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J Dogg — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 06:00:00 -0400

Rating

Random thoughts from Reed Purvis, our officially unofficial man in Argentina. First stop, Cerro Catedral...

With the most snow since 1984, the resort of Cerro Catedral, located just outside the town of Bariloche, Argentina went off this winter. Bariloche feels very similar to the Pacific NorthWest in terms of climate and scenery, except that the sun actually makes frequent apprearances during the winter. The town of Bariloche sits right on a lake surrounded by mountains with similar temperatures but slightly less rainy summers.

S.A.S.S BARLIOCHE VIDEO>>

The lake here is actually part of a chain of interconnecting lakes stretching all the way into Chile and the trees are very like the trees in the PNW, with the exception of the very different snow level trees... perfectly spaced for riding through with branches extending overhead like a protective roof. Factor in the crazy trees and bamboo growing in thick patches, fallen stumps and logs to play on, a park, and high alpine terrain like Blackcomb but with rock spires on steroids - there are plenty of features to entertain oneself with all winter long.

The Andes are an incredible specimen of a mountain range, with views, vistas, panoramas, scenics, landscapes, mountainscapes, lakescapes, and a gorgeous simply gorgeous array of impressive peaks stretching into chile and to the north...and south, and... any more scenery related adjectives anyone? No thanks, I'm quite full thank you.

So yeah, the Andes are pretty super neato and the vastness of terrain and lines to explore is very very large indeed. The number of resorts
compared to the number of square miles of mountains is comparable to the amount of asado meat my stomach can consume and the amount of asado meat my mind wants to consume.

There have been so many memorable events and happenings this winter, ups and downs, ins and outs, what have-yous, mishaps, happy chaps...... actually mostly just ups and ins, no downs and outs, like the miss Reef contest that was held here a couple weeks ag0, that was a good day.

With so much to absorb, learning and improving spanish, skiing as much as possible, meeting chicas, checking out the sights, taking in the culture and food, sensory overload is inevitable, but a nice change of pace, unless your a close minded gringo. Since a lot of the people who live in Bariloche cannot afford to ski here, we should feel privileged to travel and ski here, especially since we consider the costs to be cheap. Wanting to know more than this post tells you in words? Then take a peek at some of the highlights from SASS this winter untill the next post from Argentina arrives on your screen: www.sasnowsessions.com

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