Ski the POW on your day off!

The timing of the storm could not have been better. Most of the guests are not prepared to deal with this much snow under their skis anyway. Today is changeover day, so most Profesores de Esquí are free. I got up early to see how it looked and was chomping at the bit by 8:30, but still the only three lifts open were the same lame ones as yesterday. The Piston Bullies were out, the sun was coming out, and the avi patrol was out setting off charges.

They bombed La Garganta and I saw the slide. I skied about ten runs with Tim Thompson (examiner from Killington) on Conejo, the short run that was open yesterday in the middle of the storm. The powder was at least knee deep and we kept picking off lines in the fresh powder further and further on each side of the designated run. You have to be careful of the rocks which are really sharp, big, and hidden. Basically, if you did not take note of where they are before the storm, you are playing Russian Roulette.

By 10:00 am the Las Lomas chair opened, servicing pretty easy terrain, most of it not steep enough to keep moving in about 28" of powder, but there were a few pitches to track out while we eyed the Plateau chair for signs of opening. It opened a little after 11:00am and the real skiing began. From the top of Plateau, choices of terrain abound and, depending on the exposure to the sun and wind, the conditions vary considerably. The lightest and deepest powder was in the shade under the rocks where La Garganta and Las Gargantitas (the throats) descend.

This picture is of one of the Gargantitas, which still need more snow to open. They kept the area below La Garganta closed because there was a fracture in the snowpack and it needs to settle for a few days.

But here's the view from the top of the powder (under these same rocks):

and here's Alex (Swiss demo team) catching a sweet line in the freshies!

Reggie's Turn

Reggie, el Golden Retriever perro de SAR, merece tiempo igual. Es un perro de ocho años y para ustedes que vieron mi blogpost sobre Wylee, esto es la vista de afuera de la cueva. Una persona atrapada en un avalanche solamente tiene treinta minutos para sobrevivir. Claro, hay excepciones, pero por esta razón, ¡hay que trabajar con prisa! En un avalanche verdadero, los Patrullos todos los perros que tienen para buscar rastros humanos en la nieve.

¡UNA BUENA NEVADA!

Hoy nos despertamos a ver una buena nevada en proceso. Los andariveles no corren sino una telesilla doble que es pequeña, una poma, y la alfombra mágica. No se puede ver nada, y por eso esperan para hacer el control de los avalanches. Tiran los explosivos del helicoptero y como no se pueden ver las montañas, es demasiado peligroso volar hoy. El animo en el hotel está levantado bien.

No habían muchas clases esta mañana. Los huespedes no pueden esquiar en el polvo, o salieron ayer, antes de la tormenta. El viento sopló mucho anoche. Durante la clase de Portugués, pensaba que La Posada (el bar donde nos reunimos para la clase)iba a derrumbarse en cualquier momento. Esta mañana hice más o menos diez bajadas del Conejo, la única pequeña cancha que está abierta. La bajada es corta, pero tiene bastante inclinación. Cuando salimos a las tres para la reunión de clases, habían 50 centimetros de polvo, o sea 18". Traté de hacer mas bajadas del Conejo, pero no podía ver nada y el polvo era muy profundo. No vale la pena sufrir una herida cuando mañana debe ser un día ÉPICA.

My birthday

The official Portillo Escuela de Esquí celebration of a birthday goes like this. I managed to emerge from the unofficial celebration relatively unscathed and got up on Thursday feeling good for my morning private lesson.

¡Wylee, un perro muy especial!

Lunes, el 11 de julio
Hoy Ustedes van a conocer a un perro especial, Wylee. Es un perro de la raza, Border Collie, y tiene tres años. Su amo se llama Craig Noble, y viene de Tahoe, California. Craig trabaja por Patrulla y también como guía de helicoptero cuando hay más nieve. Craig y Wylee vienen a Portillo cada invierno para entrenar con la pasión del perro, la busqueda y el rescate de personas atrapadas en avalanches. Los perros SAR (Search and Rescue) de Tahoe son los únicos en los EU que son certificados al estándar de Canadá. Los Estados Unidos no tienen un estándar de certificación para estos perros. Craig ha tenido tres perros de busqueda y rescate, y dice que Wylee es el mejor, y todavía está aprendiendo y mejorando. Tiene mucha energía y como todos los Border Collies, vive para trabajar. Otro patrullo de Inglatera, Mark, tiene su perro de rescate, Reggie. Reggie es un Golden Retriever de ocho años.

