El Comienzo: Lounging Around Town

After an absotuely massive night's sleep, we woke up feeling pretty refreshed. Isaac made us some coffee and I did a little #blog writing while he did some work as we let the caffeine wake us up. Since Isaac has spent over 2 months in Chaltén over the last years, he's definitely got much of the local life figured out -- the best groceries, which bakeries have the best chipas (an epic ball of cheese bread popular in Argentina & Paraguay), the best running loops from town, and so much more. There are a handful of people we know, both friends & friends of friends, in town this season, and he showed me where people are staying & which restaurants, cafes, and hostels people like to hang out at.

Once we'd had enough of the relaxation time, we decided to go for a run up to the top of a cliff band across the river. Isaac had done this loop before & claimed it had some of the best views in town -- he was absolutely correct about that:

The loop was incredibly beautiful & it felt SO good to finally move the legs after a pretty heinous travel to get here. The loop ended up being about 5.5mi with 1000ft or so in elevation gain, with insane views the entire way. First along the river, then up through some dense forest, and eventually up to the ridge which was full of tiny lakes & ponds right along the edge of the cliff. This was my first truly clear view of the ranges beyond town & the first time I'd seen Torre Egger and Cerro Torre in totally clear conditions. Absolutely nuts seeing them come in and out of sight throughout the run. And SO intimidating.

We cruised our way around the ridge, eventually finding the trail back down to the river upstream of the bridge back over to town. Isaac asked if I'd want to say hello to Seba on the way home, who's hostel Isaac & Justin stayed in on their first trip here a few years back. I was stoked to meet him, as I'd heard great things about him & his name is all over the guidebooks from his days doing first ascents in the range as a younger climber. And he was alos who we were renting our apartment from! We made it to his hostel and he was standing right there in the entry way. Isaac greeted him with a, surprising to me, "what's up motherfucker!" to which Seba responded with a huge smile and fist bump. According to Isaac, "motherfucker" is one of Seba's favorite words. After a nice chat about how he'd been, what we were up to, and some exchanging of contact info, he bid us goodbye with big smile and a "fuck off!" and we were on our way back home.

Isaac whipped us up some breakfast (gouda melted onto some baguettes with pico & fried eggs) and we chilled for a while, showered off, and I unpacked a little more. I was feeling super happy that we were resting & hanging around town for the next two days while we waited for weather to clear in the mountains. Going into this trip, exploring town & having some true relaxation were things I was looking forward to. It's such a blast getting to know a new place, especially when that place is so different from life at home in the U.S. and full of new experiences, people, food, and culture. After some more weather forecasting, Isaac wandered off to find the barber shop for a buzz cut & I played Emily back in our NYT word games before taking a micro-nap.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty lowkey -- another trip to the grocery, some epic salami, cheese, and homemade slaw sandwhich's for lunch, and some reading. Our friend Evan from Boulder was in town too and I reached out to see if he'd want to catch up and hang that evening. He's staying at Hem Herhu AKA "The Hem" which, in my mind, seems like the place where the ~cool kids~ stay. He said they were having an "asado" that eve, which is essentially a big backyard grill & hang with a crew consisting mostly of socializing, drinking, and grilling a wild amount of meat. We had some leftover food from last night, so we decided to have an early pre-asado dinner before cruising over, but starting walking that way not long after we finished up. On the way, we picked up some food & beer at a new-to-me market in the northern part of town. I was pretty psyched to say hey to the few people we knew & to meet some new people!

The evening at The Hem was awesome. We caught up with Evan for a bit, hearing about his plans for the upcoming weather window, and chatted with Tyler (another Boulderite) about his plans as well: Evan and Will (yet ANOTHER Boulderite) were hoping to attempt a traverse of the entire Fitz Roy massif from south to north, the "Moonwalk Traverse", while Tyler and his partner Seba were hoping to attempt a traverse of the entire Torre massif! Insanity. This place is full of hardcore mega-crushers. Once Will & his crew returned from there grocery run, we spent the rest of the evening meeting a whole bunch of new people, many of which I knew of through the weirdly small world that climbing seems to be. Such a blast hearing stories, getting to know some new folks, and really embracing the non-climbing aspects of spending time in El Chaltén. Eventually we found ourselves walking home for the eve & quickly fell asleep, but not until we had watched another episode of The Night Manager.

The next morning, we woke up & immediately checked the weather. Our plan was to hike in the following day (Monday), but it was looking like we may need to pack quickly. We were hoping to attempt a route called Royal Flush on the east face of Fitz Roy, which we estimated we'd need 3 full days to complete (which would include descending the mountain). The weather window was shortening, and it seemed that starting our planned route on Monday would give of a better chance of success. We started pulling gear, fitting our crampons, gathering sleeping equipment, and organizing food for each of the days. After we were mostly prepared (which took a few hours) we did a quick run to the store for additional snacks and empanadas for the 10 mile, 6,000ft hike to our bivy spot, and went home to make sure it all fit in our bags.

As we were about to leave the house, getting ready for 4 or 5 days unplugged from the world, I got a call from my mom to tell me that my grandmother had passed away. The Kennedy family matriarch, Grammy, was an extraordinary women & cared for her grandkids more than I can put into words. She raised my dad and my uncles Kevin and Ray, a task that I can't even begin to imagine the difficulty of doing. From Indianapolis to Lake Wawasee, and Vero Beach pasta nights to Christmas Eve dinner, she was there for us grandkids, providing endless memories, experiences, and true & genuine love. The news landed suddenly and heavily, changing what had been anticipation and forward motion into stillness as I sat there on the phone with my mom & dad letting the news sink in. I want to write a separate post to honor her & her life, so I will leave it here for now, but I want to thank Isaac for being open to changing plans etc. if need be.

I chatted on the phone with Emily for a bit, and then my siblings to catch up with everyone & hear how everyone was holding up before deciding what to do. This was totally unexpected news & it seems like grief and tragedy hit all people in different ways. After talking to them & my parents, it seemed like continuing out into the mountains might do some good -- sitting with thoughts & feelings without the outside distractions of busy life has often helped me think through difficult time. Long story short, we eventually decided to continue out into the mountains, though I think losing her in that moment reframed everything, and it's something I'm still trying to make sense of.