Week of November 26, 2009, Issue #736
SNOW ZONE
Alpine émigrés
Migratory patterns of the snow bum exposed
Colin Wiseman / colinw@vueweekly.com
It was hard to remember a time that it had snowed so much—fat, heavy flakes emerging from a blank wall of white, with only barren oak trees and the occasional stand of bamboo to serve as waypoints. Four of us had been pillaging the well-spaced tree lines below a rusting orange gondola all morning with only the occasional glimpse of a track other than our own.
Indeed, it was some of the deepest snow of my life—and it also happened to be August 12. It took an 18-hour flight from the northwest summer to coastal Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a subsequent 22-hour bus ride to arrive in the town of Bariloche.
Set beside an azure lake on the eastern edge of the Andes, Bariloche serves a resort named Catedral Alta Patagonia—a bamboo-strewn, sketchy-old-gondola’ed, mall-cultured, alpine sidecountry-equipped chunk of towering orange rock, deep gullies and deciduous forest. Repeated face shots were more than enough to scrub away any lingering jet lag.
I was renewing my membership in a migratory tribe of winter enthusiasts hailing from the northern hemisphere. These intrepid skiers and snowboarders follow a pattern that runs contrary to those of the sun-seeking retirees that flee Canada for sunnier climes when the leaves turn, instead chasing the falling mercury from continent to continent in a constant search for snow. While many shreds are happy to spend the summer sucking on a cold one by the lake, this small band of snow bums is never satisfied unless they are tits deep in winter—a kind of modern-day nomad in search of the ever-elusive yet overtly addictive lifeblood of steep and deep.
Byron Bagwell, a Bellingham, Washington-based snowboarder, has made for South America the past three years to feed his powder addiction. “Natural terrain really drives my desire to snowboard and you can get that in South America, whereas the summer glaciers in the northern hemisphere strictly offer man made features. The people are friendly, the pow is ample and the party is worthy.”
Essentially, a trip to South America provides a deep-winter ski and snowboard experience without the hype show of many North American resorts. Add to that a unique cultural experience and it’s no wonder that so many make the pilgrimage—myself included.
A season-long excursion to New Zealand in 2000 first revealed to me the potential of the year-long snow season, where, in the community-owned club field of Broken River, New Zealand, I found gainful employment as a cook, mountain host, lift operator and more in exchange for room, board and powder days. It was a bastion of simplified shred life that required day after day of on-snow labor riding a largely deserted mountain in the Southern Alps.
And then school took over—for seven years, summer riding was out of the question as tuition fees required saving all summer just to get a season’s pass at Big White. But with an education and some experience as a writer I found work in the publishing industry. And this meant the freedom—even the imperative—to fly south again last summer.
It was in Bariloche that I met Alex Hunt of South America Snow Sessions (SASS) for two weeks of riding at Catedral Alta Patagonia. Hunt, who guides backcountry skiers November to April at Colorado’s Silverton Mountain, is a veteran of the Argentine experience, having travelled there five years running with SASS. Having spent time in both Las Leñas and Bariloche as a guide working with local authorities and ski patrollers to bring backcountry awareness to the Andes, he also has a unique perspective, to say the least.
“Each of the five years I have visited Argentina I have stayed longer,” explains Hunt. “I go there because I love to ski powder. I return because there always seems to be something to ski that I wasn't able to check out on my previous trips. When the skiing is great I want a repeat experience the next year. When the skiing is mediocre I see the potential a place has with more snow or better conditions.”
In two weeks at Catedral Alta Patagonia snow conditions ranged from waist-deep blower in the trees to heavy rain with low snow coverage, high winds and ice and, finally, on the last day of my trip, knee-deep spring powder in the chutes and ridges of the high alpine. Variable to say the least.
But more than simply a riding destination, travelling to South America offered an alternative take on ski culture. From a carnivorous culinary experience to the slower pace of life—what many refer to as the “A-factor”—Hunt sums it up well: “It’s much more relaxed and no one is ever in a big hurry. It can be hard to get used to the way many South Americans’ schedules aren't dictated by a clock, but once you understand that and relax a bit, things work out OK.”
The lift lines are complete chaos; if you get in line at the very end, you may never make it to the front. The little kids are generally the worst at skipping turns or going straight to the front while bashing people with their poles.”
Also, the fact that I am a carnivore works to my benefit in Argentina. They love their meat. A lot of vegetarians from North America wind up squirming in their seats when they realize if they don't eat any meat, they may not eat at all.
There is no better example of the meat-centric culture than the weekly parillada (Argentine barbeque) that took place at our house on the lake, which consisted of a basket of bread, a basic tomatoes and lettuce salad, 20 hungry skiers and snowboarders and one big table with a platter in the middle. Instructed to take a nap beforehand, it didn’t start until 10 pm and lasted into early morning. The meat arrived on the platter in waves from a barbeque: first ribs, then chicken, lamb, every cut of beef imaginable, chorizo sausages and more, until all were ready to pass out in gluttonous overindulgence. Or, in the case of a few brave souls, head to the all-night discos, which don’t shut down until first chair the next morning.
Indeed, for a handful of skiers and riders not satisfied with a six-month ski season, South America offers an experience embedded as much in exploring a different way of life as exploring new terrain. From bamboo-strewn powder fields to a renewed zeal for red wine and red meat, my southerly migrations were rewarded with a new perspective on winter—and fresh lines in mid August. V
Classic South American skiing
Termas de Chillan, Chile
An expansive resort that boasts an array of jimmy-rigged T-bars—including one that features a pull-cord start and a corner half way up—accessing the extensive alpine. The resort is built upon an active volcano and hot springs pour down the mountainside, making it possible to drop into a powder line, take a break for a quick soak in natural hot springs, and gear back up for the ride to the bottom. Additionally, the casino at the base area is a nice touch for when it rains.
Catedral Alta Patagonia, Argentina
Also known as “Cerro Catedral”, or Cathedral Mountain, Catedral Alta Patagonia is worth visiting for the unique experience of charging through thick fields of bamboo on the lower mountain. Although it is known as “the Aspen of Argentina” for its high prices and mall culture, every day the slopeside mall offers free fernet (high-potency Italian liquor) and cola after a hard day of riding. And when it does clear up, the sidecountry zone of Lagunas is a good place to find steep and deep.
El Colorado, Chile
One of three resorts within an hour’s drive of the Chilean capitol of Santiago, El Colorado is the only one directly accessible from the small and picturesque mountain town of Farellones. It boasts the best park in Chile and epic road runs when conditions are right—a few thousand feet of as-gnarly-as-you-want chutes, natural booters, cliffs and windlips just past the skier’s left resort boundary. V
Social Bookmarking
Got something to say? Send a letter to the editor.
letters@vueweekly.com