Gettin Our Sit On

We decided not to ski today.

Upon awakening the valley was covered in an inch of fresh snow along with heavy fog. Right now the sun is out and it is a beautiful. We are, however, commited to getting our sit on. There will be no skiing today. Just sittin. The Hotel Portillo is one of the best places to get a good sit going, and right now we are deep into it.

Yikes!

I guess we have to leave. I can't believe no one stepped up with a credit card number.

Today was a gnarly day. The sun came out and that was pretty sweet, but not quite sweet enough. It made for a fun day of skiing, but as the Herminator would say, "Itz faa too zlick and izey."

You know how when it doesn't snow at Jackson for 3 weeks people go for uncontrolled slides and die. Somehow no one died today. A skier in Dav's camp fell 3 turns into the Super C and rocketed 4000 feet down. The report is that he is relatively OK. Good thing he had a helmet on. We heard it got dented up pretty good.

One of the Cali guys we were riding with went for a scary slide down one of the gullies above the lake run. He was able to KIT, Keep It Together, and bring himself to a stop before the cliff. We were all concerned that slide might have been the last of him. Very scary to watch.

A few turns left to make tomorrow morning. It might snow tonight, but probably not much. The Austrians are running a downhill course tomorrow AM. That will hopefully be the only excitement of the day.

Back to Summer. Fucking bullshit!

At least we are all coming making it back ALIVE.

Nothing of Substance To Report

I guess it can even happen here. The skiing today was lousy. I don't recommend that anyone ever come down here. Seriously, just stay away. It's no good.

Cloudy in the morning so by the time the sun came out it was too late for anything to really soften up. Can't win em all. At least we're skiing. The forcast is calling for more of the same tomorrow, our last full ski day. Possible snow showers on Saturday. We hopefully will be able to ski Saturday morning before heading to the airport.

If anyone feels sorry enough for us and would like to help keep the posse in South America for another week, leave your email address in the comment section and we will promptly hit you up for a credit card number.

Thanks in advance for your support.

One More Time

Well, we made it again.

It was a very quick pace. We made it to the top in under 2 hours. The sun did not come out today so the boot pack was a little slick. There was another group on the hike and they had a guide. He set the boot pack through the traverse where it should have been. This is a great shot of the traverse. I am in the foreground looking back at the start of the traverse. Paul was just ahead of the guy doing his best spider man impersonation at the top left of the photo. Paul was out of frame hidden by the fall line. This is definitely the scariest part of the hike. Going across a very steep and exposed section will make anyone stick to the wall.

My Boots Stink!

That's right. They smell bad. Real bad. Lucky for everyone involved we don't have to store our gear in our room.

With the lack of fresh snow we have been doing a lot of hiking this year. We got back on the trail again today. We did a route that we have been thinking about since the day we left last year, when we watched Dav hit it. We hiked up a one chute for about 45 minutes. The snow in that chute was mostly firm, as a result of wind and sluffing. We did however, have to blaze a bootpack. When got got to the top of that chute we were able to pop over into another chute that dumped out into the bottom of the Super C. You quickly forget just how long the runs are here. This chute was a pretty steep, 4 stop run. The snow was great. Some was turns were in about 4 inches of fresh and others were on steep, firm, sloughed out snow. Everyone with the posse made the hike today and we have linked up with some other skiers from Cali.

Tomorrow we are thinking about the Super C again. Nothing but sun in the forecast. Oh well, I guess we will just have to deal with it.

Just An Ordinary August Ski Day

No hiking. Nothing completly rad. Just a mello day of ripping ski runs on a spring like day.

The big event of the day was Shane McConkey's interest in Pete's DPS ski. It is a huge ski, carbon fiber, lightweight, waterski looking powder ski. Pete has a touring setup on it. Shane was on his Comba's with a Marker Duke touring binding. The two were comparing note's on the pro's of the Duke binding over all others.

Just an ordinary day here at Portillo.

We are thinking about doing the C again on Wednesday if it doesn't snow.

Pics On Top of Super C

Here is Ted's poster!

A Little More About the Lake Runs

Yesterday I did not give enough of a report on our 2nd run of the day. If you go back to the August 05 posts you can see a great picture of Paul skiing gully number 1 (posse nickname)above the lake run and get a pretty good idea of what we have been skiing when I talk about the Lake Runs.

