Hank carves some fluffy powder on a gorgeous bluebird day in the San Juans, Colorado.

Argentina: A Skier’s Journey EP3 [Season 2] from Jordan Manley Photography on Vimeo.

I’m digging this Argentina ski/travel video by Jordan Manley; I recognize quite a few places and sights from our recent adventures in the Andes: the Santiago subway, the trucks along the highway at Penitentes, hot springs, roadside shrines, Fernet, asado, empanadas, volcanoes, and of course, wind!

The wintery snow scenes remind me of the winter I spent with mis amigos in Las Leñas, Argentina way back in 2002. Good times! See my photos from Las Leñas here.

As I mentioned in my last post, the avalanche conditions are extremely tender right now in the San Juans. Our snow pits revealed 2-3 feet of recent snow clinging precariously to 2-3 feet of rotten sugar snow – the worst winter avalanche ingredients possible. There is widespread “whoomphing” and shooting cracks. We took a conservative descent route, practiced our best safety protocol on the way down, and managed to stay out of trouble.

Here’s a picture of a slab avalanche in the gully on our way out (it had already slid naturally before we got there). In conditions this bad, any steep slope, not matter how short, has the potential to bury a person. We skied out of there on pins and needles, feeling that perhaps it’s not the time to be out in the backcountry at all, no matter how fluffy and tempting that powder is.

The snowpack is so fundamentally screwed that I can’t imagine the conditions improving anytime soon. It may be months before we can ride steeper lines again – maybe not until spring. The good news is that I’ll get a lot of work done this winter!

Aimee getting some fresh tracks on her birthday on Wednesday. Earlier this week two feet of snow fell on top of an extremely thin and unstable snowpack, creating super sketchy avalanche conditions and numerous avy accidents across Colorado. So we’ve been sticking to the tamest routes of all, avoiding any avalanche terrain whatsoever. In any case, it feels great to get high in the San Juans again! Stay safe!

Volcán Villarica : Prints Available

Volcán Villarrica, above Pucón, Chile - November. 

The last several days we’ve been in the town of Pucón, at the northern end of the Lakes District of Chile. The beautiful Mt-Fuji-esque Volcán Villarrica rises behind the town, which is situated on the shore of Lago Villarica. Although totally different geographically, Pucón reminds us of San Pedro de Atamaca, in that it’s super touristy, yet has a great relaxed vibe, lots of delicious food, and heaps of activities to do in the surrounding area.

I visited this town in the winter 10 years ago, and am shocked at how much it has changed and grown since then – I can hardly recognize anything about it. I vaguely remember back then one main strip with a few main dusty dirt roads branching off; now it’s a bustling tourist town with a complete network of paved roads, and probably ten times the size. But it still has a great atmosphere, perhaps better than ever.

Of course once I saw the snow-smothered volcano, I knew that if we were going to climb it, I’d definitely have to snowboard down! So, I rented a board again and we figured out how to get up there without having to use guide services like most people are obligated to do (just a matter of showing our crampons and ice axes, along with a printed proof of membership in a mountain club – in my case an old email from the Colorado Mountain Club).

From the bottom of the little ski area to the 2840m (9317 ft) summit was about a 1500m (5000 ft) climb, all on snow. But this was a cakewalk compared to the grueling tour of Volcán Nevado last week! Another difference was that while we were all alone on the mountain last week, this time we were accompanied by about 100 or so other people, mostly in big guided groups.

Volcán Villarica is an active volcano, and from the summit we were able to peer down into the gaping smoking crater! Pretty amazing!

There’s me dropping down from the summit.

It had snowed several days earlier, and the cold nights and sunny days since had transformed the new snow into smooth fresh spring corn snow! Perfect for the long, mellow, cruisey descent. Claudia brought a plastic trash bag and had a blast sliding down the whole way.

We were stoked to have scored such a perfect day on the volcano! Now we’re still in Pucón, trying to figure out where we’re going next tomorrow. But first, a dip in the nearby hot springs this evening!

