Hiking in Ushuaia to Glacier Martial

When we woke up in the morning, the view out our window was breathtaking. Snow capped mountains, everywhere we looked.

Our hostal had good internet, so we spent a little time getting caught up on email, blogs, Facebook, etc.

Then we set off for Glacier Martial, a short taxi ride from our hostal. At the foot of the mountain, the views of Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel were already pretty spectacular, and it only got better.


We opted to take the chair lift for the first third of the way up the mountain. It was a little expensive (about $15 per person), but with my weak knees, well worth it.

This hike is supposed to be 2 hours, but we stop and rest and take so many pictures, that it took us about 3 to do the hike.


We never did actually get to the glacier. It has been receding, and has receded right up a steep cliff face. We met some hikers who had scrambled up all the way, and they said it wasn't worth the climb, so we opted to stop at the base of the cliff. There was a snow bank down low, though, and we took a few shots of Dave 'in' the snow.


The views in every direction were stunning, and we took lots of pictures. A few are here and the rest may someday get posted on our photo album.


From the mountain, we could see the harbor and could see a number of sailboats anchored and docked in the harbor. So on our way down, we had the taxi take us to the 'marina'. The dock had about 15 boats, rafted 3-deep along a single pier.


The first boat we came to was SSCA member 'Diesel Duck' with Benno and Marlene aboard. We had looked on the SSCA Members Map page and seen them in Patagonia, and were delighted to actually see them. They were aboard reading (waiting for weather), and when we knocked to say hello, they greaciously invited us aboard for some nice Agentinian red wine.


We enjoyed several hours hearing of their adventures coming down from Ecuador by boat, and swapping boat stories in general. They have done a lot of cruising in the same areas we have, and we have several mutual friends.


We also saw Skip Novak's famous Antartic exploration/charter boat Pelagic Australis. It is a very impressive 60 foot aluminum boat, purpose-built for high latitude sailing.