Brody Leven/Adam Clark on South America

13080397:NinetyFour said:
What kind of a ski, boot, and binding setup did you guys ride through the trip; and did you need to bring any spare gear in anticipation of a ski or binding failure?
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Hi Ninetyfour,

We've both done numerous trips with tech bindings and lightweight boots, and their reliability reigns supreme. It's amazing how much they can handle without flinching.

I used a pair of Surface Walk Free skis, 176CMx100MM, with Dynafit Speed Radical Bindings and Dynafit Mercury boots. Adam's setup was fairly similar.

I only use gear that I can trust on expeditions and that I can trust with my life.
 
hey guys! your journey is very inspiring and amazing! I AM JEALOUS!

1. what did you miss most about home while you were away?

2. what was your go-to meal on the road?
 
Thanks for the answers guys, yea looked like you guys nailed the weather. Hope to see a bunch more adventures in the future maybe run into you on one of your travels.
 
13080668:goodnoooo said:
hey guys! your journey is very inspiring and amazing! I AM JEALOUS!

1. what did you miss most about home while you were away?

2. what was your go-to meal on the road?
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1. "Home" is a pretty difficult thing for me to pin on a map, thus it is never hard for me to leave wherever it is that I'm living. I live in SLC, but am there so little and am so softly connected to it that it isn't hard for me to leave. I focus much more on the place that I AM than on the place that I am NOT.

2. Cookies.
 
13080261:BrodyLeven said:
Getting really excited to answer these questions. It's awesome to see people with similar mindsets on here. Thanks for hosting this.

I've started many trips like this because it's fun. And because it requires way less planning. When you live a full life at home, sometimes it's easiest (for me) to just buy a plane ticket, keep living normal life, and then figure out the trip details when you're already on the trip. It's PART of the trip for me. If I had an itinerary lined up before I left, I'd have way less to do when I was on the road.

With that said, it's certainly full of unknowns and potential obstacles and problems. But from my experience, even organized trips tend to have these issues.

Answer: not at all.
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That is so cool. Definitely something I'd like to try some day
 
hi yes i was wondering, what happens when photographers invite people into the backcountry without a plan and they have no avalanche gear and there is an avalanche?
 
13081579:ballsdeeppow said:
Hey dudes,

Awesome awesome story and photos! I'd figure I'd share a similar adventure my girlfriend and I took this past spring from February-April. We randomly (and impulsively) found and bought a 1973 Ford Station Wagon with less than 20k miles on it for $950 in Santiago and roadtripped all the way to Torres del Paine. We visited many of the same parks as you (albeit not during the winter so sadly no skiing). Check out an article I wrote here!
http://www.adventure-journal.com/2014/06/overlandia-driving-to-patagonia-in-a-1973-ford/

It was part of a longer five month trip through South America including Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador as well.

On a side note, we used the same exact Copec map for all of our navigating!

If anyone is interested in a similar trip but starting in Punta Arenas, hit me up. Our wagon is currently sitting at a hostel and is for sale. I'd love to hook up some skiers.
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I'm VERY familiar with your story--I checked it out multiple times, and even commented on the article. I absolutely loved it and was so motivated by it. Awesome work, I'm totally into your style. Good on ya. You hit some excellent places, too, I presume.

Where's the wagon for sale?

Love the Copec map...
 
condoning that its as cool as can be to have no plan thousands of miles away from home is like glorifying almost killing someone for the sake of taking their photo
 
13081584:ballsdeeppow said:
PS was that lift running at Laguna del Laja? That ski resort looked janky as hell. One of the nicest camping spots though on our whole trip just around the bend from the ranger station.

PSS What was the weirdest Chilean food you ate? For some reason the Chileans love putting hot dogs on literally everything.
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haha, no, there was certainly no lifts running where we were skiing. But we saw the one that you're talking about! Had to walk right past it on our way up some peaks. It's awesome where they put lifts in Chile. They tempt the skiers by showing them the BIG mountains, and then they're like, Oh, here, you can ski the bottom of it. The flat part.

I'm a vegetarian, and have only found veggie hot dogs once in Chile, and that was on the coast somewhere, on another trip. But nothing from this road trip really rings a bell as far as being weird. What about you? Hot dog ice cream?
 
