El Colorado

Well, Ski Arpa didn't have the cat running yesterday, so we ended up relaxing, headed back to Santiago, and a great steak dinner at Las Vacas Gordo. Today we headed up to El Colorado, the 3 Valley resort I hadn't skied yet. It's small, but we found some good terrain and snow on the backside facing down towards Valle Navado. Here's Tom with a big mountain (I forget it's name, but it's one of the big ones) behind him. Fernando headed back for the states tonight, Tom and I plan to spend the weekend partying in Santiago and then on to Termas de Chillan next week.

Portillo

Returned to Portillo today, scene of my original South American experience. Great weather today, spring like skiing following with sun. Tom met us at Tio Bob's for lunch.

Ski Arpa

Met up with Fernando on Sunday night back in Santiago. We headed up to Los Andes yesterday and today we skied at the cat ski operation, Ski Arpa. Unfortunately, not the best day of skiing, they got a lot wind up at Arpa so the snow was pretty much wind packed. Still, great scenery and fun hanging out with the Cincinnati ski club.

Fernando with Cerro Aconcagua (highest peak in South America/Western Hemisphere/Southern Hemisphere/not in the Himalaya) in the background

The crew at the top after hiking the last 100 feet or so for our last run after the cat broke down

Mexico

Spent a great couple days with the Stentons in Tepoztlan. This picture is the pyramid above the town. We also visited Xochicalco, a fascinating ruin where the astronomers from many different native civilization met in the middle of the first millennium to "re-sync" their calenders.

Then on to Steve and Kenia's wedding. So much fun, great to see everyone and share this very special day.

Oh...Mexico...

Hanging out at the Hilton in the Mexico City airport right now, meeting the Stenton clan tomorrow morning bright and early and heading to Villa del Topez Fuego for a few days before Steve's wedding. Hopefully we won't get washed out by Hurricane Dean, flights to Cancun are all cancelled.

I think I might have been the only gringo on the flight up from Santiago. It was kinda funny, you kinda get the feeling the folks on that plane don't fly very often. Everyone completely ignored boarding by row, finding the correct seat seemed to be a huge problem, and as soon as the plane landed and stopped for 30 seconds, everyone started standing up and opening the overheads, the flight attendants had to rush down the aisles and get everyone to sit down as we still had 5 minutes of taxing to go. Then I'd say about 30% of the people hadn't filled out their immigration documents.

Jorge Posada just hit a homerun, driving in A-Rod. Tied the game and good for the fantasy team :-)

Got back Thurs from a great week of skiing with my buddy Tom at Cerro Catedral in Bariloche, Argentina. The skiing was amazing, we timed it perfectly, right between two storms. Great coverage (which I hear isn't always true) and 55cm of fresh snow never sucks. Prices are still cheap in Argentina, the steaks are huge, the Malbec is tasty, and the skiing was amazing! We did lots of hiking and managed to find fresh tracks all 6 days on the mountain!

Tom and I Apres Ski Argentina style

Looks a lot like home!

Rick Skiing

Nubes

Laguna

Tom Skiing

Tom playing in the steeps of Nubes

Fun @ Laguna

Powder

Did I mention it snowed, a lot, while we were in Bariloche?

Hiking

There is lots of great hike to terrain that is easily accessible from the ski hill. The Laguna is probably the best of it, but the Nubes lift seems to often be closed and it's an easy 20 minute or so hike from the top of the Punta Nevada lift (just as well they keep it closed, more fresh tracks for us). Both these areas offer up steep chutes and some of the best snow on the mountain.

Here I'm hiking up to Nubes

Getting ready to skin up the far side of the Laguna

Tom at the Laguna representing team bootpack (I converted Adam last winter, Tom can't be far behind!)

Old Friend

We ran into our buddy Gomez, now owner of Casa Tours, who was guiding a group that was starting their trip in Bariloche. Luckily we were able to hook up with him the day after the storm and make some turn!

Views

Refugio Frey is the little speck in the center of the picture. Visiting this backcountry hut is on the short list!

Top on top of the world!

Cabana

After spending a couple nights right off the main road near the turn off to the resort, we drove out and found a nice place, Cabanas Prudens with our own beach

Our Beach

Unfortunately, Tom had a little run in with back windshield and a branch while turning the car around in the driveway

Back in Santiago

Got into Santiago on the typical 7:30AM flight and over the the very nice Happy House Hostel in Bario Brasil. It's cold!! In fact, it snowed tonight!