Beauty and Beatings – A Recall of the Adventures in the Andes – PART 5

Now it’s Thursday, conditions look exactly the same as the past two days, and I’m assuming the worst, but still not throwing in the towel.  I mean come on, I’m on vacation a ski vacation nonetheless, every day is a good day, but even better if I can ski……so here we go again:

Yeah buddy ski day today and I have a ride up there, no hitchhiking!!!  Woohoo!! Alright gear on, skis in the car, day pack ready.  Let’s go.

We get up there to a warm overcast day, hardly any wind down low, and the Otto lift spinning with the staff saying it’s going to open.   Alright I’m buying a ticket.  Not ten minutes after I purchase the ticket, the staff determines it’s time to shut Otto down because there is 25 kph plus winds up top.  Awesome….  There goes twenty-five mil pesos down the drain.  I’m not accepting another down day, not today.   Time for “Plan B.”  I proceeded to pull out my skins and take off layers; let's hike the resort. 

A short forty minutes later the quick hike turned into a slow slog as I gained a ridge and the previous 25 kph turned into a 50 kph head on Andes winter welcome hurling snow and ice into my face, slowing me down to a miserable crawl.  There was so much snow being blown around combined with the low visibility cloud, I couldn't see a damn thing.  After another hour of Andes winter love, I decided to finally get some skiing in.  The next one thousand vertical feet of miserable, icy, crusty, thigh rattling groomer skiing brought a huge smile to my face.   Finally.  The down days frustration had melted away.  One more quick lap later I was finally all smiles heading back to the hostel.  And what is on the plate for tomorrow? Supposedly a few inches of fresh and a bluebird day of skiing.

Friday comes and so did the snow, but not so much the bluebird.  We pulled up to fresh tracks and blue skies.  Hallelujah, I'm soooo happy.  Plus I could finally see the mountain and started scouting lines and adventures.  After two runs of a few inches of fast pow, the glorious scenery was quickly hidden by a thick low lying cloud.  Considering the low tide snow and sharp volcanic rocks poking up all over, this was not a the best scenario, but thank goodness for skiing.  Another good thing was getting to ski with Dave from Powder Quest, especially since he had a good knowledge of the mountain.  We met at the hostel restaurant the night prior and had a fun time.  Now that he sent his group up north, he had a few days to himself.  If you're ever looking for a guided adventure down in South America, or need some info on the Chillan area head on over to Powder Quest's website and get in touch.  The best part of today was finally getting face shots, with skiing for a whole day without having to hike for turns in a close second. 

And what better way than to finish off the day? How about with a Chilean asado.  Of course no one is going to say no to slow cooked steak, chicken, and pork straight from the local butcher consumed with hot rolls, Chilean wine to die for, beer, and shenanigans.  How'd this great idea come to fruition?  Well I'll just pat myself on the back for this one; and then give credit to Isi for getting the meat and to Alejandro for taking the main duties of cooking.   It was a great time and a few of us managed to keep the night going till about 3:30 am at the local pub owned by a pair of gringos.  So back to bed by 4:00 am just to start it all over again in a few hours.  Enjoying life the Chilean way.


Here are some pics from the Asado

Rhys and Dave

Dave and Me



Beauty and Beatings – A Recall of the Adventures in the Andes – PART 4

Yeah buddy ski day today and I have a ride up there, no hitchhiking!!! Woohoo!!  Alright gear on, skis in the car, day pack ready.  Let’s go. 

We’re about a 20 minute ride up a dirt road to the resort.  It’s overcast and slightly warmer than desired.  My mind skips around various thoughts due to the excitement of skiing and the anxiety of not skiing battling it out; this ride couldn’t go fast enough.  We pull up to the middle parking lot. OTTO LIFT CLOSED!!!  Just the beginner’s poma is open and that is obviously not worth the price of admission.  My heart drops in time with the rising frustration created from a down day, one that wouldn’t have happened in America, a closure of the top lifts due to 25 to 40 kph winds (and the bottom lifts weren’t running due to no snow).  No why wouldn’t this have happened in the States?  Because a few years back the resort bought some second hand 50 year old Chinese pieces of crap cheapo lifts to save money.  And you pay for what you get; no secondary safety mechanisms on the tower rollers, a poor mountain top location with no windbreak, and twice the cost due to constantly breaking down from being a piece of poo.  Yep.

Dejected and disappointed we headed back into town to our hostel, once again the ride seemingly taking forever. Official “Down Day #1.”  We shall try again tomorrow.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out in the hostel getting to know some of those on their own adventure.  First off there was the gentlemen kind enough to give me a ride to the resort, Nick, a spry man in his 60’s and on his tenth plus tour of South America.  Now it took us all of a couple of seconds to realize we’d met before.  I immediately recognized him from time spent at Snowbird.  He’s a very interesting chap and has stories from all around the world many times over as he’s one that chose many years ago to seek after treasures of experiences and knowledge.  And he has a very refined talent of always being kind and inviting to those around, enlisting them into a group setting.   Nick and I hung out quite a bit during the trip and usually shared a table for dinner in the hostel’s restaurant.   He was also a huge boon in getting me up to and back from the resort every day that he was at the hostel. Then there was Natasha, a Parisian former ballerina now turned doctor going into her third year of residency enjoying the last couple of weeks of a three month vacation.  How was she? Classic Parisian for the first few days; I mean come on, even the French hate Parisians.   But she loosened up after a few good days of skiing later on down the road, but not quick enough, earning the nickname “Parisian Princess” in the meantime. 

Alright it’s Wednesday now. Yeah buddy ski day today and I have a ride up there, no hitchhiking!!! Woohoo!!  Alright gear on, skis in the car, day pack ready.  Let’s go.  Does this sound familiar?  Rinse and repeat.

“Official Down Day #2.”

Now my legs are just getting antsy.  Now frustration has really set in.  The weather reports are all over the board.  Depressions, ridges, systems on the horizon, no systems on the horizon; it all is true and it all is false in some sense.  Welcome to the Andes.  To combat hostel laziness and spending hours upon hours attempting to battle each other to connect to the ever inconsistent and flighty internet connect, Nick, Natasha, and I set out on a walk up Shangri-La road out to the Mission Impossible Lodge.  The walk, under overcast and drizzle i.e. snow in the mountain tops, became a discussion of France, Europe, and the reaches of modern medical reaches between Nick and Natasha with me listening and observing.  Interesting times to say the least.

The day also brought two sets of Australian couples on opposite ends of a similar journey.  The first couple, Chris and Kate from Melbourne, was in their first month of a nine month vacation, while the second couple, Rhys and Terri from Perth, was in their last month of a ten month vacation.  It was fun to see Western and Eastern Australians interact, to see the opposite sides of the adventure spectrum, and tell us of the differences between the coasts, and asking them about "Stalia" slang .  All four were a good inclusion into the the hostel group, escpeically when it came to consuming vast amounts of Chilean wine, pisco, Escudo and Cristal.

Group shot after dinner one night

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