Just north of the natural border with Chile of the Beagle Channel, Ushuaia is a relatively young town by South American standards. First populated by the Selk’nam and Yámana Indigenous peoples, the area was informally settled by foreigners—pri-marily British missionaries—before Com-modore Augusto Lasserre established the town under Argentine governance in 1884. Soon thereafter, it became the capi-tal of Tierra del Fuego. Sadly, foreigners brought with them epidemics, and the lo-cal indigenous population was decimated. For the most part, Ushuaia existed as a prison town and naval base for the first six or seven decades of Argentine occupation. Slowly, as Antarctic cruises came online, the town transformed into a remote tour-ist destination. We had arrived amidst a major storm. Heavy snow and high winds would keep us out of the mountains for a few days. Lucky for us, this storm had also delivered a couple feet of snow in the city, which is apparently quite rare for sea-level Ushuaia. Grant was itching to ride, and a mellow down bar about 100 feet from our front door seemed like a good place to start. I’m still not sure if I’d recommend shoveling a few cubic meters of snow after over 50 straight hours of travel, but it was a good way to get the blood flowing. The next day we linked up Federico Ro-mano, another Ushuaian rider that Grant had met some years ago in Tahoe, and a local filmer, Nicolas “Pampi” Bredeston. Fede was on an RV trip through Cali-fornia with a crew of Argentinian riders, and just so happened to park for a night across the street from where Grant was liv-ing at the time. A few years removed from this chance introduction, Fede and Grant found themselves sessioning a perfect rail in the center of Ushuaia’s waterfront dis-trict amongst a large group of children sledding, which created some entertaining (and somewhat stressful) near misses. I’ve been fortunate to film street snowboard-ing in a handful of iconic locations—Hel-sinki, Minneapolis, etc.—but never once did I think I’d find myself filming a street clip at the southern tip of Patagonia. Sure, the weather in Minnesota in December is brutal, but standing at the bottom of a down bar with relent-less wind from the Beagle Channel cut-ting through my out-erwear was something else. Luckily, Fede kept the maté flowing through the whole ses-sion, adding warmth and energy. ...nev once did I ink I’d find myself filming a street clip at e sou n tip of Patagonia. TOP TO BOTTOM “Alfonso Lavado in his backyard zone, just outside of Ushuaia. Alfonso is rad. He’s 43 years old and in better shape than I’ve been, ever. He does some proper mountaineering and rides some real lines. During our trip he let us rent an apartment for $100 per week. Not only is he a good friend, but he is also a phenomenal guide.”—Grant Giller “The kids look interested in the photo, but in reality, they were getting pretty impatient with our session at their premiere sledding spot. There were a couple near misses. Federico Romano, backside boardslide 270 out.”—Kevin Nolan RIGHT “The street we stayed on during our time in Ushuaia. Go figure.”—Kevin Nolan
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 21.2: Page 63
