Over the hills and far away

The sun has long been set

2009-06-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

The sun has long been set,
The stars are out by twos and threes,
The little birds are piping yet
Among the bushes and trees;

There's a cuckoo, and one or two thrushes,
And a far-off wind that rushes,
And a sound of water that gushes,

And the cuckoo's sovereign cry
Fills all the hollow of the sky.

Who would "go parading"
In London, "and masquerading,"

On such a night of June
With that beautiful soft half-moon,
And all these innocent blisses?
On such a night as this is!

William Wordsworth

****

Cool, gray and vague, the high places offer shelter from heat and humidity. Comatose hours of sweaty daytime sleep, for lack of other options, and the empty, lethargic feeling they leave are blown away on a morning breeze, disappear in a floating bit of cloud.

For once, we are awake.

It is an escape, if only for a little while and hard to say from what.

Oh, it would be nice to stay.

But who ever does that, really. And so the haze has us back.

El sueño de la razón produce monstruos

2009-06-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

Strange times when winter people melt in summer heat.

Be sure to make memories, to laugh or cry about. Once upon a future, of an evening in humid august air.

Happy, shiny fear of falling

When you wake, you shall have cake and all the pretty little horses. Blacks and Bays, Dapples and Greys, Coach and six little horses.

"Hoy me he burlado de la tristeza."

May Day

2009-05-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

„Er ist sehr schön, der 1. Mai, und die Tausende von Bourgeois und Kleinbürgern werden es den Hunderttausenden von Proletariern gewiss gerne vergönnen, sich auch einmal das berühmte Erwachen der Natur, das alle Dichter preisen und wovon der Fabrikszwängling so wenig bemerkt, in der Nähe zu besehen.“
– Victor Adler

And so we march, on May Day weekend, "for the class demands of the proletariat and universal peace."

Or, as some might say, Fight The Power!

Then again, others might argue that "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to its place where it ariseth."

I wonder, can I hang myself in quotes?

Claudia's pic.

"When the drums come calling, the baseline pulls you in, sounds of regal splendor.."

Claudia

Alex

backlitMoi, Claudia's pic

"Secrets of the universe, the mysteries of life and the things that don't make sense, all come clear, cause the music takes me up."

lotsa crap. Here's to spring.

LBD & neue Welt

2009-04-28T04:40:00.000-07:00

In old europe, this is how we roll.

morgendliche Parkplatzästhetik;

Stilleben:

Bindungsmontage:

Der Weg ist das Ziel.

Neigungsgruppe Sex, Gewalt und gute Laune:

Follow the leader

FatFreddy

Winterkind

Freak

Schorsch

/schmacht/

Moi (FF fotos)

Follow the leader 0.2

Das Ziel ist der Weg.

Das Ziel sind die Schwedinnen.

Und alle Wege führen ins Ziel.

"Also, äh, ich finde wir sollten jetzt abfahren."

Alles hat ein Ende...

Der nächste Morgen graut grau.

Monsieur Raide auf Abwegen

Herr Sattmann hat die goldene Wandernadel.

Kuscheln Extreme

Wir sind da wo oben ist.

Sattmann & Banane

Aurevoir les enfants,

und bis zum nächsten Mal.

(schöne neue welt)

Into the morning sun

2009-04-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

A friday morning walk, because, well, why not?

Not much to say, the light was nice and the snow was good.

wtf?

Corn by tomorrow, maybe..

"oh I am so tired!" - "I have a headache!" - "I want to go back to bed!"

"I know, look, I have some Apfelstrudl Soup, that'll fix it!"

yeah guys, whatever. Let's do this again.

(Wörgetal)

The principle of preemptive revenge

2009-04-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a place where the sky is close and the air is golden on summer evenings. Thunderheads seem to rise from just out of reach among the endless rolling hills and it is only on the horizon that the relief rises into true mountains, giving the clouds perspective.

