We have the technology...again

Right, so I believe we´d just arrived at our accomodation, near Chillan. Well, I say near, actually it´s about an hour outside, but I guess that is ´near´for anyone who lives in a country bigger than the UK. Anyway, this place is basically a collection of ´Cabanas´ (small cottages) centred around a restaurant, outdoor pool (no thanks), shop, etc. They´re really cool. Each is heated by a wood burner, which we keep stoked up. I´ve also found out that somebody comes in early every morning to keep it lit, which is pretty impressive.

So, after our late night and bent axle incident, we were allowed to sleep in until ten. People are now beginning to fall ill, although I´m actually slightly better now. Breakfast was slightly subdued, but not enough to prevent a little banter at Mike´s expense. I should point out that this is the first tour Mike has led. Aaron is the part owner, and has led most of the tours in the past. Because many of the guys have travelled with Casa before, Mike gets a lot of stick along the ´this wouldn´t have happened if Aaron were here´lines. The wheel falling off was a classic example, although everyone appreciated the seriousness of the situation enough not to lay that particular line on him at midnight on what passes for a hard shoulder on a Chillian A-road. He takes it in good spirits too.

Mike´s quite a guy, actually. He´s travelled extensively, has worked ski patrol in a number of resorts, including Chillan, and works for the Canadian fire forestry service during the summers. He also plays the guitar very well, and often plays in local bars. On the road to Lonquimay, we managed to coax him into getting his guitar out and playing a few tunes in the back of the van. Very cool indeed, and I´m sure we´ll have him playing an evening set in front of the fire before the end of the week.

We set off for Termas de Chillan, with the boards on top of the van. By now, Sylv, Chris, Darren and Jim were all suffering with various colds, and Sylv and Darren elected to stay at home. Termas is by far the biggest of the resorts we´d hit so far, and the base chair seemed to go far out of sight up the mountain

Okay, so this is dragging a little. Internet´s been down now for three days and I´ve typed the above off-line and hidden it on the network. So, I´ll keep it short and sweet...

Then end of that day found Mike and I skiing alone. So Mike says to me, ´Hey, want to go on a little adventure?´Of course I do, and we soon find ourselves cutting under the boundary fence and hitting a steep and tight valley. The snow was completely untracked, and we carved down, doing jump turns to avoid sliding out of control. Mike, who used to work here as a guide, knew the area was avalanche prone, so took particular care to check the snow before descending. Eventually, we came out by some hot sulphorous springs and ruins and had to walk down until we were in sight of the base area. Quite a memorable experience, and I spared no detail when telling the others. We hit the hot springs afterwards - a muddy pool full of, presumably, Brazillian supermodels. Ouch.

Ach, details, details...

First night was fairly quiet, and consisted of another minor waxing party at our cabanos. Day two at Chillan, Sylv and Darren - my ´cabanos mates´ weren´t feeling good, so took the day off. This proved quite a wise decision, as it was windy in the extreme on the mountain. In the end, only five of us went up. The spindrift winding off the peaks was evident from the base. Nevertheless, we piled on resolutely and found quite a lot of powder. Highlight was when Mike pulled off the piste. We followed, now really knowing where we were going. Mike stopped, reached down, and fished a six-pack of beers out of the snow. A nice touch, I thought. There were some youngsters (well, probably twenty. How old do I feel?) building a kicker nearby. One asked for a light. None of us smoked, but Mike gave him a beer. I couldn´t help but imagine the scene when he returned to his friends...
´Well, they didn´t have a light, but I got this instead...´
We got home late, after having a few beers. I walked into Cabanos number one, and was greeted by the rest of the party, who were all sat around Aaron and Mike, on guitar. Beers were in full flow, and they´d also obtained a number of cap gun revolvers from the market they´d gone to instead of skiing. Carnage. Quite a night, which found me supplying vocals for Aaron´s guitar playing. Yup, I´d had a couple of beers. We ended up in the ´Snow Pub´, where Mike played a set.