13081605:ballsdeeppow said:
Just go for it! We traveled five months around South America for about $5,000 each the whole time. Everything once you get down there is sooo cheap especially if you avoid Chile and Argentina (pretty much American prices). Another tip, fly into Lima for ridiculously cheap - for us in January with JetBlue was $250/each one-way.
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I'll even elaborate a bit on that. I've done multiple south america trips spending less than $1000/month. I'd argue that Chile and Argentina can be as inexpensive as many of the South American countries if you aren't in the regular trade routes. Colombia can be pricey, Brazil is crazy expensive, etc...

Yes to Lima flights!
 
13081701:smuggs said:
hi yes i was wondering, what happens when photographers invite people into the backcountry without a plan and they have no avalanche gear and there is an avalanche?
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The guy and associated avalanche that I referred to in the story was not part of our crew. We just met him in the parking lot after we skied our climbing route. He was obviously ignorant to the risk that he was undertaking, and probably didn't have avalanche gear, though that is only based off his reaction to the slide.
 
hey brody,

thanks for answering, i liked your guys flip book

i was refering to an avalanche in little cottonwood canyon where the photographer brought a few girls up into avalanche terrain with no gear himself and there was a slide and one of the girls was burried completely wearing an abs pack.

i think its a poor assumption on your instagram to say the best plan is no plan.

not sure if you are familiar with this situation but do you think a plan in would have been beneficial to their day or is it fine to just rely on others filming you and laughing at you to come save you ?

thanks for your time
 
i made the mistake of being naive in the backcountry, under prepared for danger but ready t o get the shot... awareness and training come from experience, and most crews dont offer lessons to newbs.... no one likes it when shit happens, but as far as having no plan and winging it, thats how you make the best out of things when shit doesn't go as planned... these two are relying on each others skills, and are obviously very competent and confident.

brody, what is your icon, original 1260 mixmaster?
 
13081740:smuggs said:
hey brody,

thanks for answering, i liked your guys flip book

i was refering to an avalanche in little cottonwood canyon where the photographer brought a few girls up into avalanche terrain with no gear himself and there was a slide and one of the girls was burried completely wearing an abs pack.

i think its a poor assumption on your instagram to say the best plan is no plan.

not sure if you are familiar with this situation but do you think a plan in would have been beneficial to their day or is it fine to just rely on others filming you and laughing at you to come save you ?

thanks for your time
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Great. Not sure what the avalanche that you're referencing has to do with my Patagonia road trip? Or even if you are asking anything at all.

There is no assumption in my Instagram, and there is also no point that I said " the best plan is no plan," just to clarify.

I'm really not sure what your last paragraph is asking, but if it's about this trip, I'm happy to answer any questions.
 
13081751:N.L. said:
i made the mistake of being naive in the backcountry, under prepared for danger but ready t o get the shot... awareness and training come from experience, and most crews dont offer lessons to newbs.... no one likes it when shit happens, but as far as having no plan and winging it, thats how you make the best out of things when shit doesn't go as planned... these two are relying on each others skills, and are obviously very competent and confident.

brody, what is your icon, original 1260 mixmaster?
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If there was a question here, Yes, we are experienced skiers, including in this sort of terrain and certainly fully understand the consequences of any action that we take. That applies to both the style in which we choose to sometimes travel and the terrain in which we ski.

Yes, my icon is from an early (second edition) 1260. Good call. It was popular on here back in the day.
 
"so if you want to ask us how to plan a trip completely unplanned you can ask, but i'm just going to tell you to not plan anything" - this says nothing about the only questions someone can ask are ones revolving around one trip to south america.

so i was asking you what happens when you plan a trip to your local back country on a orange hazard day weather its in grizzly gulch utah or in south american and invite someone into the backcountry especially to take photos of them and you don't have the means or plans to help them out, condoning an contradictory attitude

i mean you are looking at a map in one of the photos, so you must have had some kind of plan to be able to read a map while you are trying to claim you don't have plans.
 
AC and Brody... two of the best dudes in skiing. Getting after it on the daily! Thanks for sharing this flip-book with us. Such a rad trip!
 
I really appreciate everyone's questions. Thanks so much for your interest, and feel free to be in touch anytime.
 
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