Ahhh; waking up in the foothills of the Andes; cacti and noble condors.

A morning stroll leads us to a flourishing cascade.

Refreshed by the cold, spring flow, immense snowcapped peaks inspire the desire to climb; to ride something spectacular.

Big mountains and high elevations: intimidating after stepping into it all suddenly from summer lounging in the far north. For my first run in upwards of 3 months, Steepy has quite a line in which to introduce me to the Andes with: The Super-C Couloir near the Santiago region in Chile.

(obvious line center left of photo)

As we climb my senses take on that serious big-mountain feel; the vibe one might get when climbing someplace legendary, like a Himalayan Peak, or ski mountaineering in Chamonix. As I catch my breath and try to make sense of it all I turn around and where I am becomes very clear. I am in the Andes kicking steps with Aconcagua as the backdrop.

In the last year I have skied in the shadows of three of the Seven Summits and I feel pretty lucky for that. I climb on with that stoke pushing me up and up. Steepy sends the steep pitches with the same swiftness and potency I have always known him for.

We have not climbed the route we will descend, but instead have taken an alternative ascent to shed off some vert. This route had its moments; dodging rockfall; traversing above large exposed icefalls, and blading some steep hard pitches towards the top. As we reach the col, the angle drops and we are rewarded with an awesome platform on which to kick it and enjoy the views.

The view into the couloir we are about to drop, however, has my knees shaking again. Now I’ve skied some big lines no doubt, but never have I jumped “off the couch” and made my first turns of the season on an exposed pitch of 50 degree hard snow at high elevation; this picture looking down towards where we are heading will give you an idea of how it looked to me.

Ok, well it’s not THAT bad, but still pretty intense; fresh off the plane and into a massive big line; as classic and as stout as any of the greatest couloirs in the world; but once the binding are on and feeling tight, stoke overcomes nervousness and fear.
Here Steepy sets it off; and the rest is obvious:

(dig this photo; yeah, not bad terrain to be getting into 1st run fresh off the areoplane)

Wow! That is one badass Couloir; big as hell; entire line comes in at just about 4,000 vertical feet. (Route should be obvious in the photo below)

Awestruck, we rally back down the mountain twenty minutes to Steepy’s Chilean bungalow. Where oranges, avocados, and olives are to be found and eaten straight from the tree. I’m am saying “what, you mean twenty minutes downhill from riding one of the sickest couloirs of my life I can eat fresh oranges off the tree”? I had never dreamed of such a thing, but yes it is true.

For perspective; This experience would be akin to riding from the summit of Mt. Whitney and being on a beach in So-Cal twenty minutes after hitting the parking lot. Living in the far north, I have forgotten how much I miss such a climate as this. It was absolutely wonderful to hang out in a warm, green climate of cacti and fresh oranges, eating good food, in a small Latin-American village, shortly after riding an amazing line on my snowboard.

Lastly; I just had to throw up this picture for all my fellow ColoRadbro’s out there! It definitely feels homey to have such nostalgia marking the adobe that shelters you in a foreign world. I musta told Steepy several times how awesome that momento is; as a Colorado native the sight of this just topped off what was already a perfect day.

Thanks for that experience Steepy!

Stay tuned; more southern-hemi pics coming soon.