Operation Ski Chile: Termas de Chillan

Destination: OPERATION SKI CHILE
Location: Termas de Chillan
Description:

DAY 1



After spending four days in Santiago getting on my feet and feeling like a complete caveman while trying to communicate with the locals, I have bussed six hours south to the small town of Las Trancas near the famous ski resort of Termas de Chillan. I awoke this morning bursting with excitement and my nerves stood on end, for today marked the long-awaited reunion with the sport I love, this chapter taking place in the southern hemisphere for the very first time. I layered on my gear and made my way to the dirt road in front of the beautifully-set hostel with hitchhiking on my mind. The air is cold and crisp even to the unshaven face and a group of us are picked up before long by a rusted-out pickup truck driven by three middle-aged Chilean men. The drive to the top is crowded and uncomfortable but everything I expected. Most importantly it brings me to my long-awaited destination, only to be informed at the ticket station that the top lifts are closed due to high winds bringing my dreams of powder turns underneath sunny skies to crashing halt. Damn. Time to stick out that thumb once more but tragically in the wrong direction. Tonight I pray to the ski gods and hope to have better luck tomorrow.

DAY 2

I am in the middle of the biggest storm in recent memory. The entire resort is closed. I have only left the hostel once today and it was immediately the worst experience ever. I am playing a high stakes waiting game, to see if ULLR has heard our prayers or not and is simply preparing to send us to the steep Andean slopes. Things are beyond my control in this wild and wacky country, waiting, waiting, waiting.

DAY 3

Powder. Heaps and heaps of fresh powder came down on our heads today adding to the already huge storm output of yesterday as we carved patterns in the mountainside for the first time in far too long. The combination of steep pitch and soft snow is the ultimate fury and glee winter experience, one which is both physically draining yet emotionally invigorating. Dear God it feels good to be back.



DAY 4

I have been on the mountains skiing or snowboarding for as long as I can remember and today was arguably the very best of them all. The top lifts were open for the first time taking me to a height only previously imagined. At over 10000 feet above sea level with clear skies the view is a series of endless possibilities. Jagged Andean peaks, pure-white volcanoes, and lush green valleys combined to form today's backdrop, one that causes you to lose your train of thought, to just take a moment for beauty's sake, to shut up and stare. On top of that everything around me was covered in heaps upon heaps of pillowy-soft white goodness, an endless supply of blank canvases for me to paint as I saw fit. Wide arcing strokes all the way to narrow straight ones, with everything else in between. Today was an epic discovery, my board being the ship, and I its captain.



DAY 5

With the top lifts being closed once more we decided that it was time to move on and try our luck elsewhere, this destination being the southern peaks of Argentina. A new and undoubtedly exciting adventure lies ahead, but I am still sad to see this one go. For in my time in Las Trancas I made new friends in a sea of unseen faces. I rode in the back of many a pickup truck and learned new spanish words each and every day. I hiked a mountain overlooking the entire valley with a half-wolf named 'Oso'. And yes, when the time was right I leaned over to drag my hand in the untouched powder next to me, the swishing sound of spraying snow an orchestra at my back. This is why I ski.

- Brett Logan -