According to a Mountain Sports International press release, stop No. 2 of the South American leg of the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour, has been changed from Chile's Valle Nevado—due to a cancellation—to Ski Arpa.
Ski Arpa is a "cat skiing operation located in the shadow of Cerro Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Americas. The two-day competition, with 45 athletes already signed up, will take place on a a backcountry venue only accessible by snowcat and touring."
Although there seems to have been a period of confusion over stop No.2, all's well that ends well, and many of the athletes, including Vail's Rebecca Selig, were instantly twittering their excitement over the remote, untouched location of the new venue.
Selig tweeted, "Ski Arpa has cleared their reservations for the four days which means we will have the place to ourselves…bring your touring gear…Oh yeah!"
Competition Director, Bryan Barlow, was equally pleased with the change of plans.
"We're really excited to hold our second stop at Ski Arpa, one of the longest, and most remote venues we've every used on the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour." said Barlow, "This event will be unlike any FWT held before, no ski lifts, no cell phones, no tracks, just core athletes ripping the greatest terrain and snow the Andes has to offer. It's gonna go down in history indefinitely."
The competition will still be held August 18-21. Stay tuned for more up-to-date coverage.