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Chapelco's Snowboard Team See map

Marcos Robles, 21, a native of San Martin de los Andes, is currently the manager of the Snowboard Team Chapelco with Fernando Soria. The experts of this variant of skiing boomed in recent years represent the Winter Center Chapelco in national and international competitions.

The team was born in the winter of 1997, "also died at the end of that season," said Mark, but later "on the initiative of which we assembled back on track and today we are very firm on a project that will be out in Chapelco and also constantly preparing to compete representing the ski resort of San Martín de los Andes. "

"The project is also to represent Chapelco inside and outside the country, in forming a team for the Snowboard Park takes place on the Hill. There we three advise the user to maintain order and harmony, so that no disabled children and those who want to do various tests have a good time"

summed up the young but experienced snowboarder.

Marcos with a group of kids started in snowboarding a long time ago.

"I started practicing it 11 years ago in Chapelco with three or four guys more. We wore boots because there were no soft boots for snowboarding in Argentina. No one taught us anything and the ones who started as well as they ski in the winter season during the rest of the year played with skateboards. "

Regarding the differences between traditional skiing and snowboarding, said

"Snowboarding is more fun. I skied since age two and a half to ten, but when I met the snowboard would not let him over. All my life I competed and snowboarding I feel I compete against myself, if I intend Testing I overcame me and if I can win the competition better. "

According to Mark

"Snowboarding is lived intensely. Do not forget that the mountain is myself with my boots and table instead of skiing are two tables, two sticks, hard boots ... different."

For this expert learning snowboard is not easy because

"You have to take care of yourself more than skiing at least the first few times you put the table. You can injure the knees, wrists, and also the cocsis; is complicated the first few times but all extreme sports involved danger" .

The level of Argentine snowboarders, according to Mark Robles is not bad, because

"There are riders who are riding very strong and have great sponsors, but we must not forget that this sport was born 25 years ago in the United States and parts of Europe, while in Argentina recently inserted only 6 or 7 years ago."

Not all are good news for members of the team that beyond doing what they like should strive to enlist the support of snowboard-related companies to enable them to reach competence, especially, abroad.

Moreover, at a competitive level injuries can be serious if tested jumps don't came out as expected.

"Years ago I had a very serious accident in Chapelco while training," said Marcos and continued: "I made a flight too high (his record more than 8 meters from a ramp), I fell and had injury the vertebrae, then I had cancer and  had to do chemotherapy. It took a long time until the cancer disappeared. "

"That problem prevented me from traveling abroad but never slowed, never gave up because of the support of my family, friends and doctors who treated me in Neuquén that insisted that everything came back to normal and I forget what happened" .

In another part of the talk, explained that

"The rise of snowboarding has been such that today the total people skiing between 30 and 35% practice snowboard, all the time there are people, especially kids, who go from skiing to snowboarding."

Finally, Marcos Robles referred to Winter Center Chapelco which considered as excellent,

"Because it has an advantage as is the grass which means that with 10 centimeters of snow can open certain slopes something that does not happen in Bariloche or Las Leñas centers that are located at high altitudes where there is so much stone. In those places if you do not have 60 centimeters of snow slopes can not be abled. There are also some spectacular forests and a unique landscape. "

By Pablo Matilla