A los cuatro meses, Wylee iría a la telesilla solo, era tan cómodo con su papel en la estación de esquí.

Hoy yo volunté a estar enterrado en la nieve para que Wylee pudiera practicar. Después de ser enterrado, Wylee y Craig empezaron a subir la pista para buscarme en la nieve. Wylee siempre tiene su nariz abajo buscando un rastro y depende de donde viene el viento, puede hallar el cono de aroma humano muy rápidamente. Yo esperaba a dentro unos quince minutos y luego oí las patas del perro, muy emocionado, ladrando y excavandome. De repente, había un poco de nieve cayendo del techo de la cueva y empecé a ver un poco más luz a la entrada. Luego vi una pata, y pues la nariz de este perro especial. Craig me había dado una cuerda para usar como juguete al momento de ver al perro. Es muy importante que la víctima le de al perro muchos elogios, y la forma mejor de estos es jugar con el perro. Esto es su trofeo, la motivación para que trabaje. Mira el video desde adentro de la cueva.

Sunday, July 10

Sunday, July 10, 2011

I forgot to tell you about TíoBob’s. It’s way  up on top of the rocks, a little eating joint with great food and a great view. Best of all, the food there is included in our contract, just like the food in the cafeteria. We just can’t have the steak, and we have to pay for the water (about  $1.50) Maybe after it snows, I can tell you about the runs around Tío Bobs, but right now they are all closed and look very intimidating. You will see many photos in the slide show from Tío Bob’s. The fox family hangs out around the rocks just below the restaurant and are very entertaining.

I could set up a chiropractic business just within the ski school. In the last two days I have had several appointments with instructors in dire need. They are great athletes, but they are not without their skeletons in the closet, so to speak. Once I was seen working on one instructor, the word got out. As the first one is getting better, the others are inquiring. There is a sofa in the disco with foam that is about the thickness of my Gonstead bench, and I can set up two small chairs in front of it with a space between them for a nose slot and it works out quite well. There is no one in the disco in the early evening, so we have relative privacy.

Think snow! There was a huge ring around the three quarter moon tonight…I think the pronóstico may be right!

Second week...Promises, promises

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Well, it’s been a week and my knee is only swelling a bit, I am taking the day off because if I don’t, I will be in boots 13 days in a row and I know better than that! Today I am catching up on rest and getting this blog in order. I hope I am not boring you. I promise not to keep telling you the details of the day-to-day activities which will begin to repeat themselves predictably. I hope to give you some insight on some more interesting side stories that have some potential. What is the lodging like here? (in case you might like to come sometime) The food of Portillo… I need an invitation to the main dining room. I understand the cuisine is special. It could well be because they sell a book in the shop about the recipes of the hotel, but even the cafeteria food is consistently pretty damn good. There’s Wylee, the SAR (Search and Rescue) dog. I am working on a story for you about this very special animal. I got som photos an video today, but there is more to get before the story is ready to publish, so stay tuned for a dramatic story, pictures and video about the avalanche rescue Border Collie.

Last night we had our first weekly Friday night torchlight run. All the coaches went to the top of the mountain and received a broomstick with rags tied around the end, soaked in kerosene. We snaked our way down the steepest groomed run and made a straight run for the last part. Very exiliarating! All the guests are preparing to leave on Saturday, so they are also ready to celebrate and give us a big cheer. Perhaps I can get you a video to post after the next one. I was a little cautious on the first time around. It’s like blind skiing while holding a flame thrower.

Guess what? El prognóstico dice que viene una tormenta al fine de esta semana. ¡Empezará el jueves por la noche y seguirá durante el viernes…ochenta centimetros en total! Pues habrá un blog sobre la tormenta con fotos, ¡por supuesto!

Estaba planeando una bajada a Santiago para un tour de la ciudad para el sábado. Con el prognóstico de nieve, es posible que tenga que esperar una semana porque se cierran la carretera. También estoy planeando un viaje a Mendoza, Argentina, quizás al fine del mes.

I know I have made grammatical errors…I will fix them all eventually. Once I get these pieces written, I just want to post and got to bed. The Chileans remark that I have a nice accent, but am obviously still learning the language. Hey, that’s a primary reason I am here! So remember folks, it’s Saturday Night Live! Taking risks and making mistakes is part of learning a language!

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!