Report from July 25, 2023

I arrived in Argentina last night after an easy 24-hours of travel from Utah.

I got upgraded to Premium Plus on the flight and had a big comfy chair, tons of legroom, and better food.

I felt spoiled…

It was the best travel to South America I’ve ever had (I’ve flown down here 17 times).

I was at Juli’s house yesterday by 4:30 pm.

Just in time to walk to the store, buy some food, cook up an asado, y tomar una Fernet y coca.

La vida buena, te juro.

It felt surreal.

It felt as if I’d never left.

At the same time, it felt like another world.

Certainly a world apart from the 101ºF temperatures I’d been sweltering in outside the SLC airport the previous day.

I didn’t get to bed until about midnight, but I slept like a rock after only about 4 hours of sleep on the plane the night before.

Manu picked me up at 8:30 am today, and I made it to the lifts at Catedral Alta Patagonia at about 9:30 after greeting and kissing the crew over at Jibbin‘.

The line for the lift was about 45 minutes long.

It’s winter break here right now, the busiest week of the season.

Once up on the mountain, I sought out my favorite tree run, and I happened to be the first one in there today.

The snow was wet and warm and almost sticky, but not quite.

I bobbed and bounced my way through the trees in about 6 inches of spongey, new snow.

A hoot involuntary leaped from my throat.

“I must be having fun,” I thought.

Down lower, the snow got funkier until it was a sticky, snotty, funk that glopped onto the bottom of my skis and gave my bad knee a solid test.

It passed, and I got back on the lift feeling warm, wet, and happy.

As I rose up the mountain, the temperature dropped, and my wet warmness turned to wet coldness.

Biting cold on the wet hands in soaked gloves.

This would be my last run.

I stumbled into a different section of great trees and uncontrollably hooted once again.

Wet and warm at the bottom was nice.

I rolled into the base area, got changed, and started hitchhiking home.

A couple from Telluride picked me up and delivered me to my door!

Thanks, Katie & Darren.

There’s nothing but snow in the forecast.

We might not see the sun here until sometime in August…

Thanks, Argentina.

SNOW NUMBERS

FORECAST

PHOTOS