Felipe
Philip D. Schaefer Joined: September 20th 2005
Logged in: October 8th 2010
Logged in: October 8th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
Patrol
Another great season in Mammoth. It turned out to be the 3rd snowiest winter on Record! Over 500inches and it's still coming. We got 8 inches last tuesday! Spring skiing has been lots of powder. My girlfriend Lauren and I are no-longer. She went to Turks and Caicos to teach fitness at a Club Med...and she dosen't want to come back. Hope everyone had a great winter. It's that time of the year again, time to pull the sandals out and put on some shorts. Phil ... read more
Ouch!!
Well, I worked for a month and then got laid-off and then got rehired and then broke my clavicle and couldn't work anymore. It was a tough end of the summer. The summer itself was great. I was able to make good use of my time climbing and Mountain biking. The peak total for the summer is: Morrison, Tyndall, Williamson, White Mtn., Cathedral Peak, Half Dome, Mt. Ritter, Crystal Cragx2, Mammoth Rock and Mt. Aggie. The bicycle became a big part of my summer, and I discovered what it takes to be a Downhill mountain biker...broken bones. On October 10th, I went for a ride with a friend, Kevin, and we ended it on "shotgun". I had ridden this trail over 50 times, but it had been changed. In preparation for the snow, the mountain had ... read more
Soops
Spring 2009! It was a great season at Mammoth; my best ever. We ended with 477 inches of snow!!! I had my first chest deep day and accomplished a lot in my skiing. To end the season, we explored around Mammoth, skiing Hollywood Bowl and Rock Chute, and going to the Reds Meadow Hot Springs. My roommate, Andrew, and I took a trip up north with a plan to summit the two volcanoes; Mt. Shasta and Mt. Hood. We were unable to summit either mountain, but we returned with great experiences and all of our appendages intact. Mt. Shasta was our first stop on the trip. We rented crampons and ice axes from a climbing shop in town and got advise from the employees on where to begin our summit attempt. We were advised to take ... read more
02-17-09
The past three weeks have been snowy...very snowy. It was waist to chest deep on Tuesday..55 inches in 48 hrs.. After all the work was done we got first run down Viva, the first face-shot caused me to burst out in laughter and after awhile I was fighting for air. It was awesome. Wednesday was a bluebird powder day. I waited in the Gondola line for two and half hours and then had one of the greatest days of my life. ... read more
Snow
With a 3 foot storm on Halloween weekend, Mammoth Mountain opened on November 3rd. The first storm was wet and stuck to everything. I started work a week after the mountain opened and have been in skis 6 days/week since. On Saturday December 20th, I was freeskiing in the Dragon's Back area and became part of a herd of skiers traversing the ridge trying to find a line. I passed up the second chute and dropped into the third. As I turned under the rock ban, I saw a plume of snowy smoke and a ski, stuck nose-in backwards below a double crown line. I immediately called patrol while Scott began a beacon search. As soon as I got off the phone I received a relayed yell that the skier had been found and he was ... read more
Quilotoa Crater
Brandon and I are back on U.S. soil, unscathed, with a new appreciation for our lives here. The trip was amazing. We went to five countries: Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Columbia. We were only in the airport in Columbia...but we were there. Over the course of the 60 day trip we spent more than 240 hours in a bus! That’s almost ten days, over a 60-day trip. Luckily, the majority of the buses were extremely nice. In Argentina, we had a bus cama which means the seats are basically beds and we were served wine with a three-course meal and whiskey on the rocks during our late night movie. It was great. So, to pick up where I last left off, which was at Portillo: we stayed in Santiago with Sylvana and Felipe ... read more
80% Sunny Days
We finally made it to Portillo and the Andes which I envisioned. It worked out very nicely that my cousin Sharon married the great Patricio Friere, who has a sister Sylvana who lives in Satiago, Chile. So...after our 26 hour bus ride from Iquique to Santiago, we got a hotel near the bus station the first night and then met up with Sylvana and her husband Felipe the next morning. They are extremely nice and Sylvana is studying to be a chef. So, we have been eating really well and have been able to rest for a change, instead of moving just about everyday. As soon as we got to Santiago we couldn´t wait to go skiing, so we checked out all the options for buses to Portillo, but they all left 8:00am which would put ... read more
Surfing in Iquique
Estamos en Iquique ahora. After Cuzco we went down to Puno where we took a two day one night trip onto Lake Titicaca. It was a very culturally rich experience. We took a boat three hours out to the Island Amantani, and there we stayed with a native family, ate native food and danced the native dances. It was definetly an experience. After Puno we took a bus to Tacna then took a very interesting car ride across the boarder of Chile to Arica, then we took another bus to Iquique. Iquique is a bustling city on the beach with palm trees and highrise hotels and apartment buildings. The first night in town we met some locals that were sitting around a fire on the sidewalk. They invited us to have a drink of coca cola ... read more
Machu Picchu
Brandon, a friend from Canada; Marko, and I were successfull in hiking an inka trail sin guia, without a guide. We took a local bus to Santa Maria and then hiked the rest of the way through Acocalmayo, which was the most amazing hot springs I have ever been to and then through Santa Teresa and then on to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu. We stayed at a very cheap hostel the first night before our trek and then camped the rest of the way. It was amazing and such a fun adventure. If I didnt know how to speak spanish, it wouldnt have been nearly as easy. The guide book gave a very vague explanation on how to do this, so we ended up speaking with the locals and they helped us find the correct ... read more
The Marriott
¡Hola todos! Estoy en Peru con mi primo Brandon...oh sorry... I will try my best to write in English. I don´t know where to start with the story of this trip so I will start at the beginning. Ever since 6th grade, when I learned about South America and the Andes, I´ve had a strong desire to travel here. To see the Andes and the land of ceviche, arroz con pollo, and chicha morena. Two years ago Brandon and I were camping and we were talking about how we both wanted to go to South America for a summer. That was the summer before my senior year of College and I knew that after school I would be broke so I decided that I would work for an entire year to save up for the trip. ... read more
