Freeskier Magazine

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http://freeskier.com/articles/article.php?article_id=2458
That's FTS member Leo ridin' the storm out in the worlds most comfortable sittin parlor chairs. It's to bad Tom Winter didn't hang around long enough to enjoy the full epicness of the storm.

Videos

Here's Dayne (above) and James (below) both from Team JHole. Dayne is still down in South America skiing/traveling with Uncle Eric. James read a 23,412 page book (at least that's what it looked like) while a his two week vacation. Can't wait to crash on their couches this winter!

What you are about to see is a fantastic match of Ukrainian Pool. Thanks to Joanne, Chloe, and Kevin from Lake Louise for passing on this fun/energetic game. If you want all the rules and regulations email Leo at http://leojflynn@hotmail.com.

And here is what I think is the last video from the trip. This is actually a toned down version of the chaos that constantly happens on this highway with 28 switchbacks. Screw that street in San Francisco, this is the most insane road in the world! I think if we were in a passenger van, it would have been more interesting, but we were in a small 18 passenger bus fully loaded with people and all their ski gear, so the driver was a little more conservative.

Portillo = RAD

Leo on Monday morning.

Proud new uncle Eric.

The Wee Flynn truly enjoying his extended vacation.

It's not clean but you get the idea. I would like to give big ups to Momma Jewski on her birthday today! Without her I wouldn't have been able to do all this fun, exciting stuff. Thanks Mom for being RAD.

Still a few more vids to come, including Ukranian Pool. Without that game we all would have lost our minds in the hotel without skiing. Stay tuned!

More Portillo Fun

Here's the Tres Hermanos Sunday night after the storm broke, full moon, not a cloud in the sky and a crapload of snow. This photo wouldn't have been possible without the persistence of Team JHole memberEric, and some input from Tim. Thanks guys. Team Vail would like to congratulate Eric on becoming an uncle while on his trip through South America!

The digging out begins Monday morning.

Leo gettin into it on Tuesday.

Avalanche Videos

Here are two videos shot on Monday after the storm. A total of four avalanches took place, but these two were the most exciting. Charges were placed up on the overhanging cornices above the Roca Jack via heli. These slides didn't quite make it down to the bottom of the Roca, but the ones during the storm did.

Pics

Stay tuned, there's more to come!

Paul flipping out

JH James stoked on "the best turns of the trip"

Snowed in ski check just after the storm- Paul and Tim

Paul in the white room. This was before the big storm!

Paul's out of fresh tracks, no ploblemo, go one ridge over.

Portillo is Awesomely Rad

We can't get over this place. Today was an average ski day down here in Chile and it kicked ass.

The place is incredible. The vibe is pure skiing. You can't help but be overwhelmed with ski culture having tea in the sittin parlor after lunch, one couch away from the Herminator and the rest of the Austrian alpine team. Those guys look like a comando unit. They could overthrow a small government. It looks as thought they are grooming a downhill course for them tomorrow.

The mountains are unreal. So big! The pics and video will be great, but they won't do it justice. You can't capture the Portillo experience, you have to come here. No matter how tired you are, you can't help but push yourself with the likes of McConkey and Davenport skiing around and showing what lines are possible and readily availible. I overheard the director of snow safety and the owner talking after breakfast that Shane wasn't going to be able to parachute out of the heli today because they don't have the appropriate lisence for people to ski dive. Are you kidding me?

If you like awesomely rad stuff, start saving and get down here. We head back north tomorrow and start saving for next year on Monday.

Pauls First Post......ever....i think? not sure though.

leo is sick and tired of posting about deep pow and bluebird skies, so i decided to give it a try. welcome to the show, glad you could make it. once again the morning started out great..... a delicious breakfast in the dining room, thank you Bernie, followed by deep turns and bluebird skies. oh.... oops, i think this may be sounding like every single previous post, oh well. Anyways, we took the high traverse first thing this morning and found......yes believe it or not, DEEP POW!! If you havent been paying attention the past week or so, IT HASNT SNOWED SINCE SUNDAY! I love skiing, I love powder, I love powder skiing! We did that twice and the it was already time for lunch. Lunch at Tio Bobs was fantastic, sun was out and the sky was clear, probably about 45 degrees and no wind. Absolutely perfect. At lunch Leo and I scouted our post lunch run, essentially the same hike as yesterday but a little higher and more to skiers right. the hike took us about an hour, but way worth it. About 8 to 10 wind groomed inches of beautiful snow. once again one of the best runs of the trip. two weeks has gone by so quickly, cant wait until next year! Rumor has it that the Rocca Jack and the Lake Runs will be open tomorrow. Only time will tell, but if that is the case, there will be yet one or two more posts about, yes you guessed it....DEEP POW AND BLUEBIRD SKIES!!! RAD.

