South American Gaper Gap

Finally the cold and miserable weather has paid off.

Last weekend I went to Santiago and on Sunday Sergio and I climbed the unbelievable road to the Cordillera and into the Andes. Although the mountains are lacking in fresh snow I was astounded by the shear size of the ski resort. We skied at Valle Nevado, the most modern and largest ski resort in South America. Given the fact that the mountain is higher up and mostly west facing, the conditions are better than the other two mountains, La Parva and El Colorado. The higher altitude gave us colder weather and the fact that it is west facing hides it from the incredible strong South American sun. Even with the clouds and minimal sun screen that a cute liftie gave us my lips are still burning from the killer UV's reflecting off the snow.

I rented some gear down in Santiago and my fears (maybe delights) of South American rentals came true. At first the guy tried to rent me 150cm skis, which I haven't put on my feet since I was about 8 years old. I just told him to give me the biggest skis they had, which happened to be 170cm Saloman Scramblers...so dirty. Finally the boots scared the crap out of me: Rear entry, red Solomans circa 1979. If my toenail doesn't fall off in the next few days I will be pleased. The gear, complete with my beautiful green windpants and broken sunglasses, made me the sickest looking gaper on the mountain.

Given that the base of the mountain is at 2880 meters or 9449 feet and the peak at 3669 meters or 12037 feet there is not a tree in sight, only even bigger snow capped peaks of the Andes and huge rock cliffs that would surely make Shane McConkey a very happy boy.

Sergio and I stopped on the way back down from the mountains so he could try to sell some used snowboard boots at a roadside stand. As I stepped out of the pickup truck my eyes lit up in wonder. It seems that every amazing one-piece ski suit from 1970-1990, that Haik Kavookjian has been looking for on eBay, has ended up in the Southern Cone. The rows of dayglo colors were unbelievable and I was so tempted to make a few purchases. However, having to travel halfway across the world with one of those suits in my bag ultimately dissuaded me and I left the suits for some happy Chilean.

The thoughts of this place on a powder day is a fantasy that I can only hope will come true in my final few weeks in Chile. I will most definately be returning to the mountains in late July with my family and hopefully I can get a few more days in.