Where Has The Time Gone

Once again, as if clockwork, having the stars align, and the seasons change, it appears as if I have disappeared.  Not necessarily, but I just haven't had much that I feel is exciting to post about.  But as we roll into winter and the lifts at my resort are about to start turning, it's time to get back to posting.

I have been thinking about goals for this ski season and am about finished with it.  I will definitely post those here in the next few days.  But for now here are two edits that I have completed for two of the Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp first week campers.

The first completed goes to Ian Scobe.  This kid was a hilarious jokester and made this fun with his carefully executed comments.


Ian Scobie - Mad Ballin' from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.


The second edit out of the gates is for Matt Tilleard.  This Aussie was such a great guy and funny nontheless.  I love Aussie sarcasm.   Here ya go Matt, I love this song you recommended.


Matt Tilleard - Aussie Power from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp Promo

So here's what I've been working on in all my free time for the past cople weeks.  Thank goodness it's FINALLY done.  I really enjoyed filming, being filmed, and editing this promo.  Another cool thing is a shortened version of the promo is going to be apart of the Powderwhore TELEvision movie tour.  The promo will play during the premovie pleasantries while everyone is arriving and getting their seats.

I've also been working on a new website for Free 2 Be Productions.  That'll be finished soon (hopefully).

Well here's the edit.  Enjoy.

Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp Promo from Free 2 Be Productions on Vimeo.

Time to End........

As the snow turned to a hard, technical medium from the soft heavenly blanket of bliss with the raging winds of the upper Andes, the reality of our required departure and return to a world two weeks forgotten also blew in.  The two weeks of skiing, touring, yoga, hot tubbing, joking, bonding, and constant schenanigans were now soon to become memories and experiences of the past instead of the daily routine that had become life for two weeks. 

During that time everything else was forgotten and put aside. There were no worries of work, of bills, or of the summer heat.  There was just living, living in the moment.  All that mattered was skiing, fresh turns, food, partying, sleep, and avoiding falling prey to the next prank; life was good. 

The days were spent honing an upright tight stance and embracing speed, invoking the style and technique of Nick DeVore.  Both of my ski weeks started with a fresh dump of soft snow.  The fresh turns to be had each day came under the coaches' requirement of doing so with speed and fluidity.  My legs were pushed to new limits and given a pounding that I'm still recovering from.  

Both of the groups were awesome even though they differed on many levels.  The first group was mainly juniors (under 17) and just full of so much energy and laughter, which was truly contagious; I felt like got a little younger that week, and we all know that I don't need anymore excuses to act immature. It was constant joking and laughing.  Honestly just an epic combination of personalities, energy, and skiing.

The second group was all adults and a good bunch of mountain rippers.  We had a blast hiking around and shredding pow.  And they all definitely knew how to have a good time both on the mountain and off. 

As I now depart my little bit of heaven and return to the grind, my muscles ache and my joints are pained a little.  Yet I smile with each little ache and pain. The soreness and the aches serve as a reminder; a reminder of the adventure had and the friendships made.  But it also serves as a reminder of the hard work and long days of cutting trees down after sitting in an office for nine hours a day to pull together the extra funds needed to make this trip possible, the late nights, the stresses of a financial commitment, the doubts and worries........and oh how it was worth it.

Rocking out hard at La Posada

Beautiful sunsets every day

Enjoying the sunset during my daily hot tub session with my mustache

Slackline session

Final dinner group shenanigans

Parting our ways at the airport.  I was bracing for the payback wet willey to follow.

Winding Down

As this great camp and experience is about to finish up in less than 30 hours, I can't help but think how great it has been. 

Check It Out

Check out the blog post on thewinterlife.com blog for some cool shots and a good write up of what's been going on.

"So Good When It Hits the Lips: 2 Days of Blue Skies and Powder at the Portillo Big Mountain Telemark Camp"

First Day Out

Sweet sweet sweet day.  Did I mention how sweet today was.  We woke up to a good half foot plus of new snow.  Energy was running high and we couldn't believe that we're skiing pow on our first day out.  Nick and Kayo declared it to be a schralping session.   It was a care free day of lapping some light snow.  We did 23 laps and scored 15,840 vertical feet.