3 Runs and a Slide

Today we hiked.

Right out of the gate. By gate, I of course mean the Caracara lift. We were behind all the ski with the superstars in the line. Today we hoped to set the high traverse that was set before the storm by the UVM guys who work the front desk. When we got to the top of the lift and saw that Dav and his whole crew were not already onto it, we were stoked. James, a J Hole loc dog here for 2 weeks got it started. I took over half way across, where we ran into a chute that Chris Anthony and his minions had hiked. Those guys were at least 4 sling shots ahead of us, so a traverse was definitly the way to go. We pushed all the way out to where we were skiing earlier in the trip, just above L'Estudia. We could have skiied right from there and it would have been great, but with this camp going on, we knew we had to hike higher into this chute first, so up we went. The traverse and hike took 40 minutes. 3/4 of the way up we were able to see Aconcagua. To give you an idea of the pitch we were about to ski, Paul dropped a glove and it tumbled down about 1000 vert. We were able to recover the glove, and Paul was packing a spare. We did that route twice before lunch. On the second lap we cought up to Wendy Fischer and her crew. She's pretty good. We hopped 1 chute over for some more fresh. It was (refer to Farmer's 1st comment from yesterday and insert your favorite adjective)!

Here's where it gets exciting. Our one and only run after lunch. We planned on skiing the first gully going down to the lake. We were going to hike up and ski the gimongo snowfield above the gullies leading into the bowl called the Lake Run. This bowl is technically closed or out of bounds as you have to go across the lake to get back. The lake is not open for business yet, so we intended to ski the snow field through the gully and then traverse back to Garganta, in the ski area. The hike was good. Me, Paul, Tim, and James were all moving pretty up a wind raped ridge. The wind was loading as we were hiking, but the real load out in the middle of the snowfeild we had to cross came from the storm. We stopped below a big rock and put our skiis on. We intended on traversing to the next ridge and hiking up one more snow feild. I was the first to go. The field we were crossing was very convex, we figured that as from sloughing after the storm. As I got going, a 10 foot wide and 10 inch deep slab broke below my skiis.

Interesting!

We notice a long crack going out into the field. We decided to ski back the way we hiked. It was still a great run, with a little extra adrenaline, and we are all going to make it into the hot tub tonight, not the lake. Looking back at the slide, compared to hillside, it seemed small, however it ran at least 300 feet. I would hate to see the whole slope go, although we've got video of that from we they heli was blasting above the Roca. Discovery channel type stuff. We'll have plenty of goodies to post when, and if we come back.

We're Running Out of Adjectives

That's fine with us so long as we don't run out of the pow.

Another rad day. If the loquacious one, Joe Downes is reading, please comment with some more ways to express rad. Today was really rad.

Waking up in a hotel bed brings a whole new level of relaxation. Well rested, we headed out to with all intentions for a full day of hiking. We did the same traverse I described yesterday. A little bit up hill, but no hiking. The snow was great. We did a few laps out there, farming our turns to help keep the fresh for the next lap. Along the way we scouted some good short hikes to do once we were done farming. Davenport beat us to it, which is actually pretty rad. His five guys set a boot pack, we go up a little later with a little less effort. I felt as though we should tip him at the end of the week. Instead Paul just thanked him as they were chatting in the hallway outside their rooms. Dav is 2 doors down.

Rad!

So we did one pretty good hike before lunch. Only really 15 minutes hiking, but the run we got by hopping over a ridge was raddically long. A thousand or so vert of untouched. After lunch, which we are now eating in the main dining room, and it was rad, we intended on hiking one or two above the lake runs. The lake isn't open yet, but it's cold. Instead, they finished digging out the Caracara lift and opened it up. Mucho mas POW! Right off the lift. Oh yeah, it was bluebird. Let me tell you, it was, you guessed it,

Rad!

