Portillo, August 5-12/06

[koreshot]

Originally Posted by kcyanks1

The best one was a wide-by-eastern-standards chute/trail through some rocks off of Roca Jack just passed the first big snow field and before the second snow field. The snow was good in there even before the storm.

My guess is you are referring to the S-Chute, here is me, on the way out:


Here a few of the pictures of the Gargantita chutes Salida and I were talking about, with bad snow coverage. I am at the top, crapping my pants.





Here is Shane McConkey doing the same chute, a few hours after I did. Except at this point he had a bottle of red wine and he entered into the chute holding poles in one hand and chugging the second bottle with his other:


Even though he was tipsy and doing silly tricks on the way down, he skied it WAAAAAAY smoother and faster than I did (obviously) and then did this at the end:

[kcyanks1]

Thanks for the pics! We were lucky enough to have far more snow, so it's tough to identify the terrain for sure ... But I do believe the "S-Chute" is the one I skied off Roca Jack, from what I can tell. In your pick of the Gargantita chutes, I did the one to the left (looking up the mountain). It was skiable all the way down without having to worry about hitting/jumping rocks.

I'm not sure that I managed to have quite as much fun as your friend Shane I've never drank in the middle of a ski day. Too scary for me not to think I'm in complete control.

[kcyanks1]

Ok, my pictures suck. I only took a handful, and I tried to find something clearly identifying the chute/trail off Roca Jack or the Gargantita chute, and no success. If I manage to decipher the photos I'll post something another time. Otherwise I need some practice in taking good skiing pictures. I basically took the camera out a couple times, couldn't see my viewfinder well in the lighting, and just pointed, shot, and hoped I got something useful... I also often just did it myself. My friend I went with I think has a few pictures with one of us in it, but not on any interesting terrain. I tried to take pictures of some of the terrain, but didn't succeed. I guess they'd make good post cards of rocky mountains with snow of unidentifiable places

[koreshot]

Originally Posted by kcyanks1

Thanks for the pics! We were lucky enough to have far more snow, so it's tough to identify the terrain for sure ... But I do believe the "S-Chute" is the one I skied off Roca Jack, from what I can tell. In your pick of the Gargantita chutes, I did the one to the left (looking up the mountain). It was skiable all the way down without having to worry about hitting/jumping rocks.

This might help:

A - main Garganta chute that most people ski. Pretty steep going in, but nice and wide.
B - the official Gargantita chute, the one in my pictures posted before
C - the "out of bounds" chutes that I didn't have the balls to try last time I was there.

[bvibert]

I was trying to avoid looking at this thread, but I finally caved. Nice pics and TR salida, looks like an awesome trip! I hope to get down there one day.

[kcyanks1]

Definitely B, the left of the two chutes looking up (skier's right looking down). The stuff in C seemed to be too rocky. I was also concerned with going off in that direction and either accidently ending up down Lake Run--the lake wasn't frozen, and some person almost fell into a crevasse in that area while I was there from what I heard--or just not finding a way down that I was willing to do and having to hike back up. Thanks for the post.

[salida]

Tried to add what we skied in this. M stands for mandatory air, varying from about 5 ft to 20 ft....

[sledhaulingmedic]

Nice pix, Porter. Maybe someday...

No pix of the 5 man Platter?

[highpeaksdrifter]

Shane McConkey drinking while getting air is a great shot. Nice catch.

[salida]

Originally Posted by sledhaulingmedic

Nice pix, Porter. Maybe someday...

No pix of the 5 man Platter?

Thanks, no actually we have video of it, or the ride up to be more precise. We'll have something edited up soon!