Up at dawn with 20cm of fresh powder...riding in Bariloche...

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Up early for an 8 hour trek through the Andes mountain range to Bariloche...Argentina´s largest Lake District city. We had the most amazing drive through the mountains as we passed lakes, rivers, mountains, and villages with everything covered in snow! Not only is Bariloche a fantastic ski resort but it´s also very famous for chocolate...mmm, which I´m sure I´ll get my hands on sooner or later 😉

Rented board equipment for both days that we´re here (obviously!) and grabbed the best steaks at the butcher before heading back to our hostel for a BBQ. Now I´ve been trying to limit my red meat intake in an attempt to be more healthy but let me tell you that was only because I had never had Argentine steak...wow... I had it rare with rock salt and a bottle of malbec from Mendoza - for those of you from Vancouver...it was BETTER than Gotham! Just incredible...

Up early for my first day of boarding this season...the mountain was great with 6-7 lifts but the winds were quite high so a few were closed. I took off from the group after 2 runs...I´m not really a patient snowboard coach...haha. Met up with the crew at the end of the day for a little hot chocolate before heading back down. Now I had checked the weather forecast and knew that there was a pretty good chance of a little snow overnight so I was holding out for day two...

Well the weather certainly didn´t disappoint 😉 It snowed ALL night and it was still coming down at dawn.... On our drive up the mountain it was like no one had seen this much snow in ages because we passed 33 cars in the ditch on the drive up. I was thanking my lucky stars that we weren´t walking up the rest of the way!! After two chairlifts, no lineups, and a total whiteout we finally made it to the top and I was literally shaking with excitement... Now many of you know that I´m prone to exaggerate details slightly...well, I don´t think I can truly describe the day I had... I fish-tailed down untouched runs, I dropped off ledges into powder, and I carved turns in fresh powder ALL DAY LONG!!! No one knew what to do with all the snow so they stayed on the groomed runs...don´t worry though I took care of it for them 😉 I was in-bounds, out-of-bounds, and basically everywhere the entire day. By the afternoon my legs were screaming at me and I needed to stop 1/2 down each run to let them rest...haha. There was one incredible moment near the end of the day as I was taking the rope tow up and the skys parted to let the sun peak through while the wind was still blowing a little...the snow was blowing gently off of these freshly carved moguls and they were bathed in afternoon sunlight...magical day of riding...wouldn´t change a thing...

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