5" More Fresh, Blue Skies, and a FREE Hotel Upgrade!

That just happened!

As if all the pow we have recieved so far was not enough, we woke up to 5 more inches of complete fluff on top of the 80 or so inches we've been skiing this week.

The Roca Jack and the Caracara are still not open. The Caracara is still buried. It's completely buried! If the haul rope was not still up and running into the snow, the cats wouldn't even know where to start digging. That did not stop the posse from traversing out to the bottom of the super C chute. We followed a traverse that was set by Tom Winter, a senior editor for Powder mag. I intend on finding out how they write about skiing pow everyday, until then I will try to manage as best I can. "Best turns of the trip!" was uttered by everyone in our crew. Long and untouched. We've been skiing with some J Hole loc dogs. Who says we all can't get along? When we got down the Jun Callillo lift we saw the destroyed lift house. It was wiped out by a slide from the Super C. The owner of the hotel said he hasn't seen a slide like that since he's been here. 47 years!

So we go in for lunch. Paul bails out some tele guide from AK with a strap for his binding. We eat luch in the cafeteria. Food was great as always. We say good-bye to a couple of the guys from J-Hole. The road has finally opened. The hotel is filling up. Tim somehow gets a bed at the Inca for another night.

Yeah. That just happened!

Bluebird and Buried

The Santa Rosa buried everything.

The day began clear as a bell. Patrol continued with their bombing of the Plateau. Those guys were at it early. They did at least one route as we were strolling over to breakfast at 7:30, in shorts today. The plateau was ready to open right at 9am. That was about it though. Things are buried deep.

The road to Santiago, well as of right now it is still closed. We hear that an avalanche buried one of the avalanche road tunnels under 60 feet of debris. Yeah, 6 stories of snow. There is a hotel of debris sitting on the road. The road crew couldn't find the ends of the tunnel.

The Roca Jack, according to some of the staff, was ripped out by a slide. That style lift is designed for those conditions, but they say it may be a couple of days before it's up and running. I hope the new lift, Caracara is ok.

The Condor, it was buried, but the staff got it going before lunch. The lifty has to walk down to his lift house, which is about 5 feet below the snow level. That was nice as it opened up considerably more terrain.

The good news about everything be buried, is that there is tons of snow and very few guests here to ski it. The snow is not, however like 5 feet of fresh at say, Alta. It is very dense due to all the wind. I have described it before as cruisy, some might say it's buttery (Davenport). You seem to stay on the top 6 inches of the snow. The crazy thing is that although you only feel you are in 6 inches of smooth, cruisy, buttery, fast, and delicious pow; you know you are skiing over a 6 foot rock section that we were hitting before the storm.

The helicopters have been very busy today, flying guests in from the airport. It's the only way in or out. Tim changed his flight home to Tuesday. Who knows if they will clear the road from this storm before the next one hits. It's getting cloudy again!

fts baby!!!

Wow!

Yikes. I just read that last post. Not sure what happened there. I was just trying to write. Things seem to be back to normal. There was a formal dance in the main ballroom last night to calm everyone`s nerves. Not sure how everyone knew to pack their black tie attire, but sure enough, there we all were.

The storm ended today at around 4pm. I have know idea how much snow there is. Definitely 4+. The winds hit 104 mph. This was the most intense snow storm any of us have ever seen. 2 days straight with snowfall over an inch an hour! You know its big when the long term staff are taking as many photos as the guests.

The Inca lodge, our bunk house, is about 50 feet from the hotel. Last night no one made it back there without a good adrenaline rush. Everyone who made the walk sunk in snow at least up to their waist, and was pelted by the blizzard force winds, while scrambing to get inside. I have never gone to sleep and wondered how we would get out of the building when we woke.

Upon awakening, we found the seldom used rear door to the lodge blocked by a 5 foot wall of snow. The main door was openable, but the walkway, well, lets say it was drifted in. Everyone leaving the Inca suited up for the day. Full ski gear and a shovel just to get 50 feet to breakfast. We all brought everything we would need for a full day of killing time. Once out of the lodge and making the trek to the hotel, you had to climb a 15 foot drift, which when halfway across you realized you were on top of a pick up truck. 10 feet above the bed. Head down, climbing the pile, hunkering into the wind, struggling to make it 30 more feet into the hotel for the day.

