Skiing Again!

My 3 guys would spend their lives on the mountain if they could. They all three went snowboarding/skiing on Monday (a Chilean holiday) and then planned to go again on Saturday. Alex had to bail due to a bout of strep throat, but he sent the other two off with well wishes.

They had a blast. They met some friends up there and spent the afternoon.

Andrew had a little run-in at the end of the day with a certain ski lift/pull. Apparently using this type of lift with a snowboard isn't easy. It's more of a moving rope with a little disk to sit on. They tried to explain it to me. To the best of my understanding the story went something like this:

You're supposed to sit on this disk with both legs around it, as you would a disk swing on a swing set. When you're on skis it's easy. Strapped into a board - not so much. Greg gets on first with Andrew behind him. Andrew gets about 1/3 of the way up the hill and loses it. At which point he rolls, slides and tumbles down the slope in the middle of everyone else on the ski pull thing. They have to stop it until he can get out of the way. Greg can't get off at this point and figures Andrew will just meet them at the bottom of the hill.

Oh no. Andrew was determined not to let this thing beat him. So he gets back in line and the guy running the thing lets him in front of the line and tries to explain to him how to hold on when you have a snowboard. Well, the guy speaks spanish and Andrew does not. Then the guy behind Andrew is trying to explain it to him as well. When they realize he doesn't speak spanish, the guy behind him starts explaining in english. So Andrew gives it a go - again.

This new friend of his, the english speaker, is on the lift behind him. Andrew says he's going pretty good for a while then his board clips something and he starts twisting off again. The guy behind him tells him to hang on. So he does. And he is dragged for quite a while until someone else falls off and the thing stops for a few minutes. So he tries to re-situate and doesn't get very far before it takes off again.

Apparently, he was basically being dragged the entire length of the lift supporting himself entirely with his arms. Needless to say he's a little sore today. He says the muscles in his neck hurt so bad he can't swallow.

Snowboarding is so much fun!