0-13200 ft

Wow what a way to get dizzy. Spend 3 days at sea level on a beach, relaxing and playing, then in less than 24 hours head up to over 13000 ft.

We had a great time at Playa Ritoque, an out of the way beach that is still 2 hours from Santiago. It was a nice break from the mountains and a great way to finish the family’s trip. Not that the water was warm but it was beautiful and so contrasting to every other place we have been. One day we went out and visited a biologist who was doing research on sea otters and we went out and looked for them. We managed to spot one, who was eating and playing in the water, and we also saw a  gaggle of blue footed boobies, which was cool..

And then sadly my lovely family left and flew back to Canada.

Jess and I then headed up to Valle Nevado, which consists of three huge ski resorts just outside of Santiago.  But upon arriving here I realized that this was not the season. I had hopes of getting acclimatized and then skiing of Cerro Plomo a 5000m  mountain that sits in the background. But alas when I saw it I knew this was not the season.

This monster was not looking white, predominantly icy, so cross that off the list.  Jess and I skied up and off Valle Nevado and summited a peak called Tres Puntas, and then she headed home. I continued exploring and headed up Cerro La Parva which was a bit of a head rush as it sits above 13000 ft, cool summit but sadly enough there really is no snow around here to fill the lines in.

I am super glad I came up here and checked this zone out but we will not stay, tomorrow we will head off and maybe back to Las Trancas for the bicentennial of Chile.

At the end of my day as I was hiking back to the hostel I witnessed a beautiful sunset. I feel that sunsets/rises are the most beautiful display of nature. Always different, so gorgeous, and so refreshing.

Leaving Las Lenas

Well my last days in Las Lenas came and went quickly.   My second to last day I headed out with Jesse and focused on a fun line with her rather than an extreme line. I realized that  she is not ready for a 50 degree couloir but she was ready to summit a 12 000 foot peak.

We headed up and toured to ski off Cerro Entre Rios and on our way toured up the funniest skin track, not much snow left around except the skin track!

From there we continued to the top and Jesse stood on her tallest mountain top ever. Here we are enjoying the summit together.

From there we skied a fun slope, something that Jesse could shred and enjoy versus be gripped and sideslip. Its called xenia and was a beautiful alpine line. After the fun brother-sister run we enjoyed lunch together and she headed home and I headed back to the top.

from there I skied Leucemia, the tight couloir that I was glad I did not drag Jesse down. It was a steep and wild line that was really fun, it had been skied by three people but was still nice and soft.

From there I toured back up and summitted Cerro Negro and then headed up to Toricellas to take a look at the terrain there.

Pretty cool, lots of lines, of which I skied Este 1, a protected south east slope. Great turns to finish of a fun week of adventure in Las Lenas.

I have been blown away by the potential of this place, huge terrain, endless mountains and big time terrain. I hope to return one day when the snow is deep and the lines filled in.

Now we are on the beach in Chile enjoying some family time till they head home and leave me familyless. Great to get out of the mountains and refresh myself.

Morning mission

ssed with Las Lenas. There is so much inbounds that is wild and then so much just out of bounds. I am almost certain that I have never seen a hill  that parallels this one in terms of accessibility to tonnes of wild lines, without much if any hiking, and then if you are willing to hike there are some great mountains with many lines within a few hours of the boundary.

Today I went early so that I could spend some quality ski time with Tracey and  the kids. I had to show Tracey how amazing all these mountains are, and we had a few good runs and then went and picked up the kids. Charley is really linking up the turns and Aiden is starting to get the “pizza wedge”. Great on hill spring skiing.

But early in the morning I skinned up the inbounds and then headed up to Cerro Entre Rios a 3800 m/12470ft peak. This mountain has some great lines off it, and I chose the most obvious line directly off the summit, called E Dream. Still nice and creamy throughout its 2000 ft of steep relief.

The sun has still not deteriorated this aspect and I plan on heading back tomorrow with Jesse. I am dreaming of giving Jesse a line unlike any she has ever skied, it looked so dramatic today and was very shaded that I cannot say no to it. I bet she will be blown away by it.