plomo

El Plomo is kind of like the local mt rainier for santiago, its big and impressive looking, you can see it from town and its relatively easy to get to and climb. i had enough food left to give it a go and it looked like a great vantage point for checking out the rest of the nearby peaks. The forcast was pretty cold so i figured i would camp relatively low, start early and see where i got to. this worked out pretty well, i had a short day´s ski in to a camp on dry ground around 12000´ and spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun and went to bed early. solo adventures are fun but solo camping is pretty damn boring.

I got going around 3 and with the help of a bright moon and a pretty straightforward route was able to make quick progress, but i was pretty happy to see the sun when it started to light up the NE ridgetops. i got to the top about 9am and spent awhile checking out the views and wishing i had a better map to id the peaks with (got one now). The terrain between plomo and the argentinian border is pretty awesome, i hope to get back in there and explore some more someday. Also had a good laugh at myself, i was worried about the altitued and had been debating whether to turn back at 3 or 330pm i think.

i walked down some flat glacier icy stuff and put my skis on on the top of the face, mostly thinking about getting down safely. As it turned out the skiing wasn´t super steep and the windpacked snow was plenty soft for fun turns. Halfway down i noticed what looked like a tent on the rocks with 2 people by it. i stopped to investigate, a little confused what somebody was doing lounging in the sun at 16000´ at 10am. At a small metal hut i met Drew and Griffon from seattle and utah, they were doing plomo in a day from la parva, drew was skiing on k2 obsethed´s with duke bindings (very heavy alpine skis). most people say this route takes 4 days!

non goofy ski partners wanted for action photos

i had some more great turns down to the valley bottom, got my gear and headed out along the ridge to la parva. this is a little more direct and scenic than the way i came in but ended up being a lot of walking on rocks on the scoured ridgetop. i got to la parva just as the resort was closing, put out my thumb and got a ride from andres and friends. they were climbers and skiers and after a short phone conversation of which i only understood ¨gringo plomo solo! gringo plomo solo!¨ andres offered me a place to sleep at his place in santiago that night which gratefully accepted as i was out of food and ready for some rest.