AGoodReed / gettin' down to it!

While in the Northern Hemisphere everyone is dousing their livers with heavy amounts of alcohol, getting kicked out of MDP premieres and chasing girlies that like snowboard boys, we are still hopping around on our snowboards trying to avoid coming home and getting a real job.The season finally feels like it’s winding down, temperatures are rising and the last snow fall seems to have been ages ago. The AGR office has now moved from Farrellones to Santiago where we will try to detox, wash our clothes for the first time and spend time meditating for our second trip to Pucon this coming Friday.

Part of this meditation includes updating you on what went down the last time we went to Pucon….

Once upon a time on our way to Bariloche, Argentina…

After 20 hours of bus riding… we’re still sleeping. We woke up to white streets, buildings styled after Les Alpes, and hotties pondering in the streets.

The next day we made the trip to Cerro Catedral. No luck with girlies, kicked out of an Irish pub for drinking to much, $60 lift tickets, riding cat tracks full of rocks, super wet snow and 30 core shots between the 3 of us riders, we decided we had enough of Bariloche.

This is what Ralph thought of Bariloche!

After checking with our faithful meteorologists friends over at snow-forecast.com we decided to jump right back on a bus to Chile to chase a storm in Pucon. A storm that was said to bring over a meter of snow…. our hopes were high.

Bags packed and the team was ready. 1 meter of snow here we come.

From left to right. Barry, Unda, Marco, Ralf and John.

After 3 days of rain in the city, we were off to rent a car to prepare for our journey to the mountain. AVIS rental car. What a classy business.

We rented a Peogout 312, leather seats, tilt wheel, beautiful red paint and room for 4. We were five.

Our faithful Captain Marco. He had us believing he was a great driver.

He drove more than 10 feet after starting the car in the AVIS parking lot and drove straight into a hole!

Straight into a sewage drain.

Bottomed out.

The lady assured us that this wasn’t the first time this had happened and happily handed us keys to a new SILVER Peogout.

Luckily they had another.

And we were on our way.

Our anticipations high.

Welcome to Pucon. 1 meter of fresh!

Villarica. An active volcano.

5 hour hike to the top of the volcano and we’re welcomed with this snow mouth.

The shark was a little angry after Ralf went to the bathroom in his mouth.

Ralph slashin.

Jon made the five hour hike to the summit of Villarica with a broken ankle. The run down was a little slow for him but he was able to descend in front of us and point out lines.

Ralf doesn’t hesitate with anything. Whether it’s girls or droppin’ bombs with snow shoes on the back.

That’s it and that’s all from the international amateur team comprised of riders from 5 different countries.

Here we come again Pucon! We hope you’re ready.

Since my cover was blown in the Three Valley Ski Center I had to change locale. Current whereabouts cannot be disclosed at this time, but be advised that Big Perm has taken my place in Chile as a somewhat satisfactory substitute. Mission objectives are still in progress as we’ve suffered some unexpected set backs. In the meantime, I’ve been trying to mingle with the locals at happy hour to figure out why Chileans are so bloody obsessed with Pisco.

El Colorado Happy Hour Fun from El Gato on Vimeo.

 Karl makes a great undercover agent too because he likes to freestyle which the Chileans also seem to enjoy.

While we ARE attempting to fulfill agr’s South American mission requirements, public help is always appreciated. After a snowboard binge of nearly 14 days, wet boots the whole time, AGR has contracted some foot fungus. Please contact us if you are aware of any remedies for curing stinky feet!

Hello World. Benivenidos a la internet.

Hell. We flew in, and for the first 13 days of the trip we have spent a total of 10 minutes on the internet. The saying goes
while traveling, the less time spent on the internet, the more fun you be havin’. But it feels damn good to have fingers glued to a keyboard again.

After 24 hours of landing we hooked up with the “Big Show”. He’s somewhat of a big deal down here as you can see above.  Straight out of the UK he’s been throwing down some serious old school hammers. Not to mention he hasn’t cut his hair in 6 years. We haven’t cut ours either.  He’s a slayer.

