The white stuff...

Today was a great day to show what Santiago has to offer, just up the road, well two hours on the way to Mendoza is Chile's number one spot to enjoy the white stuff - Portillo. It seemed great timing as the road was closed until this morning following a snow storm during the week that left 2 metres in its wake. Beyond Portillo, the road remained closed, but luckily for us the carabineros had opened it up until the resort. And what a perfect day, while the south is experiencing terrible floods, mud slides and is in a state of high alert, we experienced the calm between the storms.

















7 a.m. Sunrise in Santiago, the air has been washed, and the days are crisp, not yet unbearably cold. It bode well...

















The road sounds like it has been closed for more that a week, as one of the 9 km of trucks said they had been there since Saturday waiting for the road to Argentina to be cleared of snow.

That's why I say, "Duckie!
Don't grumble! Don't stew!
Some critters are much-much,
oh, ever so much-much,
so muchly much-much more unlucky that you!" - Dr Seuss

They are hoping for tomorrow.

















As you step out of the Portillo hotel this is what greets you, largo las incas. Argentina awaits over that peak.






















Ah! sunshine that's better....

















Sombody's done a good job of losing a ski...

















An incredible lunch spot, Tio Bob's, sits on top of one of the advanced runs near a cliff. Magic views down over the lake and the Portillo resort. Believe it or not that lift you see below ends up here. I thought U2 would be my only vertigo posting...

















Apparently later in the winter you can skate on this... stunning!
















Way home, looking back from whence we came. The towering Aconcagua, the highest peak outside of the Himalayas. 1 metre shy of 6960.

A beautiful way to spend a Saturday! By the minor protests I hear from parts of my body I haven't heard from for years, if ever, I suspect I will need another weeekend to recover.

Wish you a week of calm between storms and a little bit of the white stuff.