How'd the eclipse go?!
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How'd the eclipse go?!
Well here is a teaser, trip report later
We were approved to enter this “high altitude” vineyard near Alcohuaz where grapes are stressed to an extreme to make premium wines
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The pre-eclipse action at 2,200m
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On the dark side
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Spot the UFO (well maybe...)
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It's been a slow start here in Portillo, but we're keeping ourselves entertained.
The eclipse was a big hit. Not in the path of totality, but close. Some clouds and a sunset made it even more dramatic.
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A few days later some Guanacos decided 2pm was the perfect time to cross through the resort. I'm not sure animals migrating upvalley are a good sign for storms, but the were cool to watch.
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I came back this year more for the science and practice than the skiing. Luckily there is enough snow to be interesting.
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[QUOTE=Mike Pow;5648430] Sweet. Spent winters from 1982-1988 inFarrellones/El Colorado. Super deep winters and a great time to be a teenager. Do you remember Pepo from the ski school? Or Nando the Spanish Mountaineer? Nando took me touring all over what is now Valle Nevado.
Life did not suck. Best days of my life. Yellow Patrol with a lift was our ride.
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Corralco is in pretty good condition for early season. Wind and heat do their thing, but the base is definitely there. When you see those little Araucarias get buried, you know it is a great year.
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Time for the Elqui Eclipse trip report.
I kinda got lured into the upper Elqui valley for the eclipse many months ago, and later regretted booking early, as the mountains weren't the best place to see the eclipse, even if the sky would be clearest. But it was fun to travel to this little parallel universe for a few days.
The Elqui valley is a legendary land of the Diaguitas tribe which was then populated by farmers, miners, and herders in the early days of the Spanish occupation. Its extraordinarily clear skies, clean water, benign climate, electromagnetic vibes, history, and a sense of respectable anarchy all combine to make it very different from the many other mountain valleys here.
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Every hippie and his dog has some kind of eccentric eclectic esoterica going on up here
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Including these
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Therapeutic massages abound
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All those tourists, including hoards of hitchhiking backpackers, had to figure out where to see the eclipse, which reached totality at 16:38 and 13° Azimuth, over the soaring mountains of the front range of the Andes. Our calculations were good enough to be able to see it up at 2,200m, but it still set not long after totality, into a 3,500m peak.
We parked at 1pm and hoofed it up a small knoll to a flat spot with some old rock pircas around.
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I couldn't help looking for a line up there, but alas....
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The moment of totality initiation
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Totality as good as I could get it
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It lasted less than the time that airplane took to cross the sky
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Just as our eyes were adjusting to the light, the edge of the sun peaked out again
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And it was gone, time to pack up.
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The temp dropped about 4°C around totality and never recovered. One of the coolest things was watching the partial sun as a hot chiseled dagger set into that mountain, but no photo was possible there.
A couple of gopro timelapse videos can be seen here
http://bit.ly/totalityeclipse2019Alcohuaz
http://bit.ly/eclipsein32seconds
The camera apparently adjusted for the lower light so the changes in light are not as pronounced as they actually were.
The night sky was shocking.
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I am now better prepared for the 14/12/2020 eclipse! Pray for skies as clear as Elqui....
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Hey Casey, I can't seem to DM you either. Can you whatsapp me? +15098689148.
We will be in Santiago on the 12th!
-Cory
Winter holidays for the schools are here and snowmaking and moving is the name of the game. The 3 Valleys have perhaps half of their runs and 2/3 of the lifts open, patches of mud and rocks, and a higher rate of accidents than usual. As you can imagine, the runs that are open are mostly green ones. The worst sign is that I haven’t skied in La Parva yet this year, and my first renters just backed out. As long as it doesn’t get hot, they may make it through the first week, but the second is iffy in my opinion. While something may be lurking on the +7 day horizon, it is too far away to contribute to decision making.
Go south.
As usual, great thread Casey!
