New Adventure- Bariloche

After nearly 30 hours in a bus I have finally landed in Bariloche. The bus ride was a bit uncomfortable thanks to a bad cheeseburger and seats that didn't recline fully like they were supposed to but none the less it is time to get rowdy. I met a couple of cool people on the bus who I stayed with for the first two nights in town and then they moved on to the snowboard sessions hostel so I had the place to myself. What a great deal; I had a two bedroom arpartment on the 4th floor overlooking Lago Nahuel Haupei all to myself. The one tough thing from the trip after the cheeseburger was the fact that "Santa Rosa" had come and destroyed the town and the mountain. Santa Rosa is big snowstorm that usually marks the change of the season and ultimately the end of the winter season here. The storm was so big in Bariloche that the town came to a complete stand still and the mountain was in the same boat. 1.5 meters(4.5 feet) of snow in town made for huge lakes and puddles everywhere so lugging all of my shit around was a huge pain not to mention I was soaked from the knee down. The mountain probably took the worst of it losing two lift towers and a brand new lodge built last season. They reported 3.5 meters(10.5 feet) of snow up top and they don't do any snow control so the slab just built so big and then released from the ice layer created two weeks ago when it rained all of the way to the top. Luckily nobody was on the mountain then. This being said the mountain was able to open down low but with warm temps and new snow on an ice layer it was all but deadly up high and the thickest, nastiest elephant snot snow I have ever seen at the bottom. To say the least buying a lift ticket was a mistake but oh well I can check this place off of the list now.

This photo shows some of the new wet snow down low but more importantly it shows the bamboo that we skinned through on our way to Refugio Frey. I had envisioned bamboo to be in warmer less snowy climates but that was definitely not true here.
I found this grizzly bear along the skin track? It was weird though he was walking upright and talking? He said something about going to Ushuaia and eating fresh fish!
This is the last gulley on the way to Refugio Frey. It was an interesting adventure getting there as you can imagine with all of the new snow and relatively no snow for the majority of the season it was hollow and manky. Big waterfalls, downed trees, and hanging snowfields above you make traveling interesting in the backcountry.
Bamboo chutes and elephant snot make for a weird skinning environment.
This is one of many great photos I was able to take just out the window of my apartment. This place definitely didn't suck and I look forward to visiting again. The aesthetics can't be beat and there is more of a true town compared a majority of the other ski areas in South America.

Fun Shit?

This post is to shed some more light on the day that was Adrenalina. The name isn't just there to be cool or different it definitely gets your adrenaline pumping....in some ways more than others. See you on the next crazy adventure.

Mucho stinky stinky time!! Never leave the house without at least one whole roll of TP! This photo looks kind of painful but I think that is what made the second half of the trip a bit more humorous.
Looks like somebody is happy to be on top!
Good morning here is your ass being handed to you on a silver platter. If you look up through this gulley you canh see the moon still shining bright. The morning was perfect, no headlamps, a super bright moon, and then a perfect sunrise at elevation.
We were unable to see where we needed to go to get in so I did a bit of billy-goating on the summit ridge to find a snow line that went through. The rock was very unstable and breakable so rather than down-climbing I decided this was the safest way off the ridge.
This is the brilliant choice we made to get into our line. Think the adrenaline is pumping here? Dave led in and decided to take his skis off at the rocks in the middle and I ended up trying to walk through the rocks to the snow after I saw his efforts. Both ways were effective so all is well that ends well.

Las Lenas the Grand Finale

The final big push the season in Las Lenas for Dave and I was to bag "Adrenalina". This run is the crown jewel of the valley and if feels really great to have it done. It is one of those lines that stares you in the face day in and day out but is quite a big haul to the top. We were told it would be 8-10 hours to the top which is a pretty big day. The route up isn't too challenging but it is nearly 7000 vertical feet so it is no easy task. Knowing this we decided to skip sleep for the most part, party all night long, and then leave the house around 5 am. Not probably the smartest way to tackle one of the biggest lines the Las Lenas Valley has to offer but it worked. Below is a shot of the route up which is known as "El Repio". With the power of fernet and whiskey Dave and I were able to summit this beast in just over 6 hours. We were both cold, a little drunk, hungover, tired, and hungry the whole way but the hard work and effort paid off.

Below is Dave making his way up to the top of this monster. This was the last face that we had to climb to make the summit ridge and boy were we glad to finally be here.
Below is shot is from a run on the opposite side of Adrenalina named Sans Nom. This shows the main face on Adrenalina. If you look straight at the summit in the background we skied just to the lookers right. The pointy summit in the foreground is the shoulder that we had to circumnavigate to gain the ridge.

