Fabian Lentsch is a freerider from Innsbruck and Austria's up-and-coming talent. He is spending this summer in the (almost) endless expanses of the South American Andes with his friends Leo Rauch, Eric Zeller and photographer Jonas Blum. He has summarized his summer freeride adventures in a blog.
As in the summer of 2010, I used the "warm" season in the northern hemisphere to prepare for the coming winter season in the southern hemisphere with the help of "PowRide". At the beginning of August, I went on a week-long surf trip to France. There's nowhere better to train your sense of balance than in the waves of the Atlantic, says my coach.
I had exactly 6 hours between my return from France and my flight to South America. I had to pack all my ski gear and expedition equipment in record time, as well as fitting a pair of skis. Visibly stressed, I finally found myself on the train to Vienna with Leo. The next morning we flew to Amsterdam where Eric joined us. After another stopover in Lima, we finally landed in Santiago de Chile. A short time later, we were already sitting in our slightly run-down "Wicked" rental problem camper.
We headed south to Nevados de Chillan, where the snow was supposed to be at its best. After just a seven-hour drive, we made our first tracks in the South American powder. Highly motivated, we soon grabbed the tent to explore the terrain around the ski resort.
Argentina: promised land
In search of the best snow, however, we were driven even further south. According to the route planner, it was 12 hours to Bariloche. However, we didn't know that we were heading for a closed border - the volcano that erupted a few months ago prevented this first attempted border crossing. After further detours, car breakdowns, countless potholes and visibly exhausted, we finally arrived in Bariloche (Argentina) after an 18-hour drive. There we also met Marius, who accompanied us for the next few days.
Luckily, after this extremely long journey, we were rewarded with the best snow conditions and an incredible amount of terrain - luck is said to be with the brave. We spent almost a whole week doing treeruns in the enchanted forest and cool lines in the open terrain in the Cerro Catedral ski resort.
After these great days, we drove the same route back to Santiago to take part in the Freeskiing World Tour competition in Ski Arpa. Unfortunately, I crashed on my very first run. In my opinion, Eric and Leo's runs were not judged fairly enough (To Eric's Helmcam contest run). They were told they had not probed their landing under their big cliff, so it was negligent to jump here.
Shortly after the contest, we were joined by Jonas, who we had hired as our photographer for the trip. We also tried our hand at the first shoot in Portillo and chose a peak far back in the valley as our destination for the day. We started the hike in bright sunshine, only to leave in bad weather. Typical South America: plans rarely work according to plan here... And that was it for the good pictures. When the weather forecast showed a significant warming in the ski resorts around Santiago, we quickly decided to head back to Bariloche, as it should be much better there with a thick base of snow.
Deep powder and ski tours
This time we made it even faster than the time suggested by the route planner and were glad to have arrived back in Bariloche. An Austrian crew of four was already waiting there to spend a few unforgettable powder days together. Once again we had perfect conditions. Snowfall at night and almost bluebird during the day, five days in a row!
During our stay, we found out that two valleys behind the ski resort there is a small mountain hut with relatively easy access. It's called Refugio Frey. As it was time for a little adventure anyway, we decided to pack our gear and head to the hut. The terrain around "Frey" was simply incredible. From big mountain lines to extreme gullies and open slopes, everything was there. So instead of the one night we had planned, we stayed at the hut for three nights and tried to get as many lines as possible. Three hikes a day were not uncommon despite our heavy alpine equipment.
Exhausted but extremely happy, we returned to our hostel and are now waiting for the next snowfall. Unfortunately, Eric has already left us as he has to write an exam at home so that he can enjoy the winter at home with as little stress as possible.
Text: Fabian Lentsch
Photos: Jonas Blum
