Ushuaia can still be done for 1 more week.
 

Hey guys, I just got back from doing Ushuaia and I think that there will not be any snow in the next week. You will probably be safe if you do it in the next 2 weeks but I would hurry up and do it now because it is getting really damn cold. It seems to rain all the time and not have waterproof boots was a real drawback.

There is good camping at Club Andino, which you can find if you follow the signs as you enter town.

Wish me luck as I am heading off trekking for the next week or two in TdP and still plan to head to Ushia. Care to join me for the caterra austral?

mate, can you tell them to hold off on the snow for at least a couple of weeks.
I`m in Machu Picchu, and once i leave this area i will be riding south at full noise for
Ushuaia, hopefully before my carb float ices over or my teeth rattle louder than my exhaust noise.

My Swedish mate, Johan, just arrived in Buenos Aires with his bike, and we`ll meet in Mendoza or similar for the rapid ride south. Johan wants us to do some ice climbing (like rock climbing but on frozen waterfalls) while in Patagonia, so at least we`ll have the timing for one
thing correct....

V sound advice, it was still -3deg C in mid November and snowing last year in Ushuaia so you'd be best advised to check out the rest of SA and head south at the end of the year.

Hey!

I have to reply right now...

It´s nice that Ushuaia could be done for at least some more weeks, but what about enjoying Ushuaia, expirience it, see it... please guys:

Ride it, enjoy it, don´t only for having it DONE!

All the best...

Buenos Aires - Ushuaia - Buenos Aires (in 5 month! = tranquilo)

Good Luck! I decided to hitchhike the Caterra Austral instead. It is really beautiful and was very nice to have a break from riding.

Yes, but by the same token not everyone can afford to wait 7 months or return to the continent again. Definitely find some warm places to hangout at if you are Ushuaia bound still.

greetings from ushuaia
 

i normally should arrived here with my motorbike but finally i had to let it at the argentinian boarder and i finished hitchacking in a canadian van. Now i am there and it was sunny all day. If i could, i would have been happy to be on my motorbike. i think it could be done for a couple of weeks more!

By the way, i'll pick the bike on the way back and heading north through the andes, if anybody plan to do it too, let's make a few kilometers together!

P.S: Tauradan, u remember me, we met in a hiking store in buenos Aires? where r u?

I appreciate your recommendations, but i prefer to busy all of the day and not rest, it`s my nature. And by "full noise south" i just mean more sunrise starts, and less time spent in bars/discoteqes etc! Same route still and i`m enjoying it so far. I`ve ridden in snow and ice before, and even raced the "International Winter Enduro' last year, in the coldest part of Austria in mid-winter. The timing to Ushuaia may not be ideal, but if we spend more time on our heads than our tyres we can always turn around north. Plus my Swede mate is an ice climber before a bike traveller, so i have to make some allowances...

If anyone thinks i sometimes cover distance quickly, I have a Dutch mate who rode from Vladivostok to Amsterdam in 24 days. And for 9 mths rode either his Triumph Tiger or Daytona 850km to a work project in the south of France each Monday and back Friday rather than fly. Some people just really like to ride!
They`re just not the HUBB often as they`re too busy riding... :-)

(That`s good news Adrien btw.)

Adrien,
good news about the weather. I'm currently in Bariloche and heading down Ruta 40 tomorrow for some fun fall / winter activities around Torres del Paine. So Adrien if you are around the area we could maybe to a beer on the road somewhere...

Anyone done anything more than intro into ice climbing around the area? The tour companies only seem to offer intro courses...

Btw, I'm Simon's "Swedish mate"

andes meeting
 

hola simon,

no problem for a beer in the andes. I'll tell you my plan when i will be in calafate. i met lots of riders but there always were on the other side of the road.we will manage to meet us!

keep in touch.

http://web.mac.com/adrien.d

Calafate
 

Adrien,
I will be in Calafate tomorrow if you fancy a beer. Just done ruta 40 and am in el chalten tonight.

Hello Johan,
I arrived in Ushuaia today...I've uploaded some pics/stories to my website/blog
Moto Americas

Hpw was ruta 40?

Best Regards,
Eric

Ruta 40
 

Hi Eric,
good to see that you made it down there and nice photos.

Ruta 40 was all godd but it chewed up my rear sprocket so waiting for one to be flown in from Santiago. Should be in Ushuaia in about a weeks time I guess. Will trek Torres del Paine for a few days while waiting for parts.

Pictures and movies from my helmet cam of Ruta 40 is on swedishrider.com - adventure dashboard if you want to see it in action.

Later,
Johan

I will be BA on 27th April. ( Flying from Dubai, UAE). I will ride to Ushuaia if weather permits or I will use these days for some other place. Because I have to go long way up to Alaska. Please keep this thread active and update :helpsmilie:first hand weather report.