We`ve created and been taught some great games. Ukranian pool is about as fun as it gets, not to be outdone, however by frisket ball. Yup, frisket ball. A cross between ultimate frisbee and basketball.

When the sun came out everyone was excited. The lifties started digging out, and got the Plateau lift running. Patrol started throwing some bombs. And everyone started taking pictures of everything. Everything is buried deep.

There is avalanche debris all around. The most impressive path so far came down the lake run and left debris 3/4 of the way across the middle of the lake, and and that was a natural release.

Sun should be shining tomorrow. Not sure how much terrrain will be open. The road is still closed, so Tim gets to stay tonight at least. Tomorrows report should be a good one.

2 feet and Rising

All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.

All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.

All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.

All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.
All pow and no play makes Jack a dull dull boy.

Back Flop to Back Flip

Paul landed it on the 2nd try of the day.

Let me describe the jump. Paul comes cruising down L'Estudia, banks right, straight up the wall of a cornice on the edge of the run, and hucks into several feet of pow. After the first try, Juice did a little shovel work on the run in, wanted to hike back up, we talked him out of that, did another lap, and he nailed it.

Gold medal. No one else in the competition.

Speaking of no one else. The storm has started and the hotel has emptied. It went from about 400 people downto 100-150 maybe. Two of them being McConkey and Dav. The pool guy was telling us stories of the last really big storm in 1997. The road was closed for 3 weeks, the Hotel had to close, and the military flew everyone out in helicopters. Who knows what will come. Maybe we will just get 3 feet or so. Maybe we will get to ride in a heli after all.

The skiing today was pretty sweet. The light, sadly was flat with the onset of the Santa Rosa. This valley is so huge. When you run out of freshies in one chute, you just hop over a ridge to another couple thousand vert of more untouched. We only made 5 runs today. Each lap takes 45 minutes or so. 15 riding the lifts, 10 on the traverse, and literally 15 - 20 minute powder runs. It`s so sick! You wonder why are you so tired with only a few runs in before lunch. You take a look over at the mountain side, and see just how small someone is, then it`s ok to be a little beat.

No skiing tomorrow. Hopefully Saturday.

The Santa Rosa is Coming!!!

What a day.

The buzz started last night when the hotel posted a letter to all the guests stating that all forecast models are calling for a storm of epic proportions. One which will begin tomorrow afternoon and stop sometime this weekend. The storm is expected to produce snow accumulations of 85 to 200 centimeters.

I think that converts to about, oh, I don`t know, HOLY SHIT!

About a third of the guests have left already, with many more bailing tomorrow am, as the staff expects the road to be closed until at least sometime on Saturday.

Tim is staying. Someone else may have to cut the grass. He gets the gold once again. Good thing for his medal count we`re not hiking.

More terrain opened today. Downhill of the Roca Jack. The run of the day was L'Estudia, which is actually the bottom of the Super C. We were taking the high traverse, set by a UVM student working the front desk this winter, to gain mucho mas vert. The snow was unreal. I know this valley is magical, but I am now convinced that it is full of snow faries who fill in your tracks while you ride the lift. We could not find a touched line. And we were skiing the same run all day. No lunch. Just pow til we couldn`t stand up.

Oh yah. Paul is working on his backflip. We figure it`s just like a front flip, only backwards. We`re getting video. He`s almost there.

How do they do it?

I don`t know how the guys at Powder magazine do it. How do you keep writing about powder skiing day after day after day?

Today was incredible. The sun was out all day, and the temps were crisp keeping the snow light all day long. Fresh lines all day long!

Today, like most days at Portillo, we started at the Roca Jack. It was deep. Lap after lap. So deep that ski patrol didn`t get the new lift just down from the Roca opened until noonish. That did away with the lines at the Roca. And by lines, I mean a 10 minute rest before you go back up the track. The track was more work than the pow. They don`t groom it, and it was very wind drifted. Kinda like going over the wake out water skiing. Fun going up, mucho mas fun coming back down.

