Ahhhhh Argentina

So many reasons to be happy.

In late June I was looking through Facebook and noticed a photo someone I knew had commented on. The photo was of Bariloche. Not knowing the person who took the photo, I nonetheless emailed him, Jaime, and asked him if he knew of any decent rentals in Bariloche. Up till then I had only found expensive places and none that were within my ballpark.  Funnily enough Jaime was in charge of http://barilochevacationrental.com/ and he offered us http://barilochelakeshore.com/ for a great price. Similar to what we have paid for much smaller cabanas. This house is 3 times the size, and 4 times the luxury with a killer view.   And with in floor heating. Tracey is in heaven.

Today I headed up to an area called Lopez trees, a bit of a bootpack up a trail and then some huge trees with large woodpeckers everywhere. As I toured up I realized that I finally had a stormy weather zone to play in. I also realized that I HAD FORGOTTEN MY LUNCH. Not good, tough to pull of large days without energy. I managed to bum some cookies of one guy but that was it.

Anyways I was psyched, there was powder and I was exploring. Soon enough I was on Filo de las Cabras. I shredded a south facing chute and had some sweet powder. I then headed up Pico Magnat 1869m, and had an awesome view of Monte Tronador, and in the distance Lanin. Pretty cool to be able to see Lanin from this far away.

I then skied back down and set a skin track/bootpack back up Filo de las Cabras, by now I was at 7000ft climbed and I stared shredding the 770 foot south facing chutes. So fun, so fast, so powdery. Having no energy from food, I still had energy from the powder buzz. 4 laps had me up to 10000 ft and I headed home.

So psyched. The mountains are small down here, but aesthetic and powder filled. So I may do lots of small laps but they will be great. These five runs were all different and all fun. Sorry typically red is up and green is down, which it is in the first photo but not this one these are all down. I climbed back up the middle line. Sorry I would change it but the internet is slow and frustrating.

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.