If weather permits, how many riding hours will take to reach Ushuaia from Rio Gallegos?

Nelson

johan,

i am in perito moreno right now. i think we missed to meet us but internet did not permit me to oragnize a meeting. are you riding with simon or not yet?

i send a mail to him but i don't know if you are already together.

btw it's cold, windy, and i am still fighting against my rear tyre!

Keep in touch.

As long as someone smiles
 

Hi Nelson,

I hope you are an enthusiastic rider that laughs at all. On your way south you should look out for a really thick Alpaca pullover or similar. Even if it has silly emroidery of animals on it, you`re going to love it. It`s fairly cold here in Calafate.

Johan parked his bike in Punta Arenas and is hiking until Sunday, on which day i`ll get there, and then we`ll continue to Ushuaia on Monday. So we can let you know what the ride is like.
Back when i was in Japan in September i took the advice of Makiko Sugimaki, a `fairly` experienced RTWer (Help out this amazing individual if you have the opportunity - ADVrider), who said i had until the end of April to visit and then get north of Ushuaia, before the word cool could not be used to describe anything good. So you may be limited to riding between 11am and 3pm when the ice has melted the most, but some of us need a few adventures so keep it in the plan for now.

Adrien and I ran into each other (not literally) in Perito Merino, before i`d checked my PM.

I took 2 full days to travel Chaiten to Coyhaique thanks to 3 days and nights of non stop rain culminating in landslides. For the first landslide i was about 15mins too late, as it clogged the waterflow underneath the bridge and covered the top of the bridge with trees (the bridge over Ris Sisnes, just after the mountain pass north of turn-off for Puerto Sisnes). And then the river split into 2 either side while i was there trying to find a way across the rocks, bringing with it more trees etc. And the second just covered the road with mud, trees and roots. My camera doesn`t work anymore, and I still have wet boots and mud everywhere! To give you an idea of how much it slowed my progress, i`d ridden from Laguna Colorada, Boliva, to Puerto Montt in 5 1/2 days (incl 2 nights in Santiago) so only 430km in 2 days wasn`t from lack of trying!

I`d expect a few adventures like this for an Ushiaia ride and slide in early May.

Thank you for your reply. May be I am over confident because of my earlier rides in Indian Himalayas during rain and sub zero temperature. Thank you for giving me first hand ground reality. I will closely follow the thread and get advise from everyone before I leave BA. I have spent lot of money for my Visas ( I am Indian, so I need visa for all damn place on earth before I leave my place), Bike shipping and trip preparation. If possible I will go down to Ushuaia or till the place I could manage to ride and take U turn and go up to Alaska.

Thanks again

Nelson.

P.S I just went through Makiko's RTW story. This is the best RTW story and map I ever read. I cpuld't find any word to express. I just show that to my wife she reads it now with out a blink on her eyes.

I just finished trekking the Paine circuit and now am back in puerto Natales. I just barely crossed the pass before a meter of snow fell. I am heading to Punta arenas tommorow and intend to go to Ushia from there.

I would enjoy hooking up for a beer if anyone cares to join me.

Cheers,
n

Any update on Ushuaia, Is it possible to do it now?

nelson

I am now in Punta Arenas. The weather is holding for now. It is cold enough that you need a decent jacket just to walk about. Probably about 10 c. It does not seem to be getting below freezing at night yet. It is cold, not freezing, while riding the moto. I am going to buy some bar mitts and head to Ushia in a day or two.

Jordan, I had no way to reply to your mail as you don,t accept e`s thru the hubb. Are you still in PA? I am at erratic rock hostel.

please eMail:
glasswave followed by the atsign then yahoo and finally com
written as a proper eMail address.

Just in case it makes you all feel better, it is cold in the northern hemisphere as well.
The evidence for the UK is temperatures at night getting down to 0 centigrade in lots of places, some snow still lying around on the higher ground, gritters still throwing grit/salt onto the roads in accordance with weather forecasts and the first race of the British Super Bikes was cancelled because of snow on the track (now postponed until next month).

There, it's not so bad down south.

Bananaman should get to Ushuaia today or tomorrow...

Latin America! - Page 28 - ADVrider

Do bananas only shatter in Siberian winters?
 

Is bananaman on the hubb?

Johan and I are in back in Rio Grandes, with a 76 Moto Guzzi 700 mounted Dutchman Paul we met in Ushuaia. North tomorrow via Argentina coast for something different if there is a border crossing. We pre-ordered good weather for our duration spent south of Punta Arenas so it`s not really been that cold. Unfortunately I lost the 1800 number to submit your orders.