Beyond a certain distance, driving from a to b almost always affords at least a few moments where the light is similar, the building clouds hover in the same way and the world spins around you. It is of no particular importance where a and b are located in space or time; life passing by to be watched through the window of a moving car or bus or train is often more comforting than it should be.

Sometimes it is important to take trips to different worlds, lest complacency come creeping and death through daily ennui becomes eventually inevitable - a slow, painless fate. It helps to go and see places where people fight the good fight, one topsheet at a time, even if it is only children who see. Where snarling shelter dogs turn into loving, beloved pets and little boys hide from goblins on dancing magic carpets. Somewhere over the rainbow, cows are eating human stake haché.

There are tough little girls who grew older to know that there is pain far worse than smashing your body into a mountain side when you break your wings on a twist in the wind. A little bit of self abusive living is often good, not just for the people around you. If you assume that someone will hurt you later, is it not better to hurt someone else now, in turn? It's nothing personal, darling, just tidying up the cosmic balance. So speaks the sage, full of brittle bravery.

Conversations about what we will do, not when, but if we grow up. I never wanted to save the world. Some do, some do and try, some die trying and some die before they ever get around to trying. Never think till it gets too dark, ski with the best, fuck the rest and make sure you enjoy it.

--------------------------------------

It was a good trip. Thank you Gavin and Powderrat,

Familia Hatcher (as always) and Jan,

merci pour tout Jo et Seb.

-------------------------------------------------

Back home or close to it is also good, again.

All the usual suspects, walking all the usual lines

April after all

2009-04-16T04:37:00.000-07:00

busy life...

let's start off with some skintrack stoke, from lands laid out in the shadow of a brave new world.

*********

let's continue with a day of ski testing, because I like bizarre as much as hilarious

Tom from Austria:

Joe & freemag

Powderrax in action

powaddict raxing on one ski due to hurt leg

he saved this.

powderrax & carvingrax

the crew

*********

now, time for a roadtrip. Italia! Primavera! Gelato! We car camped for a long weekend at passo pordoi.

Shane McConkey died here not long ago. Slightly queasy feeling with that realization.

Day1: Canale Joel

Alex_K tries for the slut shot

Burny

freak's skitip and I

Canale Holzer

Alex

The south has had a good season, freak skiing what is usually a mandatory rappel.

the end is near

Seeing as we had all our hardcore gear on but never got to use it, we figured we'd go for some rope action as aprés ski activity and rappeled down some super extreme gnar off a super extreme snowanchor.

freak after successful selfarrest practice. He obviously thinks he is god's gift to mountaineering.

Burny failing to self arrest.

everything under control.

Day2: Cross the plateau in the fog, spend considerable amount of time coordinating map, gps and guidebook so they point in the same direction, ski into Val Setus.

so, uh...

I don't think so, guys.

No, definitely not.

Ghost town

Burny = Master of Orientation

Oh, I know! It's this way!

You mean down? Like, in the snowy gorge between the vertical rock faces? Wow, how did you figure that out?

Alex decided he was hungry and had the pork pizza.

Day3: Piz Boé to Diretissima to drive home.

Boé is the high point of the Sella, here with view over to the Marmolada

freak

Alex

We came from over yonder, and will someone please give us a fucking ride back to the pass now? Look, I'm a girl! I'm smiling! I'm not really that muddy!

"Lasciate mi cantare
perché ne sono fiero
sono l'italiano
l'italiano vero"

********

Brief stop to refuel in Innsbruck and some early morning play in the Sellrain.

Run up from the first lift, find that you are too late for plan a, come up with a plan b instead.

Locals displeased with us.

freak's picture

-hey keksie, you know it would look really cool if you make a turn there in the sun!
-No.

freak & plan b

Project for tomorrow:

Look, that line is where night ends!

it is what it is

Hanging out waiting for the snow to soften.

keksie, freak's pic

keksie & freak

summit of rietzer grieskogl & freak's boots

objective & my boots

should have waited longer, iceicebaby!

freak's pics of me and keksie

keksie (I skied the slightly shaded thing on the left. we really should have waited longer -.-)

SPRINGTIME!

