LEFT TO RIGHT Grant Giller, switch backside 180 after a weather hold. Grant and Fede inside the “Doma” at one of Ushuaia’s classic zones, waiting for the light to get good enough for a jump session. After a few days in the streets, a weather window appeared in the forecast and we made plans to head into a backcountry zone that Alfonso and Fede frequent. Af-ter a quick skin through the subantarctic mix of deciduous and evergreen flora, I caught my first glimpse of the alpine. It was easy to see why these guys spend so much time in this particular valley. It held dozens of rideable couloirs along-side huge, open faces with clean runouts. The views of the surrounding mountains weren’t too bad either—big lines with se-rious exposure kept my eyes upwards as I spent the approach mind-surfing long white ribbons surrounded by jagged rock. After an hour or two we arrived in a stun-ning cirque with a promising jump spot, and we got to work cutting and stacking blocks while a lone condor circled high above us. Alfonso, the more big moun-tain minded of the three riders, continued onward with a partner to go ride a couple lines. We finished the jump with about an hour of light left, and not wanting to rush the session, we resolved to return tomorrow and hit it. Determined to not leave empty handed for the day, Fede and Grant found a good pat down spot right above the jump, perfect for a quick session before we had to head down. I’ve ridden some pretty advanced runs with a 50-pound camera backpack in my time, but the line we took down to the car—a 1,000-foot pinner couloir with a small mandatory air at the bottom—prob-ably takes the top spot. Fede was verbally surprised as I rode up to him after arcing large radius terms down a shady apron, and I responded with a classic American idiom
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 21.2: Page 64