There are 3 huge gullies that tower above the Lake Run that you access from the Condor lift. Now by gullies, I really mean 3 gigantic powder fields above 3 narrow chutes opening up into the lift accessed Lake Run which is as big as the west wall of China Bowl. Yesterday we had to break trail for close to an hour. We then traversed out to the 3rd gully which was just incredible. Not epic deep pow, but still super fun. I would describe the snow as cruisy. Easy to make really big long turns that look rad when viewed from the hot tub.

Today we dragged Pete up to gully number 2. It was awsome. Ted took a spill and his Wyoming trucker cap tumbled down about 2000 vert. That should give you an idea of the pitch to the terrain. Ted was fine. So was his cap.

In other news, as if Dav's camp wasn't enough, the Austrian ski team arrived yesterday with the Herminator. I actually had to go Euro on him and his posse in the Jun Calillo maze which brings you back to the Roca Jack. Head down, elbows out, and keep marching until you are on the chair.

OK, I wasn't able to muscle out the Herminator, but we did beat out his lackeys. I think they were more pissed that I was stopming on the back off the great Herman's skiis. They are grooming a GS course off the Roca Jack tonight. That should be fun to watch tomorrow.

Two Run Day

Senior Batin has arrived!

Before Pete got in the posse skied probably the gnarliest line of the week. It is called toilet bowl. It is a very steep chute halfway up the hike to the Super C. The first couple of turns to get into the bowl were the hairyiest I have ever made. We knew we were standing above a very big rock outcropping at the top of the bowl. You could not however, see any of that from where we were standing. We had to make a few turns skiers right of the rock, which was also a 50 degree rollover, with variable snow. These turns were a no fall zone. Everyone's hearts were pounding. To give you the idea of a 50 degree rollover, after someone makes the first turn, they are gone from sight.

Anyway, once we were in it was great. A very long run above the Roca Jack runs, followed by skiing the runs off the Roca Jack lift. Then we went in for lunch, met up with Pete, and did another hike in the afternoon. The lake run chute we did was super long and super rad. I am kind of at a loss for words today. I am exhausted.

That is all.

Chalk Up Another Super C

We made it, again.

The day was just as clear as last year. Total bluebird and the perfect light breeze. It was, however, a bit more crowded. There were probably 25 people who made it up. It reminded us of any video you have ever seen about crowds at Everest. The amount of people was not a negative at all. It only added to the stoke.

Speaking of stoke, this was definitely one of the most memorable hikes ever. Dav and his crew got off the Roca Jack and started the hike just before us. We (Dav, Ingrid, the Godfather, and the posse) were all together just before the traverse chatting about how someone had set the traverse a little higher, and a little scarier, and more gnarly, and maybe a little dumber, than the normal spot. The normal spot almost made me crap my pants last year. Check last August´s posts. Oh well. No one was up for breaking a new bootpack. The new traverse lived up to all our expectations.

The real cool part came on the new traverse. It was gnarly! So gnarly that Dav stopped to take a picture of us coming across. That´s right. Of us! It didn´t end there. The Godfather, Mike Douglas did the same. My head almost burtst out of my hat.

Up top we got some great pics. Poster material. We will get some up this week hopefully, if Pete happens to bring his laptop.

Oh, and the 6000 vert, powder filled, steep as a wall, coulour was pretty sweet too.

No new snow. Maybe Monday. Don´t worry about us though. There are plenty more untouched rad lines to ski.

Nick Names

Well, as all die hard followers of the posse know, we have our own names for pretty much everything. That way we can talk about which epic pow runs we are going to next and keep it tough for anyone to follow.

That being said, our handles for this trip came about last Friday at IHOP on the way to the airport. I ordered the Gambler, a daily special not on the menu. Paul ordered Big Country, the waitress hoped he brought his appetite. And Ted, well he ordered pancakes. You must be asking yourself, then why isn´t his handle Pancake? It was. Until our first lunch at the resort and Ted used a pepper shaker that had been tampered with, drowning his mashies in pepper and freeing him of the handle, Pancake.

In other news:

Paul and Davenport are still pretty much best friends, and,

I have shaved my beard! That´s right. I am just not a beard guy. I know I said I was committed to it, but it had to go.

I can tell you that we are committed to heading up the Super C tommorrow. Several tried today. No one made it. Hopefully we can build off their bootpack.

Blizzard to Bluebird!

Well, I am really settling in to the idea of having a beard. It is still very annoying, but I am committed. Two more days and I think it might actually look like a beard.