Just booked my flights, as I will be spending a week in Puerto Varas mid-August. Really looking forward to skiing the local volcanoes; Osorno for sure and maybe Antillanca.
Does anybody have any rental car recommendations? I'll be flying in and out of Puerto Montt.
It's snowing in Portllio!
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Been pretty quiet here...even the local fauna are a bit bored
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Supposed to have our first week with a full hotel starting tomorrow. Hopefully people keep their heads on a swivel! The snowmaking has been nothing short of miraculous for Portillo.
I haven't rented there but in Temuco I have had good experience with different ones at the airport, Avis was the last. All big chains seem to work good here.
Snow forecast is showing a suspicious hockey stick effect
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Surest thing there is continued precipitation in the Araucania, where I will be headed soon...
Current precipitation deficits, north to south
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I wanted to jump on this thread and see if anybody is doing some skiing in Argentina.
Looks like Las Lenas is still lacking decent snow (like it has for the past couple of years it seems)
Cerro Catedral looks to be set up for a big storm this week and some locals say it's skiing decently well for this time of year.
Chillan blew again last night, the flow going down the north side, here is a good video of it
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https://mobile.twitter.com/Sernageom...58480074297344
“NEVADOS DE CHILLÁN!! Informamos que en Volcán #NevadosdeChillan se produjo explosión asociada a registro de señal sísmica. Hubo incandescencia asociada a emisión de gases y material piroclástico, depositado en el área cercana al cráter activo. Se mantiene alerta técnica Naranjo. pic.twitter.com/xo2QTLXxpT— Sernageomin (@Sernageomin) July 14, 2019 “
Seems the probability of an eruption is growing.
Yes. Very very lucky!
Not sure Guanacos feeding in the entrance to Garganta is a good sign, but they are fun to watch...
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Wow, they are scarce, and usually very skittish around people.
Time for some Chilean lexicon. Guanacos are known for spitting as a defense mechanism. They are quite aggressive spitters, as I can attest to.
Now, the Carabineros station these water cannon trucks whenever protests, programmed or not, happen. On the occasions they do go into action, they "spit" ferociously, soaking and sometimes dumping the rowdy protesters. Thus, they are known locally as Guanacos. I stumbled upon this one the other day, when a striking teachers march was scheduled. It was getting a drink.
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Went to LP yesterday for our gear, this is what it looks like
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Didn’t ski.
Yes, he stayed at my house after breaking that record. It was the time spent at altitude record. Basically camped on the summit for two months.
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Greetings - Completely ignrant of what Valle Nevado is all about, but suddenly had a business trip scheduled to Valpariaso, so on a whim booked 4 nights at "Loma del Viento" which is supposed to be about 2.5 miles from the area with superb food.
Any G2 on this place, or anywhere to recommend for a low stress few days of skiing in August ay Valle Nevado?
Ahh yes. I was in Las Lenas for the Santa Rosa that year. Vulcano got taken out by an Avi that bent a tower or 2. Marte ran for maybe 2.5 or 3.5 days.
Was also there in '95 which also had a huge dump of a couple meters. Marte didn't open in the 7 to 10 days I was there. That year skied Portillo, hitched up to the 3 valleys a few times, and Chillan while studying in Santiago.
This thread brings back great memories! Hope to get back again someday. Likely w/ Mini Comish sometime.
An alert is in effect for the south, which is getting more rain this week than Santiago has had all year. With 50-80mm falling where we are now (Araucania precordillera), on top of Wednesday’s drenching, you can see why rubber boots are required gear around here. Our muddy last 200m access might be better if it froze a bit, something that could occur, as the temp here at 300m altitude is only 3C, and will be going below zero.
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Our bus to Bariloche was cancelled today, pulled into a hotel in Santiago.
We have a bus to Mendoza tomorrow booked as backup - but trying to gauge our options.
1. Go to Mendoza tomorrow (if we can get through the pass) and either head to Bariloche from there, or, try for Las Lenas.
2. Go south to Osorno and try for antillanca.
Any other ideas? Recommendations?