Backlog posted and TR'd, at least some of it. As time goes by.

"I, I, I will battle for the sun.
I, I, I wont stop until I'm done.
You, you, you are getting in the way.
I, I, I have nothing left to say."

on to powderrats and a vacation from vacation. Steve tells beautifully of easter hunting..

day after day

2009-03-23T14:00:00.001-07:00

"and the eyes in his head, see the world spinning round"

we've been here before, in the sunshine under blue sky.

keksie

Fahmi, simple patterns for simple tastes

myself, lorenzo's picture

and again, simon's pic.

we haven't been here before, but it is a place like many. if we sit in the sun long enough, the world will start turning around us. if we stay, we won't have to leave, not that we ever stay. we'd freeze, after all.

dignity is over rated.

over & out, once again.

Friends in high places

2009-03-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

busy last few days.

A week of visitors and a sudden influx of familiar faces from far away.

***********
12.3: Girl talk with spring sister, here for a visit from the real world. Miss Marika came skiing in the trees where the fairies live.

Lorenzo thought that if there are fairies, the dwarves can't be far.

If you believe in magic, clap your hands.

Lorenzo's pics:

Racer Girl v. converted Tele Hippy Girl. Racer Girl wins.

***********
13.3.: It seems like lately everyone has been far too cool for school. Nonetheless, we try to get educated, since education is important. Lorenzo said so.

***********
14.3.: Silas was here and CJ. Steve turned old and next time, we will ski. Of course the fleeting moments count, a million moments make a life time.

***********
15.3.: Manu and I talked about kangaroos and Apfelstrudl for three hours and let the others tour around till we were done.

Simon says:
"überraschend ok"

Simon also says:
"Optisch einer der besten Tage des Winters."

Winterpig says:
"I scratch my back on the fence, therefore I am."

***********
16.3.: In the valley of Kings with Laura, keksie and Lorenzo, because keksie is in a motivationally high strung phase.

Dude le cookie

Laura, token snowboarder

Lorenzo, every day, all day.

***********
Honorary mention to Thiiiibo le fou. Hasta la proxima; stop, drop and roll.

good to see everyone, come back soon.

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
I get high with a little help from my friends,
Oh I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends.

***********

17.3.: Köpflplus

C.: "ma de ski san sooooo weich!"

O.: "i brauch an gscheidn ski, i stapf."

Spring is here, perhaps.

Bouldercup

The boss, on top.

They all come down sooner or later.

***********

And now for some orographic flow response to variations in upstream humidity.

Bei Altona, auf der Chaussee

2009-03-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

In Hamburg lebten zwei Ameisen,
die wollten nach Australien reisen.
Bei Altona, auf der Chaussee,
da taten ihnen die Beine weh,
und da verzichteten sie weise
dann auf den letzten Teil der Reise.

-Ringelnatz

--------

Kärnten befindet sich irgendwo im Osten und man muss um 4 aufstehen, wenn man püntklich da hin will. Wenn Tobi seinen Wecker nicht hört und auf der Autobahn Busse brennen, kommt man trotzdem zu spät, was aber nur heißt, dass man weniger lang in Kärnten rumsteht.

Angekommen, warfen wir uns sogleich ins heftig rumstehende Contestgeschehen, in dem sich PA, S, FF und G schon befanden.

Viele Leute haben sich recht effektiv zerlegt.

Mag, Tobi, Fabi und Jochen sind von oben nach unten gefahren

und von da zur Wechte und in die Büsche am Gegenhang, von wo aus sie die Judges zu beeindrucken suchten, was bedingt gelang.

Gunner warf sich äußerst dynamisch von der anderen Wechte und schlug auf dem Podium auf.

Nachdem die Aufregung vorbei war, wurde eine Wanderung unternommen durch die schöne Kärnter Winterlandschaft. FM:

Der Kärnter Winterwind bläst bisweilen sehr kräftig und FF war sehr erfreut, über das Verhalten von Schnee, gegen den Wind geworfen.

