Paul Karchut's Adventures in the South.

Hey everyone,
It´s been a nutty week. The day after Alex and I arrived, we got to Farrellones and stayed at a hostel very close to 3 skis resorts (known as the 3 valleys). The snow was variable and unlike anything either of us had ever skied... wind blown ice to powder to breakable crust all within a 20 metre stretch of slope.
But the backcountry was brilliant! And required hitching back out to the summit... waits were variable for a ride- from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours. But worth it. It was on our last day that we did a backcountry run down the backside of El Colorado and ran into the sketchiest thing I´ve ever experienced on skis. Heavy, sluffing snow above a 100 plus foot cliff with extreme rock exposure below. We picked our way down over a 45 minutes period and were absolutely fried by the time we got to the cliff base.
It was during our stay in Farrellones that we met a group of skiers and boarders who we hit it off with. Sean, an Australian film maker who´s documenting the ski and extreme sport world of Chile. Susan, an American girl strong on Alpine and learning to tele (which by the way, is extremely uncommon down here). And Moritz, a 19 year old German snowboarder who´s working down here at a hostel for the winter. The 5 of us hit the road on Friday to ski at a backcountry cat ski operation near the border town of Los Andes. We needed a car and borrowed a 4x4 van from the Farrellones hostel manager. As I drove up a mountain pass, the worst sound I´ve ever heard a car make brought us to a fast halt. The van was fried. We put it in a safe place on the road side and got a bus back to Santiago to try and figure out what to do.
The next day, we tried again. This time in a rental pick up. The drive was a breeze and the hotel we stayed in at Los Andes was hilarious... roughly $6 a night and well, it had character.
So we drove up a sketchy switch backed gravel road the next morning where we had some amazing cat skiing for 2 days. Tony, the Austrian owner, bought 2000 hectares 20 years ago of some of the most brilliant terrain I´ve ever seen. From the peaks, the view was amazing with mount Aconcagua (the tallest peak outside of the himalayas) towering over us. It was only the five of us and one run was equal to $20. A private cat ski operation for 2 days!
Amazing.
On our way back to Santiago last night, we stopped at the broken down van, rigged a tow rope to the pick up and drove over 50 kms on a freeway towing the van behind. We had to drive through a toll booth and the attendant didn´t even bat an eye... common for Chile, I suppose. Got the van to a mechanic and thankfully, the problem seems minimal.
My Spanish is improving, we`re having a ball and I´m thinking of you all.
Soon to a backcountry hut in Argentina. Write me.

Paul