Our friend Jacqueline Knutson just returned from a ski trip to South America. Now back in the States, the SLC based ripper put together this well written trip report we thought we’d share with you.
Due to Pisco-induced laryngitis I’ve returned to the United States without a voice, which is strangely poetic since I really don’t have adequate words for the last two weeks of my life. Traveling to Chile has been a life-altering adventure and the landscape of my existence will never be the same. It was a trip that demanded that I be completely in the present while it still allowed for deep introspection and gave me the opportunity to work out serious life questions. Something truly special happened on this trip and I know I’m not the only one who came home a different person. I thought I was simply going to Chile to participate in the North Face Chilean Freeskiing Championship. The comp was a success beyond measure but Chile was so much more than that.
My descriptions would be paltry, my musings would hardly scratch the surface of an adventure that gives me chills and leaves me covered in goose bumps when I reflect on my interactions, my travels, and my experiences. Returning home I’m left simultaneously heartbroken by what I was forced to leave behind and renewed by what I gained from this South American voyage. I had no idea what I was embarking on when I packed my bags for my first true vacation in years.
Santiago, Farellones, El Colorado, Santa Teresa, Las Trancas, Nevados de Chillán…these are simply places on a map but it is what I discovered in these locations that makes them treasures to me.
At the time they were as much home as anywhere I’ve ever been. I know I’ve described the people that I compete with as my “freeskier family” before but to truly understand how much the word family describes my relationship to these people may be impossible.
The Chilean Andes became my home, our tiny borrowed A-Frame brimmed over with friends, we chased one another through the snow, I think some of us felt the presence of members of this family that have left us prematurely, and I was humbled by the vastness and magnitude of the Andes mountains.
For nearly the two full weeks I found what it was to live each day without concern for the past and without a thought of the future. I was reminded that the future is but a concept and all we truly have is the right here, the right now.
Yes, my trip was a glorious adventure in the mountains filled with skiing and sun and snow and busses and volcanoes but that isn’t what this trip ended up being about and therefor it isn’t what I’m going to write about. To simply describe the bus trips, the T-bars, the tiny towns perched on the sides of volcanoes would be a disservice to the trip as a whole because I think for the first time I experienced an adventure in multiple dimensions. The universe is a great provider and the opportunity to travel to Chile was a gift with a perfection of timing that only the cosmos could possibly create.
There was a serendipitous timing to everything. Flying standby had me a nervous wreck before leaving but I miraculously got a seat, I ran into friends in the immigrations maze, I opened my first beer on the 14th of 44 steep switchbacks, managed to hitchhike when the need arose, we got a few feet of new snow right before the competition, we skied bluebird powder every comp day, I landed in the top ten, and I generally felt as though I was in the right place at exactly the right time everywhere I went.
I was consistently surrounded by the most positive people I know and the support and camaraderie that was offered throughout the competition and subsequent travels around the country was the highest I’ve ever seen it.
Chile is a mecca for winter athletes during North America’s off-season and I constantly found myself surrounded by legends of the sport and stars of skiing’s silver screen; Hugo Harrison, Travis Rice, Ian McIntosh, John Jackson, Lynsey Dyer to name a few. I received life lessons, words of encouragement, and support from athletes that can be credited with changing the face of the sport. I swear I existed in some alternate reality for the last two weeks but the lessons I gained from interacting with these people will stick with me for the entirety of my ski career and my life as a whole.
The skiing in Chile was phenomenal. Rolling volcanoes suddenly turned into steep, technical chutes and the faces can only be described as a freeskier playground with countless features and possibilities to showcase your skills. It lent itself to an absolutely incredible competition and the ladies truly dominated. I feel honored to have been in the top ten amongst such strong skiing.
When a smaller group of us headed south for a second competition,
I saw an entirely new landscape of moss-covered trees revealing hot springs and steaming volcanoes. Although a rainstorm destroyed the snowpack we weren’t hindered by a little ice and hiked our way to the top of Nevados de Chillán to drink in the seemingly endless sea of mountains all around.
My departure from Chile was difficult and I’m thrilled that I still exist in the joyous afterglow of the experience that I had. I’m hoping that this feeling lasts until our own winter begins. In the mean time I’m going to chew on the fat of this trip and hope that I can reduce the experience into a cohesive narrative but I doubt that is possible. I just returned from the trip of a lifetime and a formative, positive journey that is sure to have shaped me as a person and an athlete.
