Losing friends

Joerg Bonner pulls a 12kg salmon from the river

Losing Friends

Joerg Bonner has become a good friend over the last few weeks, we met all too briefly last year. His passion for Patagonia matches mine, he’s been out here several times, this last visit has been his longest; he’s been here since December. Today he leaves for Chile, but before he left we got to cook up a 12kg salmon he caught in the river north of Chalten. It was the first fish he ever caught and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

‘Lenny’ the cat

As well as Joerg all the workshops all seem to have left, I also lost my cat. I found this little cat about 6km down the trail to Laguna Torre. He’d have been attacked by a fox so I carried him home, he wasn’t a wild cat, I could tell he was house trained. Unfortunately, he didn’t stick around long, I let him out for some fresh air and he never came home.

Piedras Blancas Glacier

Here’s a location I went to visit recently, the glacier is called Piedras Blancas Glacier, it’s in the north end of the park and requires a steep scramble to access this area. I put this image online and its received good reviews so I think I’ll head back up here soon. There’s not much shelter, it’s a place to bivvy, but I think I can build a half decent stone shelter to protect from the wind. The plan is to shoot the Milky Way with a bit of moonlight, of course, I’m also open to shooting sunrise and sunset here. I’ll keep all options open.

And a few other images:

”The Fortress”

I’ve been visiting this area of the gorge a lot, every time I go here I work a bit more on my stone shelter. It’s an area that can receive a lot of wind, so the shelter can be very welcome. To be honest, though I’ve built it more as a way of keeping occupied and keeping warm while I wait for the light. I see this area is getting a lot more visitation. I’m beginning to find trash lying around by the stone circle. Please if you go out here keep it tidy.

The Gorge

It’s about 9km to the gorge

The gorge in late April