Gipfelsieg!
vlnr: Joe, Freemag, Sebba, PowAddict, FabiFreeride

Hinab nach Spittal, (PA)

und Auf Wiedersehen,

in Kärnten!
(Foto Tobi)

Am Sonntag, gestern, setzte sich der Spaß in Tirol fort. Tirol liegt bei Bielefeld. Man hat sich diesmal öfter seiner Kamera besonnen und wird nun nicht mehr nachträglich kreativ.

Mag erfreut sich seines Lebens.

Sebba ebenso,

wie auch Lorenzo.

Joe, PowAddict und die weiße Gefahr.

Verschreckt ergreifen sie die Flucht:

pow: "oh nein, Joe! sieh nur, wir werden verfolgt!"
Joe: "oh weh, pow! du hast recht! warte nicht auf mich, rette dich selbst!"

pow: "lebe wohl, Freund Joe!"

Joe: "oh nein, pow! was ist geschehen?"

pow: "Joe! achte nicht auf mich! Hinfort! Flieh und blick nicht zurück!"

Joe: "Ich werde dich nie vergessen!"

FIN

-----
Mag's Sicht der Dinge: "Nature of a Motion"
-----

A weekend different from most. Things learned and reaffirmed: What people, who remain unnamed, look like when they are truely happy. That driving through snow at night is nice, more so when some one else is driving and you have time to watch the snow in the headlights.

Wurmtaler Kopf

2009-03-01T11:01:00.001-08:00

Die Sage vom Lindwurm

Vor langer Zeit lebte hoch oben in den Bergen in einem See ein Lindwurm. Der Lindwurm fraß den Bauern die Schafe und von Zeit zu Zeit eine Kuh. Das ärgerte die Bauern. Sie schlachteten eine schöne Kuh und zogen ihr die Haut ab. Das leere Fell füllten sie mit Löschkalk und spannten es auf Holzpfähle, so dass es aussähe, wie die schöne Kuh.

Der Lindwurm erwachte und fand die Kuh am Ufer seines Sees. Er verschlang sie und sofort fuhr ihm ein schrecklicher Schmerz durch die Eingeweide. Er stürzte sich ins Wasser und als er sich vor Unglück wand, überschwämmten schäumende Wellen die Wiesen. Sein Schwanz durchschlug den Damm des Sees zum Tale hin und Schlamm und Geröll verschütteten das Dorf der Bauern.

A long walk through glimmmering winter heat with some of the pleasantest company around.

A line is a straight curve. It is a "breadthless length, which lies evenly with the points on itself."

A curve "consists of the points through which a continuously moving point passes."

A space curve "is a curve for which X is of three dimensions."

A plane curve "is a curve for which X is the Euclidean plane or in some cases the projective plane."

A skew curve "is a space curve which lies in no plane."

Sigi

Erno

Juho

Sylvia

Manu

Und der Simon war zu schnell.

Thought of the day: "I don't read the newspapers because they all have ugly print."

Alles wird sich ändern, wenn wir groß sind.

2009-02-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

More Backlog in no particular order. Where did Febuary go?

DJ Shadow, Six Days

At the starting of the week,
At summit talks you hear them speak.
It's only Monday.
...

Basti, Gruabn

Basti, StyleFiles

me in Basti's pics & on Basti's skis

Tobi laughs at me when heels get fixed.

Which is ok.
Tobi's pic.

You could be sitting taking lunch,
The news will hit you like a punch.
It's only Thursday.
We never thought we'd go to war
After all the things we saw.
Is it April Fools' days?

In hiding

Flat and downright charming. After work party avec Martin.

You hear a whistling overhead
Are you alive or are you dead?
It's only Thursday
You feel a shaking on the ground
A billion candles burn around
Is it your birthday?

Sometimes, and by no means often, even the dude gets blurry to the point of excitable.

let's post a ton of pictures becauseholyshitholyshitholyshit

breath!

Juho's Pic

"Lea Hartl erklärt die Welt."

