Patrick
Active member
Sorry for the little delay in this TR. Life caught up to me with a vengeance since I came back from this wonderful trip. Work, Family, stuff plus a series of concerts, most of them in Montreal.
HOW DID THIS ADVENTURE START?
This part might be very boring, because it all about the pre-trip preparation. Not many pictures, nothing about how great the actual skiing trip was. Don't worry, it will get better. I still need to get some pictures. I'll kept updating and adding to this story. I hope I finish by Christmas :lol: :roll: :?
October:
Okay, so I first thought about this trip back last October when I was able to make some turns at Jay Peak and continue my consecutive ski streak with 13... I was able to start it in October 2005 at Wildcat NH and continue on Tuck in May, Mammoth for June/July and finally Timberline for the last 2 month at the last week of the season. It was a dream year which saw many epic days, especially during a Montana-Wyoming-Utah trip of 13 straight day of epic skiing. Okay, this is nothing like Endless’s streak on TGR, but it worth trying to rack up a few months in a row and I get to ski more and bitch less about ski withdrawal going the long hot summer months.
Winter:
So I hike and made month 13 at Jay Peak...My chiropractor asked me how far as I going to go? I told him I was only aiming one month at a time. The Winter went on and the months followed. I didn’t make that planned ski trip out West when I found out that Grizzly, one of our cats, had cancer and only had a few weeks to live. I wanted to be home for our two girls, my wife and Grizzly. This was an epic year in the East, didn’t miss out not going out West. I don’t recall a year where I had some many good powder days.
April:
Drinking beer at an end-of-season ski party in Ottawa and talking about the incredible skiing in the last few weeks in Mad River Glen and Whiteface, I also started mentioning about maybe making it down to South America for the first time and maybe continue my ski streak. Andy, follow Masters’ Racer who broke a leg mentioned that he was also thinking about Chile.
May:
Skiing at Wildcat with Wake from ZSki, I started talking about plans to contact Max (older users on FTO & ZS might remember him) about his New Zealand trip. Who did we happen to see on the slopes? Max. Found out that he had been one week in Portillo with two days trip to Valle Nevado and El Colorado. The option of a South American trip was getting serious. I wanted to try to continue my ski streak, however I wasn’t willing to buy two plane ticket like the previous year in order to continue. The initial goal was 12 straight months, everything else was bonus. I also wanted to try something different than ski a glacier at Timberline. I had done it once, however it didn’t necessarily want to make a repeat trip which didn’t make much sense considering the cost versus the others possible options for August/September.
June:
Turns at Tuck, research and e-mails. My friend SuperNat who had been to Chile twice or three times before said she was looking into going toward Bariloche this time, but was going to keep me posted. Andy was still looking to go, but wasn’t sure where and then they was Tony’s plan. Experience had told me in life that you better not wait for anyone and do it yourself, because sometimes things don’t work out. Also I had some health which also included a knee that has been bothering me all year. The Doc a few months noticed sign of arthritis in both knees. WTF??? Sport medicine noticed something that physio could probably solve.
July:
Pathetic turns in the rain on a snow patch in Tuckerman and Air Canada seat sale. Started a thread on TGR whether I should my points (50000) or buy a seat on the Air Canada seat sale ($850). The overwhelming consensus was to use the points...Of course, never one to listen to advice, I didn’t use my points and bought the plane ticket. Tony’s trip is shaping up and he was bugging me to join them. The initial plan was a few days in Farrellones followed by one week in Portillo and maybe Arpa cat-skiing. Some sightseeing in Santiago and Val Paraiso in the last 3 days.
August:
After a few e-mails, I decided to join Tony’s group for the cat-skiing and tour to Val Paraiso. Tony’s trip was via with Santiago Adventure, so the cost of this part was, although not terribly expensive for what I was getting, more than my daily cost for the rest of this trip. I would join them after the last day skiing in Portillo and head down with their group which was also in Portillo that day.
An interesting development, I noticed that it was possible to book less than one week at Portillo many days in advance through Ski Total with the backpacker package of 4 days with transportation from Santiago included. Now I wasn’t boxed in in Portillo for one week, I seriously started looking in getting to Termas de Chillàn. So here was the second plan: landing on the 29 and taking train/bus to Las Trancas. Ski in Termas for a few days then back to Farrellones (Chile’s version of Three Valleys) and then off with Portillo for 4 days and finished off with Arpa, Val Paraiso and maybe leave to Valle Nevado with Tony on September 11th.
That was good until I heard from Andy maybe one week before. Andy was arriving with his friend Brendan two days after me and was thinking of heading first to Termas and maybe heading to Portillo afterward. He wondered if I wanted to change my plans and join them. Bus/Train versus car rental. Okay, it might be more expensive, but advantages out weighted the solo part.
