Rain, rain go away come back another season

Wow did it ever rain today, we headed up for a morning jaunt and barely made it out of the truck since it was raining sideways. It poured all day and finally changed to snow and let up in the evening. I thought I would take the kids skiing but instead we went and tried to poach a hotspring/pool at a hotel. Is tough being inconspicuous with two kids but we went for it. The hotspring would normally cost 28 $ per person and 14 for the kids, so a total of 84$ for the family. Not a realistic price to pay for anyone, especially since it was just for one dip. Anyhow, Tracey was too nervous so Stuart, the kids and I went for it. Funnily enough the pool was cold with barely any hot in it and we ended up freezing, and the kids were shivering and crying afterwards. Somehow we did not get caught but nor did we enjoy it.
Later in the day I headed up to get some more vertical and see what had happened in the mountains. Luckily the rain had changed to snow and I had three fun runs in the evening. I cannot imagine what the snowcat drivers think when they see me, headlamp on, charging up their runs. I don’t think this is a  normal situation here.  Anyways here I am with my suffer face on braving the winds…

Thanks William Blitz for your donation, don’t worry it won’t go towards super expensive hot springs!

Calories for ten thousand feet

Often people have asked me what I typically have in my lunches when I tour ten thousand foot days. Well it varies greatly but  I looked at my lunch today and thought I would count it up. I had a banana, an apple, an orange, a tangerine, an avocado, 2 snickers bars, 2 muffin bars, 2 ham/cheese sandwiches, and a peanut butter/butter/honey sandwich. Which adds up to approx 2800 calories.  That’s my lunch.

But today, since I was skiing off Termas de Chillan, at around 9000 ft climbed I decided to have

a Hot Dog completo, plus papas frites, + coke which added at least a 1000 calories.

So 3800 calories in for a ten thousand foot day. Seems appropriate, since I was not hungry at all afterwards. Well for an hour at least and then I came home to a fantastic Chicken curry on rice with Naan bread that Tracey has made for us.

Getting close to a million, much closer everyday…

Mucho Viento but also Mucho Nieve

Once again the winds howled, and howled.  Lots of suffering but some satisfaction today. As I sit here and type my neck is sore from being hunched over all day, striving upwards against the wind. Termas de Chillan is closed due to the winds and snow over the last few days so we are touring up the hill. Its one of the safe spots where I can get some decent vertical while not being exposed and scared of the unknown/unseen.  I saw this car park here on Sunday and now two days later…

Its coming down that’s for sure, and getting blown around. It will be fun to see around when it finally clears but I can’t complain when it’s  like this….

Dave getting deep, and having a blast.  Many windy laps and good snow, which started slabbing up and getting a little upside down by the afternoon. More snow on the forecast for tomorrow…..