So far, so good. I suppose.

Tomorrow never comes until it's too late.
Make tomorrow come I think it's too late.

BackLog

2009-02-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

Music, because I'm not quite awake

Kühtai--> Flauling 31.1.

long dead and gone

Miss Splitboard

Lorenzo

Kaisa

...

"He's a model and he's looking good"

Last light of the sun

Cold.

Not anymore.

H.I. 3.2. with Basti

Everyone always notices the same things around here.

Not a telemarker.

Nockspitze- 5.2. what goes up comes back down, but let's not talk about that.

Kaisa

Clarisse

Same old secrets nobody cares about. 10.2.

Lorenzo

whoops.

Lorenzo's pic

coldcut

2009-01-29T14:27:00.000-08:00

I remember when a year seemed like an eternity, a month was barely fathomable and weeks didn’t flash by while I blinked. Like sand through an hourglass, hoar through my fingers..

coldcut - just for the kick

-------------------

gurgl

Kalle

Laura

keksie and his contrails

Myself, courtesey of Kalle

Sunshine and champagne, I dropped my head on a rock.

-------------------

ptal

Kaisa

-------------------

miscellany

Kaisa

freak

freak's pics

Basti

Basti's pics

keksie

Kaisa

---------------------

mberg & Ötz

Simon

Fahmi

Tobi

Tobi’s pictures

-------------------

Winter made of snow.

Where the haze begins

2009-01-12T02:42:00.000-08:00

What am I here for,
I left my home to disappear is all.
I'm here for myself,
Not to know you.
I don't need no one else.
Fit in so good - the hope is that you cannot see me later
You don't know me.
I am an introvert, an excavator,
I'm duckin' out for now,
a face in dodgy elevators.
Creep up and suddenly,
I found myself
an innovator.

Santogold – L.E.S. Artistes

When days begin to blend into each other, endless row of cold sun and cold dark, cold fingers and cold toes, it is a taste of what I could be if I chose.

The lethargic life of inside is taking over again and yet, and yet, the cold is only a window pane away. One side is sleeping when awake, the other awake when sleeping; hard to say if one is worth giving up the other. I rarely ride into the setting sun these days, but the rising moon also makes plenty long shadows.

Stolen days on disposable time, nothing of great importance.

courtesey of freak..

What’s life like, as a bubble in an icicle?

as a growing crystal?

as symbolism braving the elements?

the players make the game but without the game, the players wouldn’t have anything to do.

„Scho a schians Gratl, da übaredsch du d’ Manu und Manu übaredt di!“

Heroes in our own minds, full of fleeting glory. „It’s fantastic, everything is plastic.“

Wochenschau

2008-12-19T07:18:00.000-08:00

Listen to the ground: there is movement all around.
There is somethin’ goin' down, and I can feel it.
On the waves of the air, there is dancin' out there.
If it's somethin' we can share, we can steal it.

– Night Fever, Bee Gees

----

Fazit: Unter den Blinden ist der Einäugige König, wenn er eine Stirnlampe hat.

Wenn die Luft brennt

2008-12-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

"Saatkartoffeln haben Augen, sind wie Deine anzuschaugen."
Tick Trick und Track

"Wir plagen uns so wacker. Wir armen Panzerknacker. Doch unsre ganze Kunst, die war umsunst."
Panzerknacker AG

"Die Ruhe ist dem Weisen heilig! Nur Verrückte habens eilig!"
Tick, Trick und Track

"Das beste Werkzeug ist ein Tand in eines tumben Toren Hand!"
Konfuzius Peng

"Schneebälle gibt es allemal, wenn pappen tut das Material!"
Donald Duck

"Wir wollen sein ein einig Volk von Brüdern! In keiner Not uns waschen und Gefahr."
Tick, Trick und Track

White Shadows

2008-12-09T07:21:00.000-08:00

Little white shadows, blink and miss them,

Little white shadows, sparkle and glisten.

Blue days to throw long shadows in the slanting light.

Short days don't bring more darkness, just more time to notice what is not dark.