I did break the cam out and filmed a buch of the group taking laps.  We're going to surprise everyone with a short edit of themselves after the camp.  It's going to be hard for me to get it out before the camp concludes, but I'll get something out to each participant.  Here's a couple of shots for the day.  I'll have plenty more photos to share after I get back to the states.............I may try and delay that for a month or so...........

The scenery

 

Fun Chair shots with the GoPro

Chile!!!!!!!

First day in Portillo down and out.  I managed to get a shuttle before I even checked out of customs.  I did have to wait around for an hour for the driver and other scheduled riders to show but it was all good.  The two hour ride definitely felt just as long.  Since there was snow in the mountains and all throughout the pass from Portillo to Mendoza, the Chilean Carabineros (police) had deemed it too dangerous to drive and had the road closed off.  Luckily we had a Portillo sign in the van window so when the diver told the cop he should let us through because he is "an expert driver that runs this road every day and could do it in his sleep", the cop believed him and let just our vehicle pass. 

The road was definitely not scary, but merely slushy in most places, with the temperature being at or above freezing.  But since most don't grow up driving in snow and ice in Chile, it could be considered scary. 

With the road being closed I didn't have to deal with a huge rush of incoming skiers.   As I stood in the freezing lobby getting accustomed to my preferred season, all I could think about was getting some lunch and then skiing.  I clammered all my stuff over to my 15' by 6' room for 4 and tried to unpack with organization.  I finally gave up and just went to lunch. 

It wasn't until I had clicked into my skis and started to ski toward the lift that I experienced my truly excited state.  At that moment I just had the biggest smile push it's way out and I hadn't even made my first run yet; I was completely ecstatic. FINALLY.  It took so long for me to get to this point. 

The visibility was pretty bad as a storm was moving in and whatever light we did have was completely flat.  I got some nice "knock-off-the-rust" turns in some nice milky maritime powder.  It felt so good to be home but somewhat awkward and foreign at the same time. 

After skiing 7 laps, somewhat successfully dodging the just barely buried rocks, and notching 5,000 vertical feet, I called it a day.  As I walked in to the lobby after checking my skis and boots, I first saw Luke Lubchenco, and then the rest of the group.  Kayo Ogilby and Nick Devore, the coaches soon came up and introduced themselves as I chatted with Luke.  I can already tell that this is going to be a blast and a great learning session. 

We had a short introductory meeting and then proceeded to finally eat dinner at the ripe Chilean time of 8:30 pm.  We sat, ate, and joked around in the cafeteria while snow continued to fall.  Spirits and aspirations are high.  We'll be having a bluebird powder day in the morning. 

 Dropping into Santiago

Getting my visa

 


Our LARGE room for 4 people

First night storm sure to bring the goods in the morning

It's been a while.

As I sit here, finally relaxing without the weight of my carry-on bag, computer bag, and ski boots stuffed with energy bars and underwear on my shoulders, having walked from Terminal A to the end of Terminal E in the Atlanta airport to combat the soon to be pooling of blood in my legs as a result of the overnight flight to Santiago, I, one laugh at my current run-on sentence, and two, am still yet to feel the "excitement" of skiing high up in the Andes during summer.

Why is this I wonder? 

Maybe it's because I'm still feeling the drag of three straight weeks of tree work that mainly consisted of large tree removals with huge heavy trunks. Maybe it's the barely six hours of sleep I had last night holding my excitement at bay.  It could be the long duration of stress endured making sure that I stayed healthy enough to make the trip.  Or quite possibly, I'm just not excited to ski at all.

I'm sure it's not the last reason.

There are three hours remaining in my planned layover.  The people watching isn't as intense in the end of Terminal E, and is not enough to hold my enjoyment as the Georgia thunderstorm has ended.  As my thoughts wander and I think about the time leading up to this point of my summer, I must admit that this trip wouldn't be possible for me at this time in my life if it wasn't for Seth.  His desire to start a tree business and bring me in as a partner has lead to be the main source of income for this trip.  I am a little concerned about my conditioning as hockey hasn't been a frequent enough activity these past six weeks and with tree work disrupting my workout schedule.  A few times I did manage to hike up waterfall canyon and then run/jog down to simulate backcountry touring and the impact I would feel on my legs while skiing.  Hopefully that helped. 

I guess we'll see during these next two weeks.

My up at the waterfall getting ready to run down