Yesterday the skies cleared during lunch, leaving us with 4 hours of bluebird powder skiing. The Roca Jack and the Lake Runs did not open yesterday afternoon because of all the new snow. That was ok with the posse because it just meant that today was another blue bird powder festival. Big Country was able to break out the Pontoons today. One of his many straight lines today was easily as long as Forever.

We have not yet taken a picture. There is really nothing new to photograph. Today I had a permanent video burned into my brain of Pepper(Ted) and Big Country(Paul) ripping 1500 vert on an untouched Chilean Andes powder chute. It was a 30 to 40 minute hike. These mountains are incredible. Only a week and a half left.

The pros showed up today. Should get even cooler.

In reguards to the comment, my nickname is the Gambler. Stay tuned for the story behind the nicknames.

Pete gets in on Saturday. Anyone want to come with him?

Cerrado due to White Out

The resort closed today after only a couple of runs. This puts the neck portion of my beard in grave danger, but I am committed to the rest of it.

The 2 runs we took on garganta had good snow, but very poor visibility. The whole place is above treeline so when it snows they have to close. There is sun in the forcast for tomorrow with close to a foot on the ground and more where the wind is loading. Big Country will probably get to use the Pontoons tomorrow. Well worth the extra luggage charge to bring such a big piece of gear on an airplane.

Today could very well be a 2 post day. If the storm breaks, they will reopen. We are fine with letting it snow all day.

Film Festival Begins

Well, you probably have been wondering what is going on with my beard. Right now it is very annoying. Twice this afternoon I have contemplated shaving, but I have made it through another day and have not shaved. I am worried about what color it will come in. Right now it looks as though it will be all black, no signs of gray.

In other news, the Telluride Film Festival is here. They showed several movies about adventure sports. The common theme was nature = big, man = small. Man sadly did not win in all the films.

In keeping with the movie theme, nature is big down here, real big. We have been doing some small hikes (40 -60 mins). Small compared to the Super C. Some folks atempted the big hike today, but no one made it all the way. Weather dependant we will hopefully be able to try and improve on their bootpacks.

We also saw two very large birds flying today. Condors hopefully. Our Chilean roommate said they were likely condors as there are no other types of birds of prey up here. Sebastian, or Dude as we have dubbed him, is a college student and will be in Beantown at the end of August. He really wants to go to a Bosox game. If anyone has a line on some seats, let us know.

Learned How To Say Deep in Spanish Today

So I am going to grow a beard. I have never had one in my entire life. Pepper and Big Country have talked me into growing one. What the hell, I have 2 weeks and all I have on the agenda is to ski. I don´t really know how it will feel. I usually can´t get past the 3 day mark before I have to shave. Beards are very uncomfortable during that part of the growing period. I am also not sure if I am going to let the neck grow in. That will probably take up much of my thought over the next 3 to 6 days. One thing Big Country and Pepper pointed out to me is that if i just let it grow out, the possibilities are limitless. I could change it into a gotee, which I don´t really like. Mayby some realy big chops. I´ve done that before. I think I would really like to shave it down to a justache or as Big Country calls it, the Asskicker.

Oh yah, we hiked the lake runs today. Deep is Profundo. Not sure if the spelling is correct. Sometimes it comes out as YEEHAW!!!

Blue Skies and Open Lake Runs

The sun was a blazin as we rolled into the resort around noon. Fernando, our driver, had been telling us on the way up that although there haven´t been as many storms this year as in the past, the ones that hit have been muchos grande! The storm that hit last week left over a foot. It seems to be tracked up pretty good near the lifts.

Good thing the lake runs are open!

Thats right. Maybe a little less snow overall, but having the lake frozen over opens up a ton of terrain. Refer to some of the posts from 2005 to get an idea of how rad it is going to be.

We only skiied for a couple of hours today. Even though it felt like it was 80 degrees in the sun, the snow was still very light. This place is great. There are a lot of untouched lines going down to the lake and with this nice weather will be shooting for the Super C again. We just need to find out how things are up there.

Winter Only 2 Days Away

Wow. It has been a long time since our last post. I realized after the first year that I really had nothing new to say. Every year seems to be the same. We ski the crap out of crap while continuing to increase our raddness.

It was a uber rad winter again. We met up with the TGSC and both groups killed it as expected. There are some new skiers out there with the fts tatoo on their skiis helping to spread the raddness in everything they do. Nice work guys.

We are heading to Portillo again. Looks like they are having a good season. I hope the posts will be pretty similar to the last couple of years. Maybe we will get the Super C again. Maybe we will just get some pow. Either way we will be skiing for two weeks in August.

Stay tuned for daily updates starting this weekend.