Between hanging bridges, friendly wolverines and moonrise, heaven holds a place for those who pray.

For one day and another.

As you like it.

Hiding between light and shadows until night comes to take you home.

Dr Beat

2008-11-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

Doc, doc, doc, doc, doctor beat
Wont you help me doctor beat

On Saturday it snowed. It was a time of deep thoughts in the forest - sticks and stones will break your bones, and require advanced ascension techniques.

We drove on invisible roads to our spaceship in the woods and went flying on the wind.

lorenzo’s pic

On sunday it cleared up. We wound our way into the cold, above and beyond.

On monday we followed a shadow and watched the show.

Before seeing the clouds off home.

On tuesday we went for a walk around town and paid a visit to the forbidden forest.

pictures courtesey of lorenzo

On wednesday we should have gone to school but didn’t.

We studied the effects of skier density on humidity in the car

As well as pontoon xc skiing and the way it affects the joints.

All in all, a successful few days.

Help me, I think I'm falling

2008-11-11T14:38:00.001-08:00

It’s been a good autumn in these parts, for this girl. From springtime thunderheads in far away Lalaland to daylight that is starting to fail and fallen leaves flying, the transition could have been worse, all things considered.

Warm but not hot days with just a hint of crispness, sweetness to be savoured all the more because it wont last and the promise of winter is looming ever closer, in the cold place between dawn and sunrise, the way lit windows look when you are standing in the dark and on the shady side of the fourth switchback up.

Anticipation is best when there is no hurry.

And people don’t appreciate fog enough.

The usual suspects start making their first appearances, crawling cautiously out from whatever rock they were hiding under to reunite in the usual places.

Cold is beginning to seep into bones again, light to become fainter, less full of colours and more full of magic, sometimes.

Doing what we do; here, there, them and I

Because it’s what gets us through the days, better: makes our days

Lets us forget what we need to and is a pretty, light blue forgetmenot for what we don’t.

(Magnus' pic)

TGR tr

Al fin

2008-09-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

And you run and you run, to catch up with the sun; but it's sinking.

The boys, playing in dust and ashes.

A sunrise and set along the Ruta 40, bushy trees with black stems and orange tipped branches growing in green and tourquoise water, arid landscapes in shades of brown and gold. Dark silhouettes of leafless poplar trees against a sky that seems close enough to touch, clouds hanging suspended just out of reach. Roadtrips are all about the light, the colours and being well equiped with Dulce de Leche.

Eventually, we started walking up a big hill. "Lanín man, I've got maps. The east face, man, the east face!"

With the helpful guiding of our newly found canine friend we made it up to our home for the night, enjoyed the afternoon sun, evicted a dead mouse and two rotten apples from the bed room and woke up the next morning to a quite artful sunrise.

Top of the visible world.

Señor Simón

Me myself and I

Skiing was not great off the summit, very firm and chunky. Perfect corn for the lower 2000m.

Unfortunately my binding tore out of the ski less than half way down and things kind of started to suck.

Everyone made it down eventually though. Great Success!

A last ice cream breakfast beneath blooming springtime trees that are shedding petals like bloody snowflakes and suddenly two and a half months have passed, time to go home. Hasta la proxima, Argentina.

I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
Its good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.

Devils, Kings and the pale moonlight.

2008-09-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

After some up and down over rocks and ridges,

We arrived at our private Chalet for the next couple of days.

Along the way we ran into some local friends who drew us a map.

So we knew where to find the devil's horns, the three kings and everything in between.

We considered a moonlight ski but opted to pratice our calligraphy skills instead.

And enjoyed the view from the roof of the buried outhouse.

It was too warm to ski some things and just right for others.

I tele because it is spiritually rewarding and graceful and not ridiculous at all, ever.

Anyone who complains about lack of terrain around Catedral or lack of mountains around Bariloche is missing something.

Chau, gracias, nos vemos.

