On my voyage to Antarctica I met Ellie, a fellow New Yorker on walkabout. She had quit her job and decided to spend the year traveling before deciding on her next move. After the cruise, we had a few days overlap in Ushuaia before continuing on our journeys; I to Buenos Aires, she to El Calafate before heading to Torres del Paine to hike the W. While we were in Ushuaia we decided to hike together and settled on two: one to the Glaciar Martial to the north of town and another to the Laguna Esmeralda to the east.

The morning after our return I found myself at Ellie’s hostel. We hadn’t exactly decided on which we were to do and made a game-time decision to hike the glacier. We called an Uber and were soon driving towards the edge of town, up towards an old ski resort parking lot that marked the beginning of the trail.

Ellie chatted with the cab driver to glean information about the hikes. The driver seemed to think that each was doable in a short amount of time, leading us to consider trying to accomplish both the same day. After he dropped us off, Ellie told me he was a bit arrogant. She was not a fan.

A small cafe stood on the edge of the parking lot. Ahead we saw the original main building of the ski resort where the lift would have started. We walked towards the building, passing a small guardhouse. A woman sat inside dispensing information and we asked her where to find the trailhead. She told us that we could walk along the mountain path within the trees on the way up and then back down along the wide path that formed what used to be the ski slope. She pointed out the entrance to the path, just beyond where we were. We thanked her and started on our way.

We began hiking with an Argentine woman from Buenos Aires in Ushuaia a few days on holiday. She walked briskly and soon outpaced us, joining another group ahead us. As they shrank with each step away from us, we tracked her curly blonde hair bouncing along the path before us.

The weather, never great, shifted as we walked. We reached a small plateau and looked back to see the Beagle Channel down below, and the edge of town. Ahead we could see glacier and the path leading up to it, small figures like ants on the landscape.

We reached a small clearing. A path went to the right around the mountain, but we were headed straight ahead. From there we had a better view of the road ahead, a path snaking up and to the left through the scree. We had climbed a bit more in altitude and paused once again to take in the view of the channel behind us, the airport seemingly nestled between the mountains, and the before us.

As we climbed we passed small streams of runoff. The water gave rise to a strip of greenery leading up to our right, up towards the mountain peaks, not quite making it all the way. We pressed on.

At one point, Ellie decided she was done with the switchbacks and chose a direct path straight up the mountain. I kept to the switchbacks. At the next junction she chose the switchback path.

We continued up the scree, following a well-worn path cut through the loose rocks.

Nearing the end, we looked back to see how far we had come and were rewarded with a sweeping view of our path and of Uhsuaia and the channel below. We drank it in and then turned to continue up the mountain.

At the end of the path the weather turned. The clouds that the mountains had kept at bay reached over and started to rain upon us. We hid in the lee of a large rock and donned our rain jackets and ate some Oreo cookies before turning to head back down.

The wind picked up as we descended. We’d stop during gusts to make sure of our footing.

Arriving at the clearing where the path split we decided to follow the path around to another viewpoint before heading back. Along the way the wind started gusting again and Ellie decided she didn’t need to go much further. She leaned against the slope and told me that I could go on if I wanted. I told her I’d go just beyond the bend to see what I could see and then return.

I walked another hundred or so meters and was rewarded with a view that stretched the length of the town. I could see the airport, the port, and eastern edges where the houses began to taper off towards the mountains.

Walking back I found Ellie in the same position I had left her, planked against the mountain. We waited for the gusts to die down before continuing. The moss she leaned against was picturesque and I took a photo while we waited.

The rest of the way down was smooth. Once we were back within the protective slopes the wind abated. I tiped the woman in the guardhouse as we left the ski lift area and we stopped in the cafe/restaurant for a hot drink and sandwich. Once we were inside it started pouring outside. We laid out our wet jackets and soaked in the dry warmth of the dining room. I had puchased Monopoly Bid, thinking it was an abstract version of Monopoly Deal, and brought it out to play. In a way it was, it was abstracted out for children. We laughed over the cards and put them back in the box and sat and chatted and waited out the rain. ⛰