Nelson - Johan and i are in Buenos Aires from around the 24th for a week so we can give you a first hand exaggeration of how warm it is. We were thinking today that Ushuaia is only at 55 degrees latitude south, about the same as Denmark/Scotland is north, and along the way here there are still warm hotels and shops/pubs selling beer, so it`s not really tough. The MX shop in Punta Arenas has the machine to put spikes in tyres if it is super slick but :-)

Go Billy McConnel! (Brit SBK)

Thanks for the update. Yesterday I crated my bike and gave it to Air France. My bike will reach Sao Paulo from Dubai on 23rd and I will reach on 26th. 27th is Sunday. I can clear the bike only on 28th or 29th. If weather permits I will sprint down south.

Nelson

...and for the next austral summer...
 

Hi
When do you think the next ''possible riding'' season will start ? Is condition like MikeS show on is picture (snow) is and exception? Usualy in mid-or-end-november, do I can plan to go there?

Thanks FranK

I am in Ushuaia now. I got here about 48 hours ago. It has been raining for the last few hours. There is lots of snow in the mountains. The drivers I spoke with today said the roads were still fine. The temperature here in town all day was about 5 celcius. It feels cold.

I am trying to find a way to ship my bike out of here but I am pretty sure I will have to ride it to BA and from there do air freight home.

I would really enjoy a riding partner!

Nelson- it's 2000 miles from BA to Ushuaia. Them ain't easy miles in the wind and cold. I tried my hardest and barely managed 400 miles per day. I usually get 45 miles per gallon, but into the wind I got 30. It can be 175 miles between gas stations. You can go hours without seeing another car. Be careful how you twist the throttle.

winter in Ushuaia, is it really that bad?
 

Hello everyone

Just wondering if anyone had advice for 4x4 travel to Ushuaia in winter? We are just shipping to Buenos Aires at the moment, and exepcting to get there in about 3 weeks. We are driving a diesel defender 110 4x4 and were planning on driving right down to the bottom of SA. When I looked at the local weather reports for Ushuaia it didn't seem that bad, since its only as far south as Belfast is north, so I was expecting weather conditions like those in Northern ireland. However reading this thread I'm getting worried. Is it really going to be that bad?

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

Cheers

Jason

I just rode out of Ushuaia. I'm about 2000k north now, in Puerto Madryn.

My dad has a Defender in Panama. Awesome car. But it's going to tip over in the wind.

It's the winds. They can be 140km. The winds topple semi trucks, buses, cars... last night north of Rio Gallegos the winds were what the locals called 'mortal.' Be very careful with the winds. I thought I'd seen wind before. Now I've seen wind.

I had 30-70km head winds going south, and then I had 30-80km winds coming back north. It just wasn't fair.

The ripio (gravel and mud) for the last 120km in Chile- before you cross back into Argentina at San Sebastian- it was good gravel going when I rode south, but it was pretty muddy a few days ago. The wind picked up the spray from the trucks and completely covered me. I have a rubber thing on my glove- a little wiper blade. Without it I would not have been able to see anything at all.

It was actually really fun riding the mud.

In a 4-wheel vehicle, no. People actually live their, get around in 2-wheel drive vehicles, ride buses, take cabs and all that.

Doing it, balanced on two-wheels, on ice/snow, in the winds, without benefit of deicers/defrosters, windshield wipers, the heat switch - now that's a real man's mode of transport.

4-wheels are for weenies.

ushuaia in october,
 

i have been having a peep at this thread ,i see april was ok ,do you think it will be possible to do it in october, as in early october ,

I am fairly certain you can make fairly easily then as it will be spring, so even if they have some storms, the road should be melting clear fairly quickly. OTH, your riding in the mountains would be could be fairly limited due to excess snow. I don't know if I'd want to bike all of Patagonia and be forced to stay out on the Pompas for all the ride. W/O time spent in the mountains, I think it'd be more of an "I did it" sort of trip as opposed to an amazing tour of some of the world's best scenery.

Perhaps, check on Lonely Planet thorntree to see how fast the snow melts from the roads/mountains of Torres del Paine, El Chalten, the Caraterra Austral and the Lakes District.

Maybe you could shoot down the coast road to Ushuai and head Ruta Cuarenta, side trips to the mountains and the Caraterra Austral on the way back.

just did it in october
 

apart from caught in one blizzard the weather was great ,yeah your right about that wind ,hard work on the gravel roads ,,keeps wanting to take out your front end ,but wow how good is it down there
dave

Good job Dave!!!

Riding into and out of Ushuaia was one of the highlights of my ride. Looking back on it almost two years later, the Tierra del Fuego part is a magic dream. Sitting comfortably in my dining room looking at the start of a Wisconsin winter, and my motorcycle parked under a cover, I'm... I can't believe I did it- rode through the snow over the mountains to Ushuaia, then back over the ripio in the mud with the wind making it impossible to see.

I must have been insane.

You are my kind of crazy!