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Thread: Ski Chile 2015
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07-21-2015, 08:07 PM #101Gel-powered Tech bindings
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Although your PNW summer ski scene this season must be historically bad, still plenty of good skiing: today we skied a single descent of nearly 4,000' continuous vertical of mainly pretty decent snow conditions ... although then we had a loooong return hike.
Pics here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...e=3&uploaded=7Mo' skimo here: NE Rando Race Series
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07-22-2015, 09:34 AM #102
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07-23-2015, 05:33 PM #103
The good thing about the central Andes is that the altitude and extreme dryness facilitates the preservation of the snow quality. So when La Parva packed a new run at 3,500m, it was great packed powder skiing, 11 days after the last snowfall:
We also did a low altitude snowshoe/backcountry ski excursion to Manantiales, for something to do, weaving between the rocks, and even got a few powder turns in:
Last edited by Casey E; 07-23-2015 at 06:14 PM.
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07-24-2015, 03:47 PM #104P.A.B.C.
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Portillo and Chillan
From Thursday to Monday of last week I managed to escape my coastal city to go skiing.
On the first day of my trip we toured around Portillo. The conditions were excellent, with a pow run and a soft crud run, both leading to Portillo's beautiful Laguna del Inca. There were rocks, but they weren't really a factor.
After staying in the cabin of a Chilean mountain club, we spent Friday near Portillo getting the truck stuck, and losing an iPhone 6 in the process of digging it out. The first five attachments are from the Portillo part of my week.
After Portillo, I decided to go to Chillan with one of the others in our group. We drove through the night and arrived in Chillan Saturday morning. In Chillan we slept in the van and toured for three days. The snow was good as well and we climbed/skied 97% of Volcan Chillan Nuevo, which is the last attached photo (where you might be able to see some tracks). After skiing I hitchhiked back to town and took an overnight bus back to my city, arriving just in time for a meeting at the office. The last five photos were taken in Chillan.
Here is a pretty terrible gopro video (the last two minutes are especially bad) just to show what it was like if anybody is interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF3xXbrg69M
Also, if anybody is looking for ski touring partners in Chile, let me know!!
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07-25-2015, 01:16 AM #105
Nice! The dog in the pick up obviously thinks he's king of the world
Ich bitte dich nur, weck mich nicht.
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07-26-2015, 08:56 AM #106
Good trip report Paolo! Were you trying to drive into the Parque Andino Juncal? This is a nice area if you can get into it, I have hiked to the massive Juncal icefall in the summer, there must be good touring near the trail head, or the lateral valleys east towards Argentina. How much snow was there in Chillan (base/top)?
Looks like the South Pacific high pressure system is thwarting the storms in the forecast, detouring them south. My snow-forecast page, which goes north to south, shows this, as well as the impact of the high freezing level. It now incorporates the equivalent latitude Argentinean resorts for the last 4 Chilean resorts. Once again the TGR JPEG upload is not working right....
Bottom forecast:
Top forecast:
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07-26-2015, 12:14 PM #107P.A.B.C.
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Thanks. I wrote it up in the office, so I didnt really have time to explain everything. We got the truck stuck trying to access Cajón del Peńón, which is right before Cajón Ojos de Agua, which is the valley before Portillo. It was definitely not a good choice to go up that road since there was a lot of snow and it was pretty steep and narrow.
Maybe sometime soon Ill try to enter Parque Andino Juncal to go skiing. There seems to be some good stuff in there. I have been looking at Cerro Alto de la Posada for a while, which I think is right next to the entrance and is a pretty aesthetic mountain that could be skiable under the right conditions.
Regarding the snow depth in Chillan, we dug a snowpit in Shangri-la, which is in between Las Trancas and Nevados de Chillan, and hit the ground at a depth of 70cm. Additionally, on our last day skiing I found myself descending a sketchy creek area near the bottom of the ski center. The water was completely open and flowing. Nevertheless, after escaping the creek I skied through a path in the woods near the base and I didnt hit any ski-destroying rocks or logs. Up top, I am not sure how much snow there was, but it seemed to be a fairly substantial snowpack, as we were skiing off-piste and were not hitting rocks.
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07-26-2015, 03:57 PM #108
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07-26-2015, 04:24 PM #109Registered User
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Anyone down around Temuco? Condition reports. Looking to pull the trigger on a ticket in the next few days.
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07-26-2015, 09:26 PM #110
I am in Chillan, and driving north to catch my flight out of Santiago tomorrow.
On Friday I did a sled trip up Villarica-Pucon with the crew from Andesnow. Lots of snow, with an unfortunate rain/freeze crust. Sun came out long enough to have some decent turns. Tried to splitboard to the crater, but lack of crampons and my first time splitting nixed that part. Still had a great time.
Saturday I wanted to hit Corralco on the way up to Chillan city, but lack of sleep caught up to me, so I had to skip Corralco. Word is they also have lots of snow, and unlike Pucon, the lifts are running this year.
Today I went to Nevados de Chillan. Only the bottom half of the mountain was open due to high winds. Thin cover, needs several more feet of snow to put the trees in play. Which of course, should be falling now. I skinned up to near the top of Wenche, but extreme wind and ice forced me to call it a day.
