, deathlike valleys below.
Some say God was tired when He made it;
Some say it’s a fine land to shun;
Maybe; but there’s some as would trade it
For no land on earth — and I’m one.

You come to get rich (damned good reason);
You feel like an exile at first;
You hate it like hell for a season,
And then you are worse than the worst.
It grips you like some kinds of sinning;
It twists you from foe to a friend;
It seems it’s been since the beginning;
It seems it will be to the end.

I’ve stood in some mighty-mouthed hollow
That’s plumb-full of hush to the brim;
I’ve watched the big, husky sun wallow
In crimson and gold, and grow dim,
Till the moon set the pearly peaks gleaming,
And the stars tumbled out, neck and crop;
And I’ve thought that I surely was dreaming,
With the peace o’ the world piled on top.

The summer — no sweeter was ever;
The sunshiny woods all athrill;
The grayling aleap in the river,
The bighorn asleep on the hill.
The strong life that never knows harness;
The wilds where the caribou call;
The freshness, the freedom, the farness —
O God! how I’m stuck on it all.

The winter! the brightness that blinds you,
The white land locked tight as a drum,
The cold fear that follows and finds you,
The silence that bludgeons you dumb.
The snows that are older than history,
The woods where the weird shadows slant;
The stillness, the moonlight, the mystery,
I’ve bade ‘em good-by — but I can’t.

There’s a land where the mountains are nameless,
And the rivers all run God knows where;
There are lives that are erring and aimless,
And deaths that just hang by a hair;
There are hardships that nobody reckons;
There are valleys unpeopled and still;
There’s a land — oh, it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back — and I will.

They’re making my money diminish;
I’m sick of the taste of champagne.
Thank God! when I’m skinned to a finish
I’ll pike to the Yukon again.
I’ll fight — and you bet it’s no sham-fight;
It’s hell! — but I’ve been there before;
And it’s better than this by a damsite —
So me for the Yukon once more.

There’s gold, and it’s haunting and haunting;
It’s luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting
So much as just finding the gold.
It’s the great, big, broad land ‘way up yonder,
It’s the forests where silence has lease;
It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.

The Spell of the Yukon, Robert Service

Related posts:

1. Far over the Misty Mountains cold…
2. Cabo Pulmo
3. Down to work (and the wood).

I tried to take as much time away from the lens as possible, but eventually the orange glow that filtered through the window every morning pulled me out of bed to shoot as the sun rose. Unfortunately, the time flew by and I’m back in Pemberton, frantically unpacking my vacation bags and gearing up for another field season looking for gold [+copper +molybdenum] in the mountains of British Columbia. One night in my own bed and I’m headed into camp.

A few more photos can be found on my flickr.

Related posts:

1. Volcan Villarrica **Full TR**
2. Salal Creek
3. Back to the Bush

One of the spires of Cerro Catedral stands tall with Volcan Tronador in the distance:

A double rainbow followed along side our bus as we drove through the craggy peaks of northern Patagonia. Argentinian buses are all luxury.

See the rest in the full post:

———-

Big sky in the Argentine lake district:

I spy, the Bariloche waterfront:

Dinner for one, somewhere on the outskirts of Buenos Aires:

Descending Volcan Villarrica, Pucon, Chile:

And here’s a slideshow of the whole gallery:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Related posts:

1. Chilean Microbrew Extravaganza!
2. So much for photo-a-day…
3. South!

Me with a bottle of Chilean Carmenère for the top of a Chilean volcano:

(Photo credit: Reid Irwin)

**Full trip report with photos now up in the full post**

——-
Well, I didn’t have much time in Santiago so I’m finishing this one off back home in Vancouver. Climbing Villarrica was definitely one of the highlights of my trip, but it almost didn’t happen – a high ceiling and no rain are requirements of travel on the volcano, and we had anything but for the first couple days of our stay in Pucon. It felt like I was back home in Vancouver during the October/November pineapple express season… constant downpour. The weather report for our last day in town was looking bleak as well, calling for overcast skies and a reasonable chance of rain. I went to bed expecting wake up to the sound of pouring rain.

I dragged myself out of bed at 6am the next morning, heard nothing, and poked my head out the window to a view of wood-stove smoke plumes rising lazily above Pucon, basked in the glow from the early morning light cast by the full moon. Shit, that was poetic. Game on.

I knew it hadn’t exactly been warm over the past few days, but I was slightly surprised when we encountered the first fresh snow on the drive up to our start point, the base of Ski Pucon. There was a good 5cm in the parking lot, which had me wondering what the conditions would be like near the summit, 1400m above. Our guides were unconcerned by the snow, so we began the trek to the top.

The ascent was slow and steady, with the group soon separating into 2 packs as those not accustomed to alpine hiking began to tire. Personally, I felt it was a pretty relaxing pace, which was a pleasant change from the sweat-soaked deathmarch uphills that I usually subject myself to. It had been a few years since I’d hiked above 2300 metres, anyways, and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel at the 2847m summit. The slow climb made it a non issue for me, and I reached the top remarkably dry (those who know me, know I’m a sweaty beast) and breathing easy.

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed upon reaching the top; there was no lava too be seen, and the fumes from the crater were so strong that we couldn’t walk around the rim of the crater to catch a better view into the throat of the volcano. Just had time for a few photos and a victory swill from the bottle of caramere I lugged to the top before retreating down to an area of lower SO2 concentration for lunch.