Surf the World

2008-09-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

More miles, more goodbyes. On the bus they are playing some sort of selection of "Songs to play when drowning yourself in a cold, grey, november ocean". Tracy Chapman wants to hold Baby tonight. Was that really neccesary? Good god.

*********************************

In a land where there is as much water as there are mountains, we found the next stage of our journey.

Losing ourselves among endless beaches, we left but fleeting tracks upon white shores.

Wandering through blinding moonscapes, living by the rhythm of the tides.

Girls in bikinis serving cocktails in coconut shells

claudia

Moi going huge for the postcard

easy living on the beach, a tropical paradise without hate or fear, only reggea and mary jane.

Simon

But all things must end and we began to get restless. Word on the wind was of perfect swell at the world's only innercontinental tow in surf spot and we embarked on a perilious voyage full of treacherous currents and giant squid.

Nothing but barren rock amid the break to rest upon, we lived a life of wakeful anxiety in a constant cloud of salt water spray, the thunder of crashing waves around us always.

Finally a day came when the seas calmed and we ventured out.

Alex and Claudia body boarding

Simon riding giants

and getting his groove on.

Upwards and onwards, time to take leave of the rolling sea and find solid earth once again..

Where the flying fishes play

2008-09-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

Many hours on many buses, with stops at good, bad and ugly, and I find myself once again in the home of my favourite friend in the whole wide internet, Mr. Steven Hatcher of TTips fame. I raise my imaginary glass of pisco sour and drink to Señor Esteve, the Mrs. and Jr. Here's to a world of whiter mountains and better music. Although what we've got isn't half bad as it is.

Steve writes with greater coherence, in this case.

***You gotta have faith***

Buses, trains, unfamiliar cities, it all takes on a somewhat surreal quality after a while. From a parking lot in the Santiago suburbs to the back of a pick up on a dirt road in the mountains, wandering around empty streets early in the morning, watching as people start to appear. First come the grey soldiers marching to work, then the school children, much later the ladies who lunch. Drifting among drifters, skibums, treeplanters, students and stoners, doctors and engineers, strangest of strange friends. There is comfort here in this world where duct tape is all you need to fix broken windshields and hearts, illusions of life where nothing matters. Miles from home, degrees below zero - safety in numbers, as they say.

"And another one gone and another one gone and another one bites the dust."

of small fish and big ponds

2008-09-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

We set up camp at 3500m to save ourselves the initial few hours of the slow, draining slog and decided to see what the morning would bring in terms of weather, mood and possibilities.

"because sometimes, you've just got to rough it in the mountains."

The Cordon del Plata is the mountain range that can be seen rising behind the city on most postcards of Mendoza. It is a popular destination for people who want to acclimitize before climbing Aconcagua, as well as city dwellers who want to see snow and try to kill themselves on little plastic sleds. La Plata is just shy of 6000m, its immediate neighours are Cerro Vallecitos at about five and a half and Cerro Rincon with 5300 meters. The east face of Rincon rises at the end of the long flat valley where one can skin for hour upon hour through gullies and over old morains; almost 1000m of messy, imposing rock. The central vein of snow is known as la Supercanaleta.

I was feeling far from well for the first 3 hours of skinning but got better once it got steeper and we started cramponing up the apron. We got about half way up but decided to turn around after reaching Mont Blanc altitude since it was getting late and we were both tired. Simon started throwing up after the first few turns so that was probaly a good idea.

He crawled into his sleeping bag to awake from the dead refreshed and motivated the next morning, I did not. I hate the claustrophobia of being straightjacketed in a puffy jacket and sleeping bag, helpless cocoon lying squished in a tent. Every morning it takes a while to shake off the feeling of having been run over by a bus.

We picked off some shorter little chutes on less high and less far away mountains and finally made our way back down to the first outposts of civilization. There is something reassuring about skiing steep hardpack, scraping off diamond dust with every turn, just barely soft enough to dig in an edge. There is nothing whatsoever reassuring about skiing on chunks of ice and breakable crust, mixed with mud and rocks, carrying a heavy pack.

moving on...