El Avalanchisto

The Dirtbag Diaries

Duct Tape Then Beer

Sports, Wilderness

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2015

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Matt McKee first heard about the position forecasting avalanches for Minera Pimenton, a gold mine in the Chilean Andes, it sounded like the snow geek's dream job. But, mere hours after his plane touched down in Santiago, Matt started getting hints that maybe he had walked into a situation that more closely resembled a nightmare: a den of avalanche paths, a mine full of workers who didn't believe in avalanches and a country that looked for someone to blame if things went wrong. Today, we bring you Matt's story of trying to make it out alive.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I was lucky every other teenage kid. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
0:07.0	When I was 16 years old, I took off and drove across the country to Wyoming.
0:12.0	Went into the Wind River Range and discovered mountains.
0:15.0	In 1973, Yvonne Chinard founded Patagonia.
0:20.0	I never wanted to be a businessman. All I wanted to do was do my craft and climb mountains.
0:30.0	So then I had to figure out a way to where I was going to be a businessman, but I was going to do it completely on my own terms.
0:40.0	Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
0:48.0	Join us at Patagonia.com
0:52.0	You're listening to The Dirt Bag Diaries, a production of Duck Tape Then Beer, with additional support from New Belgium Brewing and Kuat Racks.
1:09.0	The first thing you say to me is, oh you're going to f*** me and I go, why?
1:15.0	You know, what's up? You're like, you're going to hate me for getting me into this.
1:20.0	Like, for bringing me down here, you're going to hate me for bringing me here.
1:24.0	And that's just like the hell of a thing to hear the first second you need to need to need a boss.
1:29.0	This is Matt McKee. It was May of 2005 when he found himself sitting for the first time, across from a man named Glenn.
1:36.0	This was his new boss. Matt was in San Diego, Chile.
1:41.0	In 12 hours, they would drive to Manera Pimintone, a gold mine tucked deep within the Chilean Andes, where Matt planned to spend the next four to five months.
1:50.0	And I start to, that's the first inkling of like, what I get myself into.
1:57.0	Now, I've never, I've never had a job in another country. I've never had my boss tell me the first time I met him that I'm going to hate him for tricking me into working for them.
2:05.0	But I can relate to Matt's feeling as someone who's basically made a career of getting in over his head and figuring out how to make it work.
2:11.0	I experienced total panic at least once a month, maybe twice.
2:15.0	And I hate that about my job. But when it's all said and done, I also kind of know that that's what makes my job special.
2:22.0	Basically, this is type three fun for your career.
	...

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