Shreducation in Argentina - Part 1: The Long Road to Patagonia

Feb 22, 2010

Author: Scott Birke, photos by Alex Browne

Snowboard Canada went to Argentina with Shreducation, a Canadian snowboard reality TV show, and the trip was so badass that we took couldn’t fit all of the photos in the magazine, so to celebrate the new season of Shreducation kicking off this month on the Disney XD network worldwide, and on MTV2 in Canada (dates, times TBA) until we’re done with the story, we’ll be bringing you a weekly installment on snowboardcanada.com  with complete exclusive web edits from Shreducation that you won’t get on TV.

Part 1: The Long Road to Patagonia

To say it’s a different experience traveling internationally with a TV show is a massive understatement. No, it wasn’t the Disney XD TV crew meeting us, cameras blazing, after a mellow 23-hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Bariloche after flying from Toronto.  Nor was it the complete takeover of our awesome rental house overlooking the beautiful Lake Peritio Moreno just outside Bariloche (see below). It’s the fact that everything you do gets filmed or still-shot and there are these incredibly potential consequences lying behind each of your actions like a hungry, looming shark in the water. One false move and the funny thing you just did gets broadcast to the world. And that’s some heavy shit, especially when you’re going to the Olympics.

I went to Argentina to document what it’s like to peek behind the curtain of a snowboarding reality TV show--and a Canadian one at that. Shreducation, a TV show concept created by ex-pro Jesse Fulton and filmmaker Francis Mitchell (who co-wrote Shred (starring Tom Green), with his dad, who created the Ski School movies back in the ‘80s), got picked up by Disney for distribution into 72 million homes worldwide late last year. Curious to see what it was like to make a TV show on one of my favourite topics (and with a bit of Skype-prodding from Fulton), I decided to join them on a trip to shred Cerro Catedral in Argentina’s Patagonia region, which is also where SASS (South America Snow Sessions) does its camps every summer, with coaches such as Andrew Burns, Nat Gough, Chris Coulter and Robin Van Gyn. Unfortuneately for us, we’re going just a week too late to hook up with all of them.

Our journey starts mid-September in Toronto at YYZ where I meet up with Fulton and co-coach Dez Price, Mitchell and filmer Dave Sheridan, as well as riders Harrison Gray, Anthony Wolf, Jake Egan, Taylor “Mini-Shred” Watling and pros Brad Martin and Jeff Batchelor, (who are there to get some R and R within their crazy schedule of contests and pre-Olympic training). We’d all be spending the next 13 days together.

Here's Mini lugging his bags around at YYZ.

All said, it was a really normal, uneventful flight (except when Fulton, Price and I befriended the flight attendants and had an impromptu party with them in the back of the plane in the middle of the night flight, all because of Fulton’s gift of gab).

And here's Fulton and I making new friends. Don't let the look on my arm candy fool you. They did really love us.

And after a smooth trip through customs in Buenos Aires we gathered all our things and regrouped for short bus tour (the tour, not the bus) of the city’s main attractions for a leg stretch and few team photos…

Like this one. Left to right: Dave Sheridan, Brad Martin, Harrison Gray, Jeff Batchelor, Dez Price, Jake Egan, Taylor Watling, Jesse Fulton, Francis Mitchell, Anthony Wolf, and yours truly.

And, our tour guide didn't really point out the significance of any buildings, but this one looked official, so Alex snapped a shot. That's the Quilmes... er... Argentinian flag. Glorious, really.

Then we were boarding the aforementioned luxury long-hauler, complete with fully reclining seats, for our lengthy (to say lengthy here, really is an understatement) ride southwest to Bariloche.

It's a pretty badass bus, actually. Double-decker, with all the amenities of a plane.

Jake Egan and Mini just after the sun rises... (Note the lack of toothpaste on their foreheads.)

Francis (well, and Dave Sheridan, the other filmer) were really shooting everything they saw...

...Expect some sick sped-up time-lapse stuff on the show from this drive.

Then, after what seemed eons, we reach our destination, meeting up with Disney -- cameras blazing -- as soon as we arrive. Here's Francis chatting with the XD crew, who's based in Bueonos Aires. They all turn out to become good friends.

The constant rolling cameras are weird at first, but quickly become easy to get used to as we’re filming every step of the way for both the Shreducation show and Disney’s supplemental content. After a few takes at the bus stop, we’re in our rental vans (super high-quality Renaults... more on this issue later).

Ever heard of a Renault?

…and en route to our new home -- a luxury five-bedroom. 4,000-plus square foot house with views of the surrounding lake from every room. (See VIDEO below for more. seriously.)

Here's a close up view on our way to check it out...

And Disney XD is there to film the kids' reactions to it.

Thay actually had no idea we were staying in a place so awesome. Fulton and Francis had told them we'd be bunking up in hostels the whole trip. Reactions were priceless. It’ s also got a massive deck...

Which Batch is demonstrating here, along with the view, of course, with an outdoor Jacuzzi, and the clincher:

an indoor-outdoor pool in one of the big living rooms.

To say this place was incredible is just not doing it justice -- apparently, Francis knows what looks good on TV. We’d spend the next few hours getting settled into our new abode, before going out that evening to sample the two of best things about Argentina -- its meat and malbecs at one of Bariloche’ s best restaurants: El Boliche de Alberto. Beef is to Argentina, what oil is to Texas -- the stuff’s world famous here and when paired with the full, meaty malbecs the wine-producing region of Mendoza is famous for, it made for one of the best meals we’ve ever had (well, those of us who were of age, that is -- Coke and beef is probably tasty, but in this case, it was nice being old for once). While waiting for our table there, Gray and Wolf, decide to do some backflips off of a fence just outside...

...not realizing it bordered on the local military base, and after their second try, an soldier, armed with a badass rifle, came out of the shadows to tell them to stop or be shot on site (OK, maybe he didn’t exactly say that, but in our poor understanding of Spanish, it’s what we were convinced he said).

And minutes later we were at our table...

With our first sample of Argentinean cuisine.

... All grilled on a traditional wood-fired barbecue called a “parillo”; it’s the best beef we’ve ever tasted, and what we’d eat almost every day down there. Not bad for a first day (or two because of the bus ride) in Argentina...

Here's the Shreducation video of Fulton taking a tour through our new digs:

SHREDUCATION Cribz: Bariloche, Argentina from Francis Mitchell on Vimeo.

Next week's update: Shredding Cerro Catedral

And here's Shreducation's Fan Page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SHREDUCATION-TV/281912818433?ref=ts

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