Cusco

The prices have increased significantly since my last visit in 2003. We estimate that it will cost close to $250 just to get to Maccu Piccu and back by train not including Hostal. We´re looking into options for hiking in which may be more rewarding. The weather is a complete 180 from Lima also. There was a thick cloud layer over Peru for the entire flight. Maggie is happy for the change after getting a little too much sun in Lima. The trails may be a bit muddy, but we are going to grin and bare it for the next six days (unless we chicken out and don´t). Tonight we were serenaded by a loud group of andean players, singing in spanish, playing las quenas (flutes), panpipes, drums, a mini ukelele and guitar. Looking forward to what we´ll find in the country side.

We´ve Arrived

After a long two days of traveling we have reached Lima. The weather has been excellent here, 70-80 degrees. Maggie and I went to the National Museum and then to the Miraflores District. It is a very big difference from the Climate in Salida. After getting done on the slopes Sunday we went out to the beach to check things out. Although the weather was nice the Lima beach front is dangerous with a collection of riptides and undertoes waiting to steal one away to the south Pacific. It is also dirty. Lima´s coastal population of twelve million plus has to flush somewhere. The trash was bad, but a decaying sea lion being battered ten feet off the shore confirmed our reluctance to get anywhere near the water. All the same my pockets are weighted down with the cards of surf instructors who swore that the conditions were excellent. The greatest danger so far has been using the taxis and buses though. As I remembered the driving is a variation of rally style racing through pedestrians. We will leave the city tomorrow for the central highlands.

Hut to Hut

We've slacked a bit in posting on the blog. Presidents weekend just slipped by and as usual our schedule was booked. A few friends came up from Fort Collins to check out Salida and Monarch, but to their disappointment there has been little snowfall over the last week and the holiday crowds came in full force.
Work didn't slow down for Maggie or me either, I only got a handful of runs in with my friends between lessons. Looking for a more action on Fridays however, Maggie has joined a local race team. Once a week she races her board down a slalom course set up in front of the lodge.
After things started calming down on the mountain we embarked on our first hut trip. The trip was organized by a some friends of ours who work for one of the gear retailers in town.
I envisioned a select group of back-country skiers heading out to a very spartan yurt, or tent like structure, below towering peaks many miles out, like to ones I've come across in the Medicine Bow Wilderness located in northern Colorado. As the trip approached and plans became a reality it wasn't quite as I imagined. Fourteen people dwindled to seven, the approach was only three moderate miles, the hut was more of a fully functional two story cabin and I was the only person to pack skis in.
Expectations set aside towering peaks did loom overhead and I did get my own back-country skiing in. Otherwise it was very comfortable with minimal risk and good company. With the Lost Wonder hut as practice, next year we may want to look at a different hut trip.