RIPPING AND ROUGHING IT ON THE RED MOUNTAIN

RIPPING AND ROUGHING IT ON THE RED MOUNTAIN

The Chile Trip : Phase 3 : Implementation
Sunday 29 July 2001.
RIPPING AND ROUGHING IT ON THE RED MOUNTAIN

Greetings from Santiago near the home of El Colorado (Red Mountain)

Myself and a work colleage Greg arrived late Friday night on a miner packed southbound flight from Antofagsata. I had my usual friday evening flat battery feeling and tried to get in a few hours re charge on the plane. This was faily effectively countered by a fellow from you know where who had a very loud voice and felt it important that everyone should have the great opportunity to hear of his views on life. This mainly centred around failed marriages, relationships with the opposite gender and his adventures with drugs and alocohol. It would have been interesting for 5 minutes but after 2 hours it was like some form of mild mental torture. I ended up stuffing my ears with pieces of the dinner napkin.

At the airport we were greeted by a driver who knew where to take us and we drove thru the rain soaked streets of Santiago whick looked like something out of Blade Runner. For those that havent seen the movie it is hence necessary to state that Santiago is a big city with several very large modern buildiungs. It has a very eurpoean style and in the rain, at night, the atmosphere is somewhat gothic or to BR fans Ridley Scottish. The Ride was punctuated by brief forays in Spanglish trying to get a few extra dimensions on the scene. "Cuidad esta bien senor" was politely tendered in the hope that we would get some straem of Spanish that may translate as something I could understand. It took about 15 minutes to of intense interrogation to realise that 'Municipality' in Spanish is actually "Municipalidad"

We arrived at Gordons house located in the outlying hills east of Santiago - A very nicre 3 storey house that proved to be a great retreat against the rigours of tourist expeditios. I will always recall its abundance of human and thermal warmth. There were gas panel heaters in every room. These were backed up by heated floors so that one felt to be in a large & extreemly well presented drying room. Note the attached views from the house....

The next day we did the work thang and I got an insight into SAPs Production Management module ... a little pearler that lies (somewhat unobtrusively in BHP consciousness) snuggled up amongst Quality and Inventory Mgt Mdules. ...Asked many questions - many off the point but what the heck - somethings are just too interesting to miss...

Lunch was defintely one for the records. A public eating house was selected and we joined las personas in the queue (cola) and with some spanglish, sign language and one dollar (si.. uno) we got a three piece meal with no limitation on quantity. Quality she was pretty ok. It was so good we went there twice....and yes...we got another meal for another buck for our luck

The working day suddenly terminated and we got onto the Santigo Metro - which i can honestly say rivals the London Tube in terms of appearance, effectiveness and artistic wall murals. If one has to see one thing in Santiago - the Tube is it. Well maybe not - but i was impressed all the same

I made a bee line to la calle de San Diego or biciclette cuidad (bike city) ....yesssss mothers milk ... manna from heaven ... 30 to 40 bike shops
packed into one street - damn why didnt i take a picture of that - variety was in abundance - for example there was a shop just selling GT's and they had about 30 or 40 mountain bike frames hanging there in addition to the bikes - carbon fibre dual suspended beauties ...completamente fantástico - the normal stuff was cheap, the imported was aus prices - i was tempted to get some expensive gear but no big pesos and no baggage space and probably no big reason - however the main mission was a high pressure pump - i got a beaty for 5 mill (aus $15) and it is better than my $70 one at home - should have got 2 ... (when i got back it took two strokes to transition from a flacid 80psi to armstrong proportions of turgidity ... 5000kms for two strokes ... incredible...havent had to use it again!!)

Then followed a loooong evening - we were extreemly well looked after but only ate at midnite - whoosh i was knackered

The ski day of Saterday broke its dawn with much anticipation - yes the mountains were still there - yes the ski was blue - the thighs quivered in anticipation - the knees and ankles trembled in trepidation, and constipation surrendered to emancipation (not really but it rhymed) We shot
down to the SkiChile HQ and joined the writhing throng of humanity in harmony with one collective thought - give me the gear and lets get the
helll up there and slice some powder (do i sound like a macho or what) - bus ticket - muy parato (cheap)...the ski suit - no malo (normal) - sunglasses ellos caros...and then the sting - them durn gloves - the one item on the crtical path - robo absoluto madre de dios - those durn gloves cost more than the entire transport and ski lifts (a situation made worse by recalling my Brikos and Winter riding gloves were lying in my suitcase at Antofagasta - karma mate karma - all small stuff - go with the flow and get up to the snow and dont slow down the show - anyway so no choice - hand over the money sonny and think of what awaits.

Well I guess I could regail you with sub standard transport packed to the roof racks with people, goats and equipment but i would be lying - the mini bus was muy presentable (very presentable to those non espanols!) ...we were comfortably packed and the show justamente organizado (stick with me - you will be able to hablas in espanol before letter end).

What *was* noteworthy was the 90 minutes of mountain pass driving - switchback after switchback. I sat on the right window (ie the pavement side in Chile) and mi bondad there were some horrific drop offs . Chains were enabled and we spent 30 of those 90 minutes in snow country. What im trying to picture for you is

1- we were high up in them hills
2- we were in serious snow country

We disgorged some of the woeses at the first set of ski fields and the remaining 20% hard core proceded to El Colorado. Hard core proved to be 2 major groups
1. Serious black diamond skiers - who sat quietly and impassively for the gradient of truth
2. Wannabees, bullshooters and idiots who dont know what theyre getting into.
As it turned out ...somewhat strangely ...I was in group 2.... El Colorado has some token 'green' routes for paraplegics and children under the age of 18 months. From then on its ski or tumble down vertical cliffs. I spent a lot of time on my ass for the first hour with snow up every orrifice.

I travelled with my colleage of the category 1 ..... I saw Greg at the beginning as we set off from the bus and at the end waiting to leave as he
looked for the last set of diamonds and avalanches to challenge him.

In amongst all the snow feild falling I managed to find time to fall off the ski lift a few times - why should i restrict myself to the common problems of skiing ? - i have skied twice before and have oftened wondered what it must be like to take an unplanned trip off the chair. Myself and a club footed snowboarder mutually provided ourselves with this unique opportunity as the chair accelerated (or did they ever slow it down?) - we got tangled up and literally ripped out of the chair as it started on its ascent. Just to ensure the complete destruction of my self confidence, the operator misjudged my position on the next attempt and i got one leg in and one leg out ... were they trying to kill me or was this a poorly judged attempt to provide el gringo humor ?

Anyways and however the size of them slopes, the spread of the snow , the vista, el panorama, muy impressionante - probably what the dudes have seen in the Alps etc, but for a green horn like me - i was somewhat awed.

Attached are the pictures record some of the views. We collared a local to prove that we were in Chile. Greg preffered the back view but Im more forward than he.

In short, a memorable day.

Sunday morning was spent paying homage to footy and futbal. Gordons sons lived in Melbourne so an old footy ball was revitalised and we got in some good training. Then expended the arvo visiting some of the more famous Santiago hisdtorical buidlings. Good old fashioned tourist fare. Its an impressive city - have a look at the picture.

Thats all to write , so OK Hose's, Chaio

El Waz

Click on the images below…

Image Thumbnails - click on the image to enlarge

El Colorado Car Park	Another view	The Real Stuff	The Ski Routes