Long Overdue

Hey Everyone,

          I has been awhile since I slapped up a post so here is the 411 on the show.

My time in southern Chile ended up going into extreme flexibility mode to say the least. We had originally planned a giant traverse of the Northern Patagonian Icecap, however our instructor Ben had to fly back to the states on short notice due to a friend that passed away. So, given the circumstances we decided to plan two shorter trips ourselves. Our first trip was supposed to be a traverse of the Cerro Castillo area seeking out and destroying as many fresh powder bowls we could find, and our second trip was going to be a traverse in the Exploradores area with chances of alpine objectives. Needless to say that all went out the window, at least to some extent.
         Due to the extremely low snow year down in Chile we were forced to hike a fair way into Las Horquetas to even find traces of snow. The weather was good the first two days march in but once we reached our camp in the Alslado Valley the weather just turned sour. I think we spent 6 or 7 days up at the Alslado camp and were only able to get out and ski properly one day before our egress. Everyone went back to camp after one run, but Linus and I bolted back up for another before the weather yet again started closing in. Below are the photos that survive.

Planning

Jake rocking the rations

Our trusty fire pit

Alslado Col.

Our lines down

After the Cerro Castillo trip I received a bit of bad news from back home concerning a family member, as such I decided to fly back. The second trip from what I have heard from the guys went pretty well except for a stretch of bad weather (thanks mama Patagonia) and a dangerous river crossing.




                 Upon my arrival back in the states I took care of what needed to be done and have been working for my old man since. Pinching pennies is the name of the game when your as broke as I am. That being said it hasn't stopped me from training on my climbing wall, working on friends motorbikes, and most recently an attempt at the Maah Daah Hey trail.

Andy and the 1976 175cc Kawasaki

After a little sandblasting and paint

The Maah Daah Hey trail, which in the Mandan language means "an area that has been or will be around for a long time," is a 96 mile trail through the heart of western North Dakotas badlands. Yet again flexibility mode reared its head. After completing roughly 1/3 of the trail I decided to pull the plug, mainly due to lack of adequate water sources between established NFS campgrounds and the unusually high heat index for this time of year.