Day 25 Punta Arenas to Cape Horn to Bariloche Argentina

So last night I said that we were ready to fly down to Cape Horn and at the last minute could not. We were going to try again this morning. In my maturity I had to hide the fact that I was hugely disappointed. This morning had too many risks as the weather here is really generally crap.

But come what may, this morning was ok, not great but ok. The plan was to stay under the clouds all the way to Cape Horn. We wanted to make sure that once we got there we could see it. So we went to the airport and got another guy from the Navy. Today was Sunday so it was a bit of a deal. Enrique was a flight engineer on a jet for the Navy - not a pilot but a navigator. The plan was simple enough, there were a lot of clouds and ice in the clouds, so I was going to fly - at the direction of my navigator right down on the water at 2,500 feet and follow the water all the way and stay under the clouds.

Good plan. A couple of problems with that plan.. The clouds don't always cooperate and stay at the same altitude and before you knew it I was at about 500 feet off the water and couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I was afraid Enrique was going to have a cow or report me or something. I asked him in Spanish - as he spoke no English -tiene miedo? (are you afraid) He said no problem but I don't know. I climbed over the water through the ice up to about 8,000 feet before we could get out.

Eventually we did and started to head more directly across the highest point - it's real name was something like Deaths Point as so many people found it in their airplanes.

There were mountains and lakes and many glaciers. This is a shot of a couple - that is a glacier's path not a river.


The scenery was unbelievable.
Over the high point there was a big enough hole to go down through. These are some of the many islands along the route.
You can see the clouds and the islands - hmmmm.

I tried to take about 20 shots of my garmin but this one is the only one that came out. The turbulence was so bad I couldn't get a picture. You'll note the way point is CAPEH (Cape Horn) I didn't know how to program in longitude and latitude points but Rita helped me with it over the radio and it worked.

When we found it there were clouds all around it and it made it kind of difficult to maneuver for a shot. The turbulence was an even bigger problem.

ok, so it is not like there is a bunch of stuff there. A house a flag a Bell 402 over on the right side and some storage stuff. I don't know why I needed the navigator as my GPS and moving map were just as good - especially while occupying clouds - he sure couldn't see.

This really was a big deal to me. I don't even know why but it became important to reach the end as we were so close. 3 airplanes did this trip and one did not. For me it was the most significant event of the trip - go figure. I could spend some time in therapy trying to figure that one out.

I made about 3 turns over the island. It was not all that easy in the wind and especially trying to take pictures. I think I am getting better???

As I turned to leave - having to go back into the clouds, yet again.

Going back toward the North you can see the Argentinian border on the GPS - the squiggly line. DARIN way point keeps you out of the wrong airspace and the F16's.

Pretty stuff.

Blue skies finally at about 11,000 feet.

More pretty stuff.

I can see about 5 glaciers in this photo.

Another hole to go down near Punta Arenas. We have to go back and refuel as the flight to Bariloche is 770 miles. (long)

It is quite nice for Punta Arenas - it wasn't even that windy.

My new best bud Enrique. I let him fly a while on the way back - he really sucked. He made me really anxious.

After refueling and getting lunch we left for our real flight of the day to Bariloche. The total elapse time for the flight was 3 hours. I was IMC all of it except for the approach into Bariloche - which is this picture. This is a ski resort town in the mountains and is quite beautiful. This photo makes the whole day look bright, no such luck. I was in a cloud for 2.8 hours picking up ice and watching my radar. Not a relaxing flight. I was so exhausted when I got here I forgot to take my short final shots. Yikes.

N82XL on the ramp at Bariloche Argentina.

At the end of the day - a secret Cape Horn Club hand shake. (boys)

I am really tired now - a long tense fun weird hard day.