Hey guys! I'm really starting to miss the fluffy white stuff! Not much mountain biking to do down here, and i have to go to at least GA to climb! Oh well, i get three days at Snowshoe in Dec.

Here's some historical factoids to keep you smiling.

* January 1772: "The Washington and Jefferson Snowstorm" is so named because it trapped both men at their homes with snow up to three feet deep throughout Maryland and Virginia.

* November 1798: "The Long Storm" went down in history as the snowiest on record for that month. Stretching from Maryland to Maine, up to a foot-and-a-half of snow coated the region.

* January 1857: "The Cold Storm" produced severe blizzard conditions along much of the eastern seaboard. Temperatures fell below 9 below zero Fahrenheit, and snowfalls were between one and two feet deep.

* March 1888: The "Blizzard of '88" produced temperatures plummeting well below zero degrees Fahrenheit, ravaging gusts of wind and deep snow drifts that stranded several cities, leaving them without transportation or communication. New York City suffered the most damage, particularly to its harbor areas.

* January 1922: The "Knickerbocker Storm" dumped over two feet of heavy snow on Washington D.C. causing the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre to collapse, killing nearly 100 people.

* On 24 and 25 November 1971, Hagerstown, MD, received 15 inches of SNOW!!!

This last historical storm is the one I keep hoping will repeat itself!

ahh...coolness....we need one entitled the Florida storm. get my drift? (no pun intended) =)

Skiguy if you are in Florida you are ony about a 16 hour drive from some great skiing in Chile'. Get drivin'

maybe a 16 hour flight! I really would like to go to chile someday, but for now i'll just have to water ski!

I hope someone from DCSki goes to Chile one of these days and writes a trip report.

I'm curious about that place. I wonder if the long and expensive trip is really worth it. Believe it or not, Europe has more skiable acreage in the summer than all of South America combined. It might be more fun and cheaper to ski the Oztal or Zermat glaciers during the warm months than fly all the way to Chile. Besides, if the conditions suck, you can always go hiking, biking, or sightseeing. Portillo, from what I have heard, is not near anything. I've also heard that you'll need a barf bag for bus ride up there--48 switchbacks or something ridiculous like that.

Thanks Norsk for your insights. Steepness is always an issue, as is the condition of the snow. I just looked at:

http://www.skiportillo.com/conditions/conditions.html

Portillo is reporting a base of 850 cms (over 235 cms of which have fallen in the last 7 days). And guess what, it is snowing RIGHT now! As Warren Miller would say, somewhere in the world right now, it is snowing.

Makes me want to drop everything and buy a ticket.

JDS

PS For us Mid-Atlantic types, any mountain sporting over 2500 feet of skiable vertical is not just a real mountain, but a REAL big mountain. :-)

yes, yes, yes indeed! anything over 2500 is very big! I'm headed to ranger camp in northeast georgia in the morning, i'll have a full report when I get back. Climbing, rappelling, rope bridge construction. Its gonna be a blast!

I have skied Zermatt in the summer -- largest summer ski area in Europe, or so their marketing claims. The skiing is not worth the trip. As with all European glacier ski areas, the terrain is predominantly ultra-flat (that's what glaciers are). Even Zermatt has only one area of the summer ski area that offers a moderately steep pitch. And of course the skiing isn't much good after 1 or 2pm and there is almost never any new snow.

Chile and Argentina may not have as much acreage, but all my friends who have skied there report that they are real ski areas with real variety of slopes, conditions, etc. I've heard the skiing compared to the Sierras in California. And if cost is roughly equivalent, wouldn't you rather fly to winter than summer?

I propose we all quit our jobs and go to Chile for the rest of the summer.

PS No one tell my wife please.

Warren Miller's _Freeriders_ has a segment on Portillo. It looks neat and steep, but then again, doesn't every Warren Miller location? I wonder how much dishwashers make in Portillo? :-)