Conditions Report
The US Ski Team’s downhill racing efforts were viciously thwarted in Chile over the weekend by a nasty snowstorm that forced them to stop racing and ski deep powder all day long.  We talked to US Ski Team member and local Squaw ripper, Travis Ganong, on Saturday to get a feel for just how horrible he was feeling about the huge dump of powder snow at Portillo, Chile.Â
We just had 3 simple questions:
SB: Â How much snow did Portillo get?
Travis:  The Portillo website was reporting 30cm at the hotel, but there was much more up higher.  I’d say 40-50cm.
SB: Â How fun was it?
Travis:  After being stuck in the gym all summer training for the upcoming World Cup Season and the Olympics, and for it being September, I’d say that skiing some deep powder today was just about as fun as it gets on a pair of skis!  We had the entire mountain to ourselves as it was “ski week transition day”.  After waiting all summer,  dreaming of skiing deep snow, we got it super good today and had a blast.  Tomorrow should be even better!
SB: Â What opened at Portillo today?
Travis:  Not much opened today as it was pretty stormy and they had to do a lot of Avy Control, but we were able to traverse, and boot pack up on the Plateau side and find some great snow.  Tomorrow is supposed to be blue bird and everything should open at 9, so that should be pretty fun!  At the team meeting tonight the training plan for the entire team in the morning is to go powder skiing on the fat skis!  Not a bad training plan at all! Condition are great down here.  And for the next week it is supposed to be sunny and warm with freeze thaw conditions so it will be perfect for training some Downhill on the “Roca Jack”!
More Snow Reports and News from South America Here:
SnowBrains South America
Is it winter yet???
Get it!
Looks like a rough training regiment…