Ski Chile 2015

[Casey E]

A quick update on the current 3 Valleys conditions.

Warm weather the past few days, plus occasional high winds above 3,100m, are taking their toll on the the snow quality in the central zone. It is not going below zero C, even at night. In relative terms, say to the poor NE USA folks, there is still excellent skiing to be had, but not as good as it was just a few days ago. Racers, which are descending like a plague on the ski areas, like it because the more exposed runs get harder.

So, 11 days after the last significant snowfall, a new snowfall is needed to spruce things up. One is forecast for next Tuesday, but forecasts being what they are.....

Last Thursday was a good day in La Parva, even if it started out looking ugly, with an unexpected flurry that roared in from the north:


Old man weather couldn't make up his mind, with the wind blowing from the north, then south, then down, then up, and and the clouds rolling around. Just enough snow fell to freshen the runs a bit, as the wind blew it into the troughs where most of the runs are in La Parva, and the sun came out for the most part. It was also fun riding the pomas through the bit of powder:


The classic early morning down wind on Las Vegas:


The wind going every which way on Piuquenes:


And to top it off, the sunset spectacle of clouds like slow motion waves over Santiago:


On a clearer day, Santiago can look like this:

[P.A.B.C.]

Skied the super C couloir yesterday. Although the snow in portillo as a whole was pretty much ice, the couloir still had some pow.

We took way longer than normal to climb up (I'm not going to give any numbers!), and the famous sketchy traverse section was far scarier than I expected. Nevertheless, it was totally worth it and I want to do it again soon. Unfortunately, I didnt take any pictures...

[skiandgolfnut]

portillo is all ice? after all of that snow? even after the sun hits?

I am headed there thursday and am disappointed to hear that. oh well, hope for the best!

[P.A.B.C.]

portillo is all ice? after all of that snow? even after the sun hits?

I am headed there thursday and am disappointed to hear that. oh well, hope for the best!

I think it probably gets slushy when the sun hits, but it may have rained a little, so the bit I skied in the area was not amazing. Its supposed to snow tomorrow, so the conditions may be pretty good when you get here!

[Beder]

I call it typical spring skiing. Freeze thaw cycle. Sunday was great. Today took until after 1 to soften. Good skiing on Garganta and Lake Run.
Sorry PABC but this isn't ice. I'm on the red Moments if you want to fight about it.
;-)

[Casey E]

I call it typical spring skiing. Freeze thaw cycle. Sunday was great. Today took until after 1 to soften. Good skiing on Garganta and Lake Run.
Sorry PABC but this isn't ice. I'm on the red Moments if you want to fight about it.
;-)

Definitely not ice in La Parva. We skied the groomers yesterday which were beyond superb, above 3,000m, which means you still get up to 500m vertical in. The higher altitude of La Parva, plus the varied exposures, means the freeze/thaw only affects the lower and most north exposed runs, so far. Note that few runs were groomed, and racers were hacking them early in the morning, actually heading up the Manantiales lift before dawn.

Here, the wind scoured aspect at the top of Piuquenes:



Off piste, the best bets are wind pack at higher altitudes. Some ridgelines have lee side chalky hard pack which is fun double fall line skiing, with the risk of an occasional break through the hard crust.

[Speedfreak]

Try this company, they quoted $120 SCL to La Parva:
Víctor Inostroza S.
Transfertour Ltda.
Transporte Privado de Pasajeros
VIAJE TRANQUILO Y SEGURO
Teléfono: (+562 ) 23110734
Celular: (+56 9) 95323721
contacto@transfertour.cl
http://transfertour.c

Skivan quoted the same.

Thanks dude, they got me here no problem and a hell of a lot cheaper. I considered renting but it seemed like a bit of a PIA at the time...now I'm not so sure. Flexibility would've been nice. Oh well, next time.

If anyone is around VN the next few days (25-28) I'll be rolling around in a smurf blue Norrona shell and a gray Sweet helmet. Then off to Portillo for a few more days. Stalefish - I'd have loved to join you but I head back to Santiago on the 2nd. Have fun!

[Casey E]

I have a petition to make, then an invitation.

Avalanche and snow pit info is non-existent in Chile, mainly because few people know how to do it (myself included) and fewer share it. I asked the La Parva Ski patrol if they had any relative training, and they do not. They know the basics of using ARVA and searches, but that is as far as they get. The bosses set explosives on the ridge when they feel it is warranted, and just post the same blanket avalanche warning every time it snows significantly. While avi danger is relatively low in the 3 Valleys area, it does exist on the La Parva ridge, and in particular in Santa Teresa.

SO, is anyone in Chile or coming to Chile with avalanche expertise, that would be willing to impart some basic instruction? I would be most interested in giving them the skills to evaluate avalanche danger, do snow pits, and publish the results. For a start, we could use this forum or another specific one for information, and just see who is doing what and what sort of info there is out there.