As you could probably guess from the photos in my last post, all the snow in the mountains around Las Trancas had me practically salivating, wishing for a snowboard. Well, on the way down from Valle de Aguas Calientes, we met some skiers and a splitboarder, who told me of a place in town where I could rent a splitboard! Well, I got the board that evening, and the next morning we woke up at the break of dawn and started the long walk to Volcán Nevado, a 3212m (10,538 ft.) glaciated volcano – the tallest one around here. Read more about our big day below!

It took us over an hour just to walk from town to the end of the road, then another two hours scrambling through a frustrating lava flow full of jagged volcanic rock piles with soft snow in between. The first photo up top was taken after all that, more than one third of the way up the mountains already. This photo above shows the crater that we crossed over – with still another 1,000 feet to the summit!

Almost to the top! The neighboring Volcán Chillán Nuevo is behind.

Panoramic views from the summit ridge. A blanket of high overcast clouds, along with a constant chilly wind, kept the snow frozen and hard – good for hiking, bad for a snowboard descent. I wasn’t expecting good turns for the ride down.

We made it! Claudia surveys the views above the clouds from the summit of Volcán Nevado.

It took us nine hours to hike the 6,400 vertical feet from our cabaña in Las Trancas to the summit! Most of the locals would probably find that incredibly slow, but what can I say… it was a long slog.

Miraculously, soon after we reached the summit, the overcast cloud layer quickly moved away to the east, allowing the afternoon sun to quick-bake the snow. My hopes of a good descent were resurrected, and I waited atop the summit for another hour to give the snow time to soften up a bit and to give Claudia a head start since she had to walk back down.

Though the main glacier looked tempting, the enormous crevasses posed too much danger, so I rode the ridge line down about a thousand feet then did a quick climb up Piramide, the sharp sub peak visible on the left side of the top photo. From there I had a beautiful 2,500 ft. steep descent on perfectly soft spring corn snow! (Pardon my cheesy zoom crop above… I just had to show my line!)

There I am, super stoked to have had such an epic first ride of the season! All in all it was about a 4,000-foot total descent.

While we hiked back down the road through the lenga forest, the high clouds returned and we were treated to an incredible sunset show!

Now we’re relaxing in Las Trancas again, and it’s raining like crazy. (Just like I remember it when I was here in the winter 10 years ago with my buddy Mikel – raining buckets). Tomorrow we’ll catch the bus out of here and head down to Pucón for a while – for more volcanoes and hot springs – and lakes too!

[+] View larger! Still skiing in mid-June. Aimee skins to the top.

Skier: Chad Driggers.

Ann having some issues with the stream crossing.

Chad getting creative.

Yesterday morning Ann Driggers and I set off to hike and ski the big north couloir on Potosi Peak – one of the most aesthetic couloirs in the San Juans, and a line that has been high on my to-do list for many years. With an ample June snowpack, sunny weather, and freezing temps at night, this was a perfect opportunity to get it done! Here is Ann climbing up the steep couloir.

Ann arrives at the summit! In the background is the Amphitheater above Ouray, and the Uncompahgre Wilderness above that.

[+] View it larger! Yankee Boy Basin and Mt. Sneffels, as seen from the summit (13,786 ft). Still a lot of snow up here!

Photo by Ann Driggers

Ann’s photo of me snowboarding off the summit, with the endless San Juans in the background.

Photo by Ann Driggers

Me again, snowboarding down the couloir. The couloir is well shaded, the snowpack had frozen solid the night before, and the wind was keeping it cool during the day. Thus, the snow was still firm when we dropped in at noon, making the line feel even steeper and scarier that it could have been. We probably would have had to wait at least several hours more for the snow to soften properly in the couloir, but then the rest of the run would have been slop. Tough call…

After exiting the couloir, the snow quickly changed to the soft spring corn that we love so much!

A recon photo of the couloir we climbed up and skied/snowboarded down (taken on June 30 last year).

We skied all the way down the basin then hiked four miles out the summer trail. Success!

Skier: Ryan Cook, with a backdrop of Mt. Sneffels.

[+] View it larger! Great corn snow in June!

Went up for a little ski tour this morning above Ouray, and was surprised to find the mountains choked with forest fire smoke (on an otherwise blue sky day). A quick Google news search shows that a wildfire is raging in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona, which must be where all the smoke blew in from.

A rare indigenous San Juan alpine wolf.