We arose around 7:30 and had a quick breakfast before striking camp and loading the vehicles. Zeek arrived with his three charges. Angel's truck is really crowded when all of the gear is in it. We headed north out of El Calafate along the moraine, stopping at the mouth of the Río Santa Cruz. I talked a little about Darwin and the Voice of the Rivers as we were continuing along the Río Leona up to Lago Viedma. To my surprise the road on the north side of the lake is paved for about 20 km. I introduced the concept of techeros to the group. About 8 of us rode on the top of the truck into a strong wind. The structure exposed in valley wall to the north is phenomenal. The transition between the inner and outer foreland is clearly visible. Cerro FitzRoy and Cerro Torre were hidden to the clouds.

We got to the El Refúgio campground and set up camp. I went into town, sent a few emails, and bought three sleeping pads after taking a 2-hour nap. It was raining all afternoon and my tent was getting pretty wet. Angel arranged for our New Year's festivities to be held at the nearby FitzRoy Inn. We had an excellent dinner at the inn. Dinner was followed by lots of dancing until well after midnight. Then, a bunch of us went to an extremely crowded bar but decided to leave almost immediately. The skies had cleared dramatically and many people had their first view of the Southern Cross. I crawled into my tent and laid back for just a minute and fell asleep. I awoke at 4:30 and climbed into my sleeping bag.