From my side, I would be willing to offer a couple nights lodging in La Parva to the right person, and maybe the ski patrol or ski area admin would provide some other "facilities" (lift tickets?).

PM me if you can help in any way with this just cause!!

[thommy21]

Casey- Thanks for all the great info you've been providing. Heading down to VN with my GF on Friday staying through the 4th. We booked a while ago and glad to see there will be some snow for us. We looking grim there for a while. Planning on flying with Third Edge on Mon and Tues. So far the weather looks in our favor to get out there. Looking forward to my first SA trip. Will send you a PM on thoughts about avalanche instruction.

Speedfreak- Looks like we will be rolling in just as you are rolling out.

[Casey E]

Now for the invitation to a full moon ski!



Any takers must be prepared to withstand cold and high winds, contribute with consumables (firewood or others), and be able to ski down at La Parva at night. The venue is either the col above the Piuquenes lift or the top of the Franciscano peak (3,700m) accessed from Las Tortolas lift. The illumination provided by the moon is plenty enough to ski, but you have to wait a while for the moon to be high enough, thus the firewood. Snow shovels and saws are useful tools for building a shelter or maybe even some ephemeral artwork. Foamies or cardboard or ? are handy too.




The date is open for now, as the moon will be full from Aug 28 to 30, but Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 look good in the forecast.

Any takers?

[Speedfreak]

Damn, I'm just missing all the fun shit! Thommy - I'll be skiing the 28th til about 2:30, so if you get here early and are out on the hill keep an eye out.

Nice little refresh today but the viz was intermittently ok to downright terrible. Hoping for some sun in the am.

[Casey E]

It has cooled down a bit in the 3 Valleys, but the freezing level is set to rise again Sat/Sun to around 4,000m. In spite of all the clouds around in recent days, no real snow has fallen in over 2 weeks, and the snow is hardening.

This means either you ski the most recently groomed run possible, or go looking for bits of off piste like lower slopes that aren't too hacked up and get warm enough to soften, or those snaking drift lines where the wind packs the snow smooth and chalky.

Skied VN from LP yesterday and had a fun day in spite of a lack of grooming. I try to avoid bashing ski areas, but some constructive criticism is needed. VN has three exposures:

One is mainly served by the Andes Express chair and is a large bowl with mostly southern exposure, full of Brazilians on the easier lower slopes. This is what you see in most of the photos from Valle Nevado. Several other minor lifts serve the lower parts of the bowl. There was only one run off the top that was groomed, leaving the rest mostly hardpack with bits that were too hard to really get an edge.

The most challenging part is the very top:


The half-pipe-like gully that runs below the chair was loads of fun to ski:


This continues right down to the lowest lift, more or less, but exiting where the cat track crosses to the left was advisable, and takes you to a little poma with a snowpark that was groomed and also fun to ski the sidelines of.

Off the back of the Andes Express is a long slope which faces mostly E and NE, with 1 small chair, 2 pomas, and one t-bar. This gets the sun and the north winds. There was one run groomed leading off the Andes Express, and one on the Las Ballicas poma. The rest was all un-groomed. From the Ancla you get this view of the Cerro La Parva bowl:


Looked like things were mostly hard or crusty in the bowl. The run off the back of the Falso Parva to the left, "La Lengua" (out of view), is a nice 400m vertical drop on a wind packed tongue of snow. It is probably pretty good chalky snow right now, but note it is best to go above the cornice there.

The Tres Puntas poma is the highest lift in Chile, and has the most vertical of the VN lifts. It faces west and opens a up whole different mountain, with terrain which extends up towards the Cerro La Parva to the north and bottoms out at the Embalse chair to the south. There were no runs groomed there either. However, there were some good windpack lines off the runs, in particular between the poma and the Shake run. The view is always inspiring at the top, with La Leonera (5,000m) and El Plomo (5,400m) standing out:



To show the good and bad of the current off piste, here are two photos from La Parva:

The Muela run on Las Tortolas was good solid windpack:


Above the top of El Descenso, the soft snow was blown away leaving old tracks raised up, not much fun to ski:

[Casey E]

The full moon approaches. Watch the sunset Macarena warm up video here:

http://bit.ly/fullmoonwarmup

[mountainluke]

Thanks for posting all the condition updates. I had a trip to Brazil planned and being so close to Chile I thought, why not put the mountain collective pass to good use and add a stop in Valle Nevado. I'm flying in on the 8th of September and I'll be there for 5 days. Who's around? Who wants to meet on the slopes and more importantly who's interested in going off the slopes (depending on conditions of course). I'll bring my touring setup and have my avy 1 cert. Would be great to meet up with some of you guys!