A summit pano:

Volcanic gasses:

Our path up had been mainly crampon climbing over windblasted glacial ice, but the descent took us through a fairly sizeable area of 50cm deep windslab, which had me substantially more concerned than the volcanic activity above. Stepping above the track had 2m long blocks, 50cm deep popping out from under me… Our guide assured me that the slope, being only about 40 degrees, wasn’t really steep enough to slide (umm, what?). The slope had been traversed by 20 or so hikers already, so I quickly glissaded my way down to the relative safety of exposed ice, without incident (I almost ripped my knee off on a rock while demonstrating my graceful glissade skillz further down the mountain, but I didn’t take any photos so as soon as the scab heals, it never happened).

A view during the descent:

When we got back down to the ski area base, my stoke was doubled when we saw some local shreds busting out the boards for the first snowfall of the season:

There’s a bunch more photos (camera jpegs) from the trip on my flickr photostream, but I’m feeling a little reluctant to post them here now that I’m back home and working on the RAW files. I don’t usually shoot RAW+jpeg, but it was handy for the trip to be able to quickly upload the jpgs for my blog, and its really interesting to be able to see a side-by-side comparison of the camera jpegs and my Lightroom edits.

Stay tuned for a trip summary with RAW edits, a RAW vs jpeg comparison, and a note on the gear I took with me.

Related posts:

1. Chilean Microbrew Extravaganza!

With soggy skies (am I home already?? Southern Chile feels alot like Vancouver) there wasn´t much to do other than hit up the supermarket and buy singles of all the different craft beers brewed here in Chile. The north may be for the wines, beer definitely seems to be the fermentation of choice in the south. A strong German influence in this area means most beers are brewed in adherence to the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. Breweries such as Kunstmann (Valdivia) and Austral (Punta Arenas) provide many delicious options. My only complaint is that many of the offerings that I tried were a little bland – highly drinkable, just a little uninteresting. I´ve yet to see an IPA on the supermarket shelves – maybe I´ll just have to look harder tonight.

Home in Vancouver! No, its just Pucon…

Kunstmann (Valdivia)Unfiltered Lager. I really enjoyed this one.

After the tasting, we headed out to a bar for some 2 for 1 drinks, followed by some casino action. I won 9000 playing blackjack. 9000…Pesos. Yeah, thats less than 20 bucks.

Some more photos of my samplings in the full post:

—————

Polar Imperial Lager, Punta Arenas, Chile:

The Austral family (Punta Arenas, Chile):

Volcanes del Sur Premium Lager:

Dorada – this one was ultra cheap, and strong. Surprisingly good, too.

Related posts:

1. Volcan Villarrica **Full TR**
2. Cerro Catedral
3. South America Trip – The Photos

After eating a lunch that featured the best steak I´ve ever had, we went for a short horseback ride through the forest (a first for me, much to Meghan´s delight), then spent some time with an orphaned Puma and several tiny Pudú (miniature deer). After watching the Forest episode of Planet Earth, I was thoroughly stoked to actually get to see a Pudú while I´m here…

Ayun´s mother was killed when he was 15 days old. He´s essentially a big, happy housecat now… purrs when you pet him, loves attention, and likes to play futbol. You can see some footage of him (from someone else) on youtube.

A Pudú, full grown at 16 or so inches:

Many thanks to Silvio and Susana for their knowledge and hospitality, as well as the work and love they put into preservation and education.

We´re moving on to Pucon tomorrow for 3 days. Volcanos and hot springs are on my to-do list. More photos from today in rest of the post.

———-
Range-fed beef, about to become lunch:

Best. Steak. Ever.

The Valdivian rainforest:

Meghan, amused to see me not having any idea how to ride a horse:

Ayun poses for the camera:

This was from the bus window as we were leaving Bariloche the other day – the city looked incredible from across Lago Nahuel Huapi. I would´ve loved to stop and setup a proper shot, but I´m on vacation. No tripods allowed.

No related posts.

The tourists that don´t speak Spanish do stupid things like neglet to read sigs, hike a couple kms away from the lift, and almost miss the last gondola down for the evening. Oops…

Cerro Catedral

I said aidos to Argentina this morning, bussing through the national parks of the Lake District to Puerto Varas, Chile, where I´ll be for a few days before heading north to Pucon and eventually Santiago. Argentina was awesome, I´ve been gone for a few hours and I´m already thinking of when I´ll be able to come back – and how on earth I´m going to find Quilmes´excellent Red Lager in Canada…

A couple more photos of Bariloche and Cerro Catedral after the jump:

——–

The view towards Bariloche (background) and Catedral village (foreground):

The rock garden fingers of Cerro Catedral:

Related posts:

1. South America Trip – The Photos
2. Buenos Aires to Bariloche
3. Pumas and Pudús in Puerto Varas

We have 3 days now to explore Bariloche and its surroundings before jumping across the border to Chile. I could easily spend much, much longer here… I wish I could stay for a few more months through the winter.

Some photos from the trip so far…

Read the full post for more photos (¿is there no colon on spanish keyboards?)

———–

Related posts:

1. Cerro Catedral
2. Wedgemount Lake, 2010
3. South!

I doubt I’ll have a chance to upload any photos while I’m gone, but I may sneak a text blog (twitter might be easier) or two in there during the trip… photos when I return!

Related posts:

1. South America Trip – The Photos
2. Volcan Villarrica **Full TR**
3. The Spell of the Yukon