This photo shows the exact route up and the obvious snowline that we skied through to make it to the bottom. This was set up as a sunset shot but it really illustrates the beauty of this line and the route taken to summit.
This last photo was taken on our walk back to the house. What a day and what an adventure. Las Lenas tests every part of a skier or boarder and really lets them know where they stand. For myself I can say that I have grown as person and as skier through this awesome experience. I have more patience and less funds than when I started but I think that is a good trade.

These pictures are from the last two days of skiing, which have been amazing. Marte has been open, the sun has been out and the wind has been low. All of this is very rare for Las Lenas. My friend Danny and I have been exploring a region south of the resort where, unfortunately, very near to where we have been skiing the last two days a rescue attempt is currently taking place. There are not many details but at least 2 people are involved. The area we have been skiing does not have a name so we have called it Danny and Tom's or just DT for short, maybe it will stick, maybe not no big deal. This will be the first picture. It is a really cool area that holds some awesome snow, has tons of tubes to pick from and cliffs you can hit. The first day we skied right down the gut and I guess that would be DT proper. Today we went back and skied the left side of the of the zone with our friend Cynthia who is a guide here. We decided to call it Cynthia's variation of DT, we are really creative, but if you can get a run named after you here I think you should take it. We believe each run is over 3k vertical feet, however my idea of a long run is not what it used to be and this is a long one so it could be more. The next pictures will be of my tracks down the second pitch. The following picture is from the storm we had last Saturday. The table had only been out in the snow for 30 min. When it snows here it snows really hard. The last picture is of Cerro Los Fosiles in the morning with the moon over the Sombrero. Eduardo's, which is one of the main runs here, is all the way to the left. Hopefully these pictures go through.

Helmet Cam Action.......Falsa Lenas

Big day before the biggest dump of the season. Five hours of hiking for this beauty. The conditions were perfect and the snow on the upper face was nearly boot-top. Just over 5000 vertical feet top to bottom and nearly 3000 of it above 40 degrees so no complaints.

Tom leading the charge up Chico Lenas. The shorter peak to the right is the namesake of the bowl and we end us skinning the ridgeline in front of us and then skiing the spines and/or ridges that can be seen to lookers left from the ridgeline. All four of us had great lines with a little air and some great snow. We have no ski photos as you can see the blinding sun making it's way on to our line there were no photos that turned out.
Tom, Dave, and Jose making the tour look easy....well I guess it is a pretty nice way to spend 5 hours on a beautiful sunny day
This the neighbors hippy van getting hammered on night 1 of the biggest storm yet. This photo was taken about 4 hours after it had started snowing......powdery dreams lead to another powdery down day.

Snow, Snow, Snow......this is what it looked like on night three of the last storm. Over 1.5 meters of snow fell at the mid-mountain stake. In Imperial terms.....over 41/2 feet of the goodness.

I have tried to post some of the helmet cam footage but after 3 and half hours of waiting for one video and still nothing I am going to throw in the towel for now. I will give it another shot again soon. Until then enjoy the photos and think snow.

Quilmes, Fernet, Wine, and Asado

Tom has made the ski posting for today so I thought we would pass on a little of the culture that we have experienced as well. Note the similarity to ski towns in the USA.....no women? Imagine the interesting happenings that come about with 15 dudes and 24 40 oz. beers, 4 bottles of fernet, 10 bottles of wine, and 20 pounds of meat.......

Here is a classic example of the wolf pack. In the background you can see the large grill that is heating up and in the foreground on the table is the main staple of the Argentinan diet...."MEAT!"
A close up of the meat pile and the beverage variety that can be found at nearly all Asados. Note also the sweet mustache that Dave is rocking.(center right red coat white hat big caterpillar) Lock all of your doors and hide your women and children the perrosdelpolvos are on the loose.

Check out the next Waylon and Willie rocking out at one of the various wineries in Mendoza. After a couple of fun days in the city of Mendoza checking out the vibe and buying a guitar Dave and I decided that it would be in our best interest to take a wine tour via bike. We were a traveling one man band....well two men but only one of them could play.
I guess there isn't much explanation needed here!
This last photo is the inside of the museum portion of the winery pictured above. The winery originally opened in 1890 and they have detailed their growth process all of the way up to the modern techniques used today.

Where is the powder?