For the first couple days we were cruisin’ around. Mountain touring. No new snow = small park days and beer sippin’. As our hearts were jerked around with the falty snow forecasts of “www.snow-forecast.com”, the storm finally arrived late night last Tuesday. A glorious Wednesday. Blue skies and 2 feet of fresh. Unfortunately, a late night of partying the night before, and an unforgettable 3:30 am powder run home, we plugged in our camera charger to the wrong circuit and blew every fuse in the house. Hard to believe……… The best day of the trip so far went undocumented by photos.

After a few days of powder cowboys, the AGoodReed team began practicing for the “Freestyle Tour at Valle Nevado” presented by Rossignol and Lippi. Our newest addition to the team, Ralph began working with Mr. Gillis on tricks for the new competition. Just like any snowboarder out of Swisssaland, ie ISENSEVEN, he likes lots of fancy tricks. Ralph claims he knows the fellas from ISENSEVEN and when ever we reference the movie he gets a foul taste in his mouth because us Americans jock the movie.

Ralphy tailblocking the meadow of Valle Nevado.  Proper.  I guess spending 50+ hours in your snowboard boots doesn’t prevent you from competing in a big air and doing tailblocks.

Ralph taught Doctor Gillis Truckdrivers. The doctor stomped one in the competition on Saturday landing him in 3rd place. Ralph claimed that because he taught The Doctor the trick that he should buy him beers for the rest of the night….. just another irrational statement by our Swisssa friend.

The only picture we have of the truckdriver is this one.

The photographer for the competition was a local bystander. He may or may not have been blind. Sadly enough this was the best shot of the 20 photos he took.

After all was said and done. Doctor Gillis made the podium along with a local Chilean Tomas in second and a fellow Canadian Tamo in 1st. Prizes we silly. A pair of gloves, thermals and ONE Redbull. Just ONE Redbull……

We do a lot of hanging out in the parking lot. Looking for tickets on days we don’t want to purchase.

Mario ordering Barry to come about.

Amongst all the fun, we did run into a little accident. Our fearless Chilean Tour Guide Mario Hevia suffered the patented snowboard injury. Grade 3 shoulder separation. After a girl complained about breaking her arm during our last run… (Everyone knows you don’t jinx yourself like that), Mario separated his shoulder. A week off the snowboard and he’s back riding tomorrow. A salud to Mario.

That’s it and that’s all for now. Shout out to all the friends at home. And a farewell to Dr. Gillis. Have fun in LA bro bro! You won’t be disappointed in the substitute.

With my massive signing bonus from agr, I had the funds to make a trip over to Valle Nevado, Chile and do some snow surfing. Conditions were excellent; sunny with no clouds, 2 meters of snow (that´s over 6´ for those of you aquainted with the archaic US system), and more than 800 hectares of Chilean shRADness. All on opening day. Sick mode.

Awesome snowboard trick at Valle Nevado from El Gato on Vimeo.

.note: After this report was filmed, I decided it was time to get radical and bust out my stock switch backside 1260.

Spanish Version of Opening Day at Valle from El Gato on Vimeo.

Chile in itself is a different breed. Aside from the snowboarding, the road from Santiago to Valle Nevado has a gnarly 59 switch backs. I´m talking serious switch backs, like the type where a bus has an ice cubes chance in hell of making it to said destination. Endless cliffs on one side and crumbling dirt walls on the other with a road wide enough for Mr. Bean´s whip. Throw in a few crazy Chilean drivers and it makes for an eventful day of shred.

Although Valle Nevado is a measly 36 kilometers from Santiago, a typical day can run up to 4 hours of travel time, one way. While agr did manage to throw me a large signing bonus, I had trouble negociating a helicopter for my trip so my local connections have shown me the correct Chilean way:

1. 1. Wake up
2. 2. Put on smelly snowboard boots and other rancid snowboard gear and walk to the bus with shred attire plus board
3. 3. Take the bus from downtown Santiago and have everyone give you funny looks
4. 4. Hitch hike from the gas station to the cross in Farellones
5. 5. Hitck hike from the cross to Valle Nevado
6. 6. Kiss the ground and thank a nondemoninational diety that you made it to Valle Nevado without going over the edge
7. Shred

After all was said and done, Valle delivered and I accepted.

In the words of Danny Sul, “dollar bills is all we know”.

Stay tuned……