Ushuaia Sweet Ushuaia
Hola Chicos y Chicas,
So I thought it was time for a blog post from the end of the world. It´s pretty hard for me to even begin to talk about the way things are here, but let´s just say that skiing in Ushuaia is different.
For one, the ski community is pretty small. The races I´ve done so far have had about 40 people -- counting men, women, juniors, seniors, masters -- total. Also, everyone races on equipment that´s anywhere from 15-20 years old. There are a few with new stuff, but very few. I tend tot stick out like a sore thumb. There´s one other American here, and we recognized each other as Americans instantly when we saw each other. So that´s cool.
Grooming appears to be a secondary concern here. There was a night sprint that took place (supposedly) at 6pm... but the grooming took place at 6:10, which brings me to another point: very few people, things, or events occurr when you expect them to. The first race I did here, I arrived 20 minutes after the start was scheduled, and I was one of the early arrivals, and there have been a couple times where the carpool I take to the ski trail in the valle de tierra mayor arrived 45 to an hour late and once I missed it because they came 20 minutes early.
However, there is a crapload of snow. We´re talking (about) 4 feet of snow. It´s snowed pretty much non-stop since I got here. And there is skiing within walking distance of the house I´m staying in, on a pretty hilly, fun course. The only problem is that the pisten bully they have is from the 70s, and breaks pretty frequently. However, a half-hour away is a 7k loop that gets groomed once a day by a brand-new machine, which is swell, except totally flat.
People, in the typical latin american style, are all incredibly nice, and most are very excited about my willingness to eat a lot of whatever they put in front of me. This food typically consists of beef, chicken, beef, lamb, beef, and the occasional vegetable. I´m getting plenty of protien... but not much of anything else.
In a little less than a week is the Marchablanca, which is the one big skiing event here. It´s a 21k race, in the valle (meaning, mostly flat with one or two climbs), that the whole town comes out for many dressed eccentrically. It has been won for years by one Martín Bianchi, who skiied in the Torino Olympics for Argentina. He´s an awesome guy who I´ve had dinner with a couple times and skied with a whole lot.
So, who knows. There´s about a thousand more things that I could write, but I guess I´ll cut it off. Things are good, I miss you all, and I´ll put up some pictures of the Marcha when that happens.
Ciao, nos vemos.
-seb
So I thought it was time for a blog post from the end of the world. It´s pretty hard for me to even begin to talk about the way things are here, but let´s just say that skiing in Ushuaia is different.
For one, the ski community is pretty small. The races I´ve done so far have had about 40 people -- counting men, women, juniors, seniors, masters -- total. Also, everyone races on equipment that´s anywhere from 15-20 years old. There are a few with new stuff, but very few. I tend tot stick out like a sore thumb. There´s one other American here, and we recognized each other as Americans instantly when we saw each other. So that´s cool.
Grooming appears to be a secondary concern here. There was a night sprint that took place (supposedly) at 6pm... but the grooming took place at 6:10, which brings me to another point: very few people, things, or events occurr when you expect them to. The first race I did here, I arrived 20 minutes after the start was scheduled, and I was one of the early arrivals, and there have been a couple times where the carpool I take to the ski trail in the valle de tierra mayor arrived 45 to an hour late and once I missed it because they came 20 minutes early.However, there is a crapload of snow. We´re talking (about) 4 feet of snow. It´s snowed pretty much non-stop since I got here. And there is skiing within walking distance of the house I´m staying in, on a pretty hilly, fun course. The only problem is that the pisten bully they have is from the 70s, and breaks pretty frequently. However, a half-hour away is a 7k loop that gets groomed once a day by a brand-new machine, which is swell, except totally flat.
People, in the typical latin american style, are all incredibly nice, and most are very excited about my willingness to eat a lot of whatever they put in front of me. This food typically consists of beef, chicken, beef, lamb, beef, and the occasional vegetable. I´m getting plenty of protien... but not much of anything else.
In a little less than a week is the Marchablanca, which is the one big skiing event here. It´s a 21k race, in the valle (meaning, mostly flat with one or two climbs), that the whole town comes out for many dressed eccentrically. It has been won for years by one Martín Bianchi, who skiied in the Torino Olympics for Argentina. He´s an awesome guy who I´ve had dinner with a couple times and skied with a whole lot.
So, who knows. There´s about a thousand more things that I could write, but I guess I´ll cut it off. Things are good, I miss you all, and I´ll put up some pictures of the Marcha when that happens.
Ciao, nos vemos.
-seb
posted by Bates Nordic at
7:18 PM
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