Sherpa and Argonaut Peak Ski

Erik Svega and I had the privilege of an overnight visit to the Sherpa Argonaut basin. We stayed at hotel Sherpa Derpa at 6000ft with magnificent views of the mountains in every direction. The weather was as premium as it gets in the mountains with high pressure settling in for a week! We took advantage of the deep blue skies and we were able to ski 3.5 lines in 2 days. The .5 was a crusty run we only climbed half way on the second day before skiing over to another couloir that never sees the sun.

For the first day we had special guest ski star Matt ( Mixed Master MC ) Collins along to break trail and provide the humor. With MC leading the way we shredded Barranco Escarpado ( French for steep gully ) which is just lookers right of the Argonaut Sherpa col. Steepness was around 40+ degrees and the snow was perfect champagne powder that tickled the senses. After a shred of this line we said so long to MC as he had to travel the 8 miles back to the road before sun down. After our farewell to MC we headed up the North West flank of Argonaut to shred a rather delicious line filled with smoking butter cream powder and marvelous views of the Stuart Range.

After 14 hours on the move 8000ft elevation gain and 7 miles travelled we were ready to set up camp and fired up the stove. Dinner included slow cooked Chicken tortellini in a roasted rosemary basil and beef soup. Took quite some time to cook due to the frozen fuel bottle connection that was filled with a pesky ice chunk. The dinner was large enough for a feast at the castle with the entire staff but we managed to chomp it all into our over-stuffed bellies all by ourselves. After that we were off to bed. I froze the whole night with my light is right sleeping bag and pad. Erik roasted like a dumpling in a hot stew with his zero degree bag and his pad that was the size of Wisconsin. While I was shivering me timbers in Antarctica he was roasting away on the Southern coast of France.

For the second day we awoke to solid blue skies and no wind. After a scrumptious coffee we then packed as light as we could and headed off to start the day. The line we then shredded is called Old Faithful due to its excitingly steep and soft nature every time you shred it. Old Faithful is the first couloir lookers left of the summit of Sherpa Peak and hits 50 degrees near the top and the run is approx 2500ft.

A huge thanks to Erik who could perhaps be the strongest skier/person on the planet and also to Super Matt for his love of the shred. Until next time!

The top of Old Faithful.