TO BE CONTINUED
HOW DID THIS ADVENTURE START?
This part might be very boring, because it all about the pre-trip preparation. Not many pictures, nothing about how great the actual skiing trip was. Don't worry, it will get better. I still need to get some pictures. I'll kept updating and adding to this story. I hope I finish by Christmas :lol: :roll: :?
October:
Okay, so I first thought about this trip back last October when I was able to make some turns at Jay Peak and continue my consecutive ski streak with 13... I was able to start it in October 2005 at Wildcat NH and continue on Tuck in May, Mammoth for June/July and finally Timberline for the last 2 month at the last week of the season. It was a dream year which saw many epic days, especially during a Montana-Wyoming-Utah trip of 13 straight day of epic skiing. Okay, this is nothing like Endless’s streak on TGR, but it worth trying to rack up a few months in a row and I get to ski more and bitch less about ski withdrawal going the long hot summer months.
Winter:
So I hike and made month 13 at Jay Peak...My chiropractor asked me how far as I going to go? I told him I was only aiming one month at a time. The Winter went on and the months followed. I didn’t make that planned ski trip out West when I found out that Grizzly, one of our cats, had cancer and only had a few weeks to live. I wanted to be home for our two girls, my wife and Grizzly. This was an epic year in the East, didn’t miss out not going out West. I don’t recall a year where I had some many good powder days.
April:
Drinking beer at an end-of-season ski party in Ottawa and talking about the incredible skiing in the last few weeks in Mad River Glen and Whiteface, I also started mentioning about maybe making it down to South America for the first time and maybe continue my ski streak. Andy, follow Masters’ Racer who broke a leg mentioned that he was also thinking about Chile.
May:
Skiing at Wildcat with Wake from ZSki, I started talking about plans to contact Max (older users on FTO & ZS might remember him) about his New Zealand trip. Who did we happen to see on the slopes? Max. Found out that he had been one week in Portillo with two days trip to Valle Nevado and El Colorado. The option of a South American trip was getting serious. I wanted to try to continue my ski streak, however I wasn’t willing to buy two plane ticket like the previous year in order to continue. The initial goal was 12 straight months, everything else was bonus. I also wanted to try something different than ski a glacier at Timberline. I had done it once, however it didn’t necessarily want to make a repeat trip which didn’t make much sense considering the cost versus the others possible options for August/September.
June:
Turns at Tuck, research and e-mails. My friend SuperNat who had been to Chile twice or three times before said she was looking into going toward Bariloche this time, but was going to keep me posted. Andy was still looking to go, but wasn’t sure where and then they was Tony’s plan. Experience had told me in life that you better not wait for anyone and do it yourself, because sometimes things don’t work out. Also I had some health which also included a knee that has been bothering me all year. The Doc a few months noticed sign of arthritis in both knees. WTF??? Sport medicine noticed something that physio could probably solve.
July:
Pathetic turns in the rain on a snow patch in Tuckerman and Air Canada seat sale. Started a thread on TGR whether I should my points (50000) or buy a seat on the Air Canada seat sale ($850). The overwhelming consensus was to use the points...Of course, never one to listen to advice, I didn’t use my points and bought the plane ticket. Tony’s trip is shaping up and he was bugging me to join them. The initial plan was a few days in Farrellones followed by one week in Portillo and maybe Arpa cat-skiing. Some sightseeing in Santiago and Val Paraiso in the last 3 days.
August:
After a few e-mails, I decided to join Tony’s group for the cat-skiing and tour to Val Paraiso. Tony’s trip was via with Santiago Adventure, so the cost of this part was, although not terribly expensive for what I was getting, more than my daily cost for the rest of this trip. I would join them after the last day skiing in Portillo and head down with their group which was also in Portillo that day.
An interesting development, I noticed that it was possible to book less than one week at Portillo many days in advance through Ski Total with the backpacker package of 4 days with transportation from Santiago included. Now I wasn’t boxed in in Portillo for one week, I seriously started looking in getting to Termas de Chillàn. So here was the second plan: landing on the 29 and taking train/bus to Las Trancas. Ski in Termas for a few days then back to Farrellones (Chile’s version of Three Valleys) and then off with Portillo for 4 days and finished off with Arpa, Val Paraiso and maybe leave to Valle Nevado with Tony on September 11th.
That was good until I heard from Andy maybe one week before. Andy was arriving with his friend Brendan two days after me and was thinking of heading first to Termas and maybe heading to Portillo afterward. He wondered if I wanted to change my plans and join them. Bus/Train versus car rental. Okay, it might be more expensive, but advantages out weighted the solo part.
TO BE CONTINUED