[WMD]

I'm gong to be in Chile at the end of Sept/beginning of Oct and have a few days to ski. Where shield I go? I'm leaning towards Chillan but anywhere near Santiago would be easy as would Osorno. Suggestions?

[Casey E]

I'm gong to be in Chile at the end of Sept/beginning of Oct and have a few days to ski. Where shield I go? I'm leaning towards Chillan but anywhere near Santiago would be easy as would Osorno. Suggestions?

Mountainluke and WMD. Conditions here are deteriorating and there is no new snow on the radar. There will still be ok groomer skiing, but the backcountry is weathered. For end of Sept/beginning of Oct, unless there have been recent snowfalls in the central zone, La Parva and Portillo will probably be closed and VN and EC may be partially open. Corralco and Antillanca will probably be open and all the volcanoes will be skiable. Chillan will probably be closed. I plan to be skiing right until the snow ends, but not sure where for any specific dates, except the week of 18/09 La Parva, then again around Sept 25.

Now for some local lore with the "Santa Rosa Storm"., which saves the day for the ski areas in September:

"The Santa Rosa Storm occurs in the Southern Hemisphere up to five days earlier than or five days later than the festival of Santa Rosa of Lima, Perú, celebrated on August 30 each year.

Legend has it that Isabel Flores de Oliva, a.k.a. Rosa de Lima, caused a mighty storm which prevented Dutch pirates from attacking the city of Lima in 1615." Wikipedia

You may hear references to this around here, but it looks Santa Rosa is on holidays....

[covert]

Legend has it that Isabel Flores de Oliva, a.k.a. Rosa de Lima, caused a mighty storm which prevented Dutch pirates from attacking the city of Lima in 1615.[/B]"

buen beta!

[Casey E]

Some Apres Ski action in La Parva:



Note the dirty snow on the Las Flores ridge, product of gale force winds last night.

[maskinut]

Had a good week in Chile hitting the 3 Valleys and Portillo. I got there after the big storm but too long after for any good snow inbounds. I'll post a trip report later but the highlight was a trip up and down Super C in Portillo. That is a legit line that feels like Alaska. I put a quick video together. I left a long section on the traverse as lot of people were curous about the condition of it.

[Beder]

Got hot today in Portillo. Slope high above Caracara slid. Primavera went. Others out along lake slid. A good day to leave.

[Mike Pow]

Great vid. Conditons looked primo.

Great memories. Thanks.

[Casey E]

Had a good week in Chile hitting the 3 Valleys and Portillo. I got there after the big storm but too long after for any good snow inbounds. I'll post a trip report later but the highlight was a trip up and down Super C in Portillo. That is a legit line that feels like Alaska. I put a quick video together. I left a long section on the traverse as lot of people were curous about the condition of it.

Nice video, what date was that?

Chile is in the grip of a heat wave. There is a mega high pressure system stuck on the southern cone this week which will take the freezing level above 4,000m in the central zone and well over 3,000m in southern Chile.



The low last night in La Parva was +9°C, and meteo.cl is saying the highs in the central valley this week could hit +30C. Plus there were jet stream winds on the upper half of the ski area from Thursday to Saturday. Bad news for off piste and conditions in general. Today was great groomer cruising though, once it softened up a bit, with the racers getting in some nice downhill runs up until about 2 pm.

Dirty snow on Las Flores:


Racers getting about 30m of air time on the Pared:

[Casey E]

Maybe time for some SURF?

Store your parkas and get out your wetsuits! Surf is rad year round in Chile, with different spots all along the central/south coast. These are some between Santiago and Chillan, along the "Ruta del Mar" coast:

Puertecillo -


Pichilemu, or Punta de Lobos -



Buchupureo -



Also cool and reasonably priced places to stay, like this one above Punta de Lobos (Conviento de Lobos)-


Or this one a short walk from the breakers in Buchupureo (Mirador de Magdalena) -

[Casey E]

I made the best of the metamorphosing snow in La Parva last weekend, after days of blasting winds and clouds. On Saturday, the low light was partly compensated by the dirty snow off piste, so you could see something while picking out the windpack lines amidst fields of hacked and tortured snow. Sunday the sun came out and everything looked so much better!

I decided to make a first effort at piecing together skiing videos from Saturday and Sunday, with some timely Chilean music to accompany it (September is the "Mes de Fiestas Patrias", or "Month of National Celebrations"), First half is ugly ugly as they would say here, but the second half is much nicer...

Check it out here:
http://bit.ly/laparvatorturedsnow

Saturday


Sunday

[stalefish3169]

Finally made it to Portillo for my first Southern Hemisphere turns today! The terrain/visuals are definitely epic and there are great spring conditions right now, but I'm not sure how long the base is gonna hold up. There were lots of people skiing in t-shirts today.