Above is the giant couliour that we ripped yesterday. If you look closely you can see Tom and Beau in the middle ripping turns. You can't see the entrance to this monster but we can both tell you that getting out into the open corn was the greatest feeling of relief and accomplishment.
This photo is the front view of "mini spine world" that we had posted yesterday. This picture was taken prior to skiing but our lines ripped the top of the middle spines and open faces.
The picture above is a side view of Las Torrecilles. This was a pre-ski photo at which point we were choosing our lines and holding our breath. As you look across the face note the spines and see if you can match them up with the photo below.
Good things come to those who work hard and play even harder!!!

Still skiing spring corn but winter is on the way!! Here a couple more pictures from our tour on Wednesday. The size and beauty of this place is unparalleled. We have so much to do in what feels like a short time. With a bit of wine and beer and maybe a late night snow dance our dreams of shredding waist deep powder on 4000 vertical foot runs will come true. Ski fast and take chances.....Perros Del Polvos.

Best Snow so Far.....Las Toricelles y Manhattan Couliour

Above is the entry into "El Collar" Couliour. We skied this on Monday.
The above image is looking down a line we trekked to Tuesday as Marte was closed so we had to walk away from the resort. We have named it "Mini Super Spines."
This is the beginning of the hike to the lines you can see below. We had to crampon up this 1000 foot vertical face to gain the ridge line seen below.
Dave and Beau are on the left side in the picture above.
Tom and McKenzie are the lines in the middle and the turns on the right were made by our Canadian gringo neighbor Scott.

Day 6 has been an awesome adventure so far. We were finally allowed to access the backcountry from the Marte chair and hit some big lines that we have been eyeing up. The first being Las Torricelles. The line was just over 1100 vertical feet and was the best snow to date, roughly 8" of windloaded powder. The second line today was a short trek away from the first and is named Manhattan Couliour. This line didn't have the epic snow conditions as the first but after the challenging entry it was 2000+ vertical feet that went from 10 feet wide at the top to 100 feet wide at the bottom. The snow upon exit of the tight entry was awesome spring corn and we had an awesome line all the way back in bounds. Today is the Argentinan Independence Day so it is now time for our siesta and the standard late South American Dinner.

Semana Uno

Week one of our Las Lenas adventure began, where all things of this nature began with a lot of traveling. About 51 hours of it, 2 planes and 2 bus rides the first bus ride taking 16 hours!! It was certainly a challenge to move all of our stuff around the country. It takes a ton of gear to be a skier. I think that we all brought about 3 pairs of skis and 2 pairs of boots plus extra of just about everything else. Even though it is 2008 it is very hard and expensive to get ski gear in Argentina. A friend of ours lost his avalanche shovel and it is going to take him about a month to get a new one. Guess we will not be skiing off piste with him any time soon!!!
One good thing about our travel schedule is that it allowed us some time to visit Buenos Aires. Which is, of course, the capital of Argentina and the biggest city I have ever been in. Buenos Aires it self is only about 3 million people however if you add in great BA it comes closer to 13 million. We were only there for about 8 hours, which I think was enough for all of us. However, BA is an amazing city with beautiful architecture and some interesting history. Maybe on the way back we will spend some more time there to visit. Plaza de Mayo, the Pink House and Recolleta Cemetery (where Evita is buried).
After arriving in Las Lenas, we hurried up the unpacking so we could be sure to make it to the Season Pass office to get our passes so we could ski the next day. Hence the ragged looking photos of all 4 of us. Not to sure we will look much better than that after this is all over.

One thing every one should know about Las Lenas is that it depends heavily on the Marte lift (pictured above). It really makes or breaks the ski area. One problem with it is that it rarely runs for various reasons. Ranging from the ski area just not wanting to open it to being closed for extreme weather. We have been here 5 days and the lift has only been open twice. However, when it is on it is on. These next two pictures here give you an idea the possibilities. This is of course only a fraction of the runs we will be able to ski. Amazing.
One of the days it Marte was open we where able to get out and ski a run called the "El Collar" named of course after its collar like appearance. Do not be fooled by the photos this run is super steep and super long about 3400 vertical feet, and no flatter than 40 degrees and in some places it pushes 55.
Here is a picture of the run from right out our front door. It is huge. Below is a picture of the crew hiking up the ridge to the top of the run.
The run was incredible, not powder but soft enough to lay down some huge turns. After these photos are just some random photos of the valley and some runs we hope to ski. That is all for now the internet is super slow here and it has taken me an hour to get this far. Good thing I have nothing else to do!!!!

Ski fast take chances,

Perros del Polvos (or at least we hope to be)