Overall, definitely glad I went to Villarica-Pucon, and wish I woulda gone to Corralco and found a cheap hostal instead of getting sleep for a weak day at NdC. All in all, Chile has been great and I will be back. I'll try and post some pics. ..
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07-28-2015, 10:33 AM #111
So if Chillan is reasonable for snow, but could use more, Corralco is still loaded with an average 2m base, in spite of recent rain. Antillanca looks fun here https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=73&v=Gv_QQfAG_ZY, but Osorno has been getting too much rain (photo attached). Other photos attached are from La Parva yesterday, where the clouds were the protagonists, some guys got some bouldering in, and the sunset was epic. No new snow though....
Last edited by Casey E; 07-28-2015 at 03:09 PM.
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07-28-2015, 05:11 PM #112
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07-29-2015, 03:09 AM #113
Plot update to include precip up to May/June 2015 if available and up to winter 2014 otherwise. Monthly precipitation in mm.
Anomalies with respect to 1980-2010 mean:
Ich bitte dich nur, weck mich nicht.
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07-29-2015, 12:48 PM #114
Great info Klar. According to the 30 year average, there is about a 1 in 3 chance of August and September being above average precipitation for both Santiago and Temuco. If doesn´t happen in Santiago (snow-forecast is still predicting heavy snowfalls 3-9 days here), I will be heading south, and have already booked in for a week in Villarrica early Sept. Although the 3 km crater radius no-go zone is still in effect, and the ski area is closed, there are other places to tour not too far away (Quetrupillan, Lanin, south side of Sollipulli), and Paolo seems to have a good time on Villarrica in spite of the ban.
For some more stoke for the Lonquimay area, here is a very recent drone video flying over the town and environs after a nice snowfall blanketed the valley ("Chile con otros ojos").
/https://vimeo.com/134640477?from=outro-embed
And for the geologically inclined, here is a documentary from 1988/9 of the birth of the Navidad crater on the northeast flank of the Lonquimay Volcano (spanish). This shows how the lava flow spread 10km down the valley, in a wall 35m high, trashing the forest and rivers on its way, and the ashfall contaminated fields and water sources. Life is hard for most of the herder/farmers in the area and this obviously made it much harder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frwWkVPJSok
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07-29-2015, 06:32 PM #115
Valle Navado starting Friday the 7th
Me and a couple of guys of us are flying down to ski Valle Navado starting Friday for a few days. Not spending enough time to head further south. The conditions look bleak ; do you think next week's dump might save the day? Or should we try Portillo as Plan B? We'd have to eat some VN reservation money, but the base looks much better at Portillo.
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07-29-2015, 09:12 PM #116
No action shots, but some pretty pictures from Villarica-Pucon on July 24th.
Sunrise:
Looking down to Lago Villarica and the city of Pucon:
Towards the crater:
Taxi!
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07-30-2015, 03:18 AM #117Mike Pow
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07-30-2015, 05:30 AM #118
If this is your first time down and you arrive Aug 6, give Valle Nevado a shot. You can always go up to the Ancla lift and tour or walk up to Cerro La Parva, I have seem tracks in the bowl which +- keeps the snow base. The hot tub is nice as is the food and the Brazilians should keep the party going. Worst case, bail out and go to Portillo for the day, it would probably not be that much better, but it is worth a trip. Supoosed to snow tonight and I am going up to LP tomorrow, so stay tuned.
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07-30-2015, 05:32 AM #119
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07-30-2015, 03:29 PM #120
ThreeRidges:
Portillo is skiing better than the 3 Valleys but you'd get bored there after a day or two. La Parva is skiing a little better than VN. I'd stick with VN and hope we get some snow this coming week. There are some ok turns to be had on the hike that Casey mentions. You could always go heli-skiing from VN...
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07-30-2015, 11:20 PM #121
Fingers crossed. I am headed to Santiago on 8/13 and going to chase the snow wherever it is for 8 days. How is the heli in VN as a backup plan if snow levels are low....
live the life.
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07-31-2015, 07:44 AM #122
Well it snowed all of 4 cm in LP last night, and 8 cm in Portillo. Valle Nevado looks nicer than it really is:
Lots of runs closed, same as La Parva. The forecast is for more light snow and cloudiness over the next few days. Last year, snow-forecast underestimated the the snowfalls, this year they are being overestimated. To be really good, I figure at least about 100cm within a week would be necessary. To be reasonable, at least for the groomers, another 50 is needed. Only time will tell.
As it stands, I would not recommend dumping money on heliski. The base is pretty much the same at all altitudes above 3,000m, thin. Just where there has been major drifting, like La Lengua in La Parva, will you find a meter or more, and that will be wind pack, and narrow.
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07-31-2015, 07:48 AM #123
Thanks for all the advice. Looks like VN got a few inches last night, and has a potential dump the end of next week, so we'll probably hang in there. Casey, really appreciate all your on-the-ground updates.
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07-31-2015, 09:06 AM #124
Had two weeks planned... but.. injury...
Originally Posted by blurred
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07-31-2015, 10:37 AM #125Registered User
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