55%

Ahh Villarrica volcano, so beautiful yet so harsh. From a distance so much potential but close up so much hardness. I have learned a tonne from this volcano. It has honed my whiteout skiing skills, it has sharpened my ice skiing skills, it has shown me how challenging my goal would be if I was stuck on just one mountain, especially this one. When planning our trip down here I came close to living in Pucon for a month or two, it seemed ideal. Centrally located with volcanoes all around. Luckily for me I only ended up here for two weeks, it is not  a skiers dream, or if it is more of a nightmare than a wet dream.

I have persevered through whatever Villarrica threw at me, and now I am psyched to be heading to Bariloche for the month. I came here with the hope of climbing three volcanoes, which we did and then I just put my head down and punched back. This past week was good for vertical, 8800,6940,11760,5180,13520,7670= 53,870 ft in 6 days. Not too shabby, I need 3 more weeks like that and I will be back on par.

55%  of the way. lots and lots to go!

Stats for the first million

Well, a few days of Villarrica Volcano before I leave. Yesterday was windy and blowing and completely whiteout. But I toured 5000 feet when my skins conveniently stopped sticking. It was a blessing as I did not really want to be out there much longer. I had ot dried them the day before so they started off wet and got worse with the weather.

Today the morning was beautiful, clear, but windy. I toured as quickly as my tired legs would take me to the top of the Volcano. 2 hours and 10 minutes for the 5500 ft. I was hoping that this being my last time on the summit that I would look into the crater and see lava. But alas just gas and smoke. I cruised back down to the bottom and did three laps back up. Looking for the best skiing, which there was very little soft snow and a lot of rain crust, a lot of crust. But I had a goal in mind and finished off with my third biggest day of the year, 13 520 ft. That helps the average a bit. I still need 7 more of those to catch up though.

Here are the statistics for the first million feet.

194 days total

141 days on snow

smallest day 130ft

largest day 23 070ft  most runs 13

total runs 526

44 different summits climbed.

Freezing rain

Freezing rain has got to be one of the worst thing mother nature can throw at me. Yesterday, Dave and I battled the rain for 4 hours, getting good skiing but getting super wet and we had absolutely no visibility. But I need to suffer a bit to keep on my game.

So today we headed up Volcan Villarrica, frozen crust for 4000 feet…. the final 1500 feet was decent but below that was difficult touring, super hard to keep from slipping out. Frustrating to say the least. But it was super sunny above the clouds and gorgeous.

Dave headed down and I did a few more laps. It was so nice above the clouds with a few volcanoes sticking out, some I have now climbed and others that are waiting. So the skiing was marginal, but the day was extraordinary. I skied enough laps to climb 11 750 ft and now I am home and we are going to the beach to hang out.