The rest of the first week...

July 8, 2011

Each day I am feeling better with the altitude, but still needing 9-10 hours of sleep and a little rest after lunch. They feed us so well it is understandable that a “siesta” should be in order, and the afternoon lessons are fairly late, so it is nice to take the boots off after a little midday skiing before going to lunch.

My morning class made it up the Las Lomas lift on Wednesday and skied the “Segunda Escuela” area, kind of like Mixing Bowl at Sunday River with a little more pitch. The “Segunda Escuela” lift is a poma with a gradual incline. I had done a lesson on the “Princesa” Poma lift earlier, which got them acquainted with a Poma that only had a short little hill behind the hotel. The Segunda Escuela poma is actually easier, but because it is longer, you don’t want to be picking up too many pieces along the learning curve. Some of the ladies had chickened out, even though they were skiing in nice balance and with solid control. After a nice morning with great progress from all, we headed down the Lower Plateau pitch, which is a bit more steep than the Segunda Escuela area. We were almost through the last challenge when one of my Brazilian gentlemen sat way back in a wedge and torqued his knee. He thought he had broken his leg. In the end he checked out OK at the clinic, but did not ski anymore. Wednesday afternoon I got one of the fearful ones to go up in a one-on-one situation and she was doing great on her first run. However, on the second run, she seemed to tighten up and as we headed down the final pitch the light had gone flat and her fear really took over. We got through it safely, but she remained content for the rest of the week to practice and receive instruction on the Magic Carpet.

This left two students who were eager to keep advancing their skills and terrain. (Two spouses had bailed because of sick children) One was always in nice control and good balance and the other was my wild card. He had learned a hockey stop before he could really finish a turn. You may have seen the type…a little out of control, but seems to avoid collisions and stays upright more than you would anticipate. On Thursday I asked him what he does for a living and he told me he runs a business that makes explosives for the mining industry. He said he really likes explosions! Well, that explained everything. By the end of the week, I had him using various methods of speed control: skids, carving uphill, slideslips and better hockey stops. As he learned to use his edges for speed and control (as in J-turns), I could see he really enjoyed the exhiliaration of speed on skis, without having to experience the explosion!

Wednesday night the coaches chipped in and had an “asada”, or a BBQ at La Posada, the employee bar across the highway. Two profes went down to Los Andes to purchase beer, wine, salad materials and meat and we had quite a time of eating, drinking and dancing. This is no lightweight crowd, I have to say. It was the first alcohol I had consumed since arriving here and I managed to get to bed by about 12:30. Fortunately we do not have to get up until almost 9am.

There are some truly incredible skiers in this group of employees and they are attracted to this place for a reason. Two guys on ski patrol come from Tahoe. One of them was the first to ski many of the most challenging routes here and is in charge of all the avalanche control. (See the YouTube links on the right side) The other doubles as a heli guide has a special avalanche search dog who flies first class with him on the airlines. The dog, Wylee, is a Border Collie who, at four months old, started riding chair lifts solo just to go dig in the deep snow looking for things! I will do a blog post on Wylee after I get some photos of him in action. Stay tuned!