We are all having trouble standing after 4 pm. Tim is getting his sit on up at Tio Bob`s right now. We are trying to hold out til after 7pm to hit the tub. That`s the toughest decision of the day so far.

We havn`t hiked anywhere yet. There hasn`t really been a need. There are still literally bowls of terrain that have not been opened since the dump. Tomorrow should be another blubirder. So much awesomeness just a short traverse away from the Roca Jack will be opening first thing tomorrow.

I guess I do know how the guys at Powder do it day after day.

With a giant smile!

2" to 16" Forecast Delivers

This time we hit the 16" side of the spectrum.

In keeping with the Olympic spirit, Tim takes the gold again. Today it turned out to be a contest of who had the best quote. Me and Paul could`t really compete. Paul took the silver with "I love skiing. I love powder. I love powder skiing. Hah!" I took the bronze with a dazed smile and "I am definitly buying a pair of Hellbents."

Tim`s winning line; "So, I`m going straight, I can see. So I turn, and I can`t see anything. Then I can see again. So I turn, then I can`t see anything. Then I can see again, so I turn. Then I can`t see."

You kinda get the picture of how the day was. Profundo! Deep! You can`t spell profundo without the fundo.

The day started out waking up to 10" of fresh. Good news except that they couldn`t open any lifts because it was still nuking. It took until 1pm for them to get things going. Lots of bombs being dropped. They got the plateau lift up and running by 2pm, leavings us with three solid hours to rip that shit up. It was way profundo.

The sun came out for the last few runs. Tomorrow should be total bluebird with a foot and a half over by the Roca Jack. Monday dump and we`re set for pow all week!

fts baby!

The Hawaiian Backstroke

Well, we made to Portillo.

In keeping with the Olympic spirit, we`ve got a great new competition. The Hawaiian backstroke. Tim dropped it on us today in the pool. It is awesome. You float on your back with your toes constantly out of the water. Using a modified breast stroke, you propel yourself forward, feet first. Tim took the gold, Paul got the silver, and I got the bronze. Paul and I both almost drowned. It is an extremely difficult stroke as it induces serious laughter.

The ride up was almost as exciting as our first year here, without the snow. Our driver had a little K2 in him as he was Hellbent on getting us to the Hotel Portillo as fast as possible. We were going 3 wide around the corners, with semis coming down the hill in the other direction. If you haven`t been on the road, it`s only 2 lanes wide. The fun starts right off the bat in Chile.

We got a few turns in yesterday, right after Tim found his forgotten helmet, then hit the tub. The new lift, the Caracara, just downhill of the Roca Jack makes for no lines. Today was pretty good. It hasn`t snowed since last week, so we had to do a bit of traversing. We headed down the ridge to the chutes leading into the bottom of the Super C. They were pretty powdery. Lot o laps through there. Some new snow would be nice. The are calling for snow showers tonight into tomorrow. We could use it, as the lake has not froze over. That takes away a lot of really good terrain. If it doesn`t snow, we may have to go for a big hike. We have seen about 8 very large condors flying. Locals say that means snow.

We`ll just have to wait and C.

So it Goes

Another summer.

August is upon us and the posse is ready to head south. Just the 3 amigos this anos. Leo and Paul, of course. We are going to hold it down for 2 weeks again. Joining us this year for the 1st time will be the official posse medic and photographer, Tim Flynn. Tim will be shredding the southern gnar for the first week of the trip.

Portillo got close to 40 inches this week! Bueno!

The posse is ready. Always ready. We are in a constant state of readiness. Once the snow leaves the northern hemi, everything we do is devoted to the next big run. Will it be the Super C again, or maybe something even cooler that we don't even know about yet.

Sure, summer is fun; but really we are just trying to stay in ski shape. Biking, hiking, blogging, running, surfing, lifting, dreaming about skiing, buying new skis and ski related products, stenciling new skis, cheering for the Red Sox, wondering if I should've used that last semicolon, or just watching a new Will Farrell movie; they're all great ings, but really they just help us stay in a constant state of readiness.

And so it goes.

Here are some posse pics of the readiness.

Looking for a run!

Thinking about a run!
Flipping off the sun!
and as for Turk (fts China chapter), well,

Turk is scouting out Asia for the next big run. Godspeed Turk.