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Thread: Ski Chile 2016

  1. #51
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    Nov 2003
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    Vallee Teton
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    2,586
    Thanks for the updates. La parva is so much fun in big snow years. Fun terrain to ski
    Aggressive in my own mind

  2. #52
    Join Date
    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    For backcountry enthusiasts, Slava shared these photos from last weekend in the Cajon del Maipo. He went up past Baños Morales, where an avalanche covered the road but was cleared by the Alto Maipo hydro guys, towards Baños Colina, and a lateral valley.

    The avalanche
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    Some nice looking terrain there:
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    He crossed the river on another avalanche runout, to access the lateral valley
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    And, probably pretty tuckered out, got his reward with a soak in the hotsprings and a moonlit ski out.
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  3. #53
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
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    No longer somewhere in Idaho
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    I loved the maipo. I could have spent my whole trip up there; great kayaking also. I may make it back this October. Thanks for serving up some fond memories with this thread.
    Gravity always wins...

  4. #54
    Join Date
    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    The Chilean weather service has done their monthly predictions for the current quarter, and expect below normal precipitation for most of the relevant regions. El Niño is about over and we are into a neutral phase, with about a 50% chance of La Niña starting before winter is over.

    The two big precipitation events of April and early June have provided an unusual snowpack around Santiago, especially above 3,000m, product of an intense high pressure system in the Patagonia which detoured storms north to the central zone. This also implies a lower snowpack for more southern ski areas, which have yet to open.

    The ongoing drought affecting Chile is well represented in this series of maps, where the high rainfall of the past 3 months (except May) and the last half of 2015 disappears as they go back to 48 months ago. The extreme south is in a severe drought at the moment, with 50%-80% deficits this year:

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    El Niño - La Niña projections
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    Here goes the JJA prediction by station
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  5. #55
    Join Date
    May 2016
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    15
    Correct me if I am wrong, but this seems like not such a bad outlook for the Santiago region regardless of the potential for lower precipitation in late winter months.

    La Nina years, although typically drier, are also typically colder; with a strong base around Santiago already, does this indicate potential for a solid base well into September?

  6. #56
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
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    4
    Planning a powder trip to Chile this winter? Check out FREERIDE MAP Chile for the best off-piste terrain and backcountry routes in and around La Parva, El Colorado and Valle Nevado: http://freeridemapchile.strikingly.com/

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    Last edited by mike83; 06-16-2016 at 05:11 PM.

  7. #57
    Join Date
    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duckpond View Post
    Correct me if I am wrong, but this seems like not such a bad outlook for the Santiago region regardless of the potential for lower precipitation in late winter months.

    La Nina years, although typically drier, are also typically colder; with a strong base around Santiago already, does this indicate potential for a solid base well into September?
    Considering the current base, the dryness of the air and that we are into the coolest 2 months of the year, even with below normal snowfall through to August, the skiing shouldn´t be bad. However a full month of sun, which can happen, will decimate the lower mountain base and most flat spots, leaving the upper mountain and more southern exposures reasonable. No more skiing north faces.

    The weather service predicts mostly normal highs and lows, with the exception of Santiago getting higher lows than normal.

    We seem to be going into a "Veranito de San Juan", or the San Juan little summer. San Juan is a saint celebrated near the winter solstice, and when the weather in last half of June is unusually warm and dry, people call it that. It also implies that winter will come roaring back after. Also used to describe a sick person or bad situation surprisingly looking better, before getting worse. No snow is forecast for the next 9 days.

  8. #58
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    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    2 weeks after the big snowfall, with only a few cm of fresh a week ago, the groomers continue to be superb. Get the long boards out boys, its Super-G cruising time! No rocks, but the lower mountain has a thin base.

    Meanwhile, the off piste is looking pretty ratty in general, in particular the typical windy spots, Here the contrast of a groomer on El Franciscano and the snaky railroad tracks from old powder turns:

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    The avalanche risk has probably diminished considerably, but some more blasting at the top of the Barros Negros run, probably the inbounds highest risk area of La Parva from those cornices, brought this down:

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    The current dry high pressure system and temperature inversions have deteriorated the central valley air quality, with extra vehicle restrictions in Santiago, and a critical situation in Temuco (wood smoke):

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    Yellow is not good, Red is serious, and Purple is "Emergency". Temuco is not a good place to be, neither is western Santiago.

  9. #59
    Join Date
    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    Got another good LP groomer day in, and took a couple of panorama shots from the Fabres lift:

    The view riding the Fabres chair, left to right: mid mountain 3,100 restaurant, La Parva ridge and upper lifts, Fabres chair and the Cono in Colorado:
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    The view from the top of Fabres, left to right: The top of Valle Nevado's Andes Express and Los Pioneros of Colorado, Valle Olimpico, the Valle Nevado hotels and apartment blocks, and Cono Este and El Cono of Colorado:
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  10. #60
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    Nov 2003
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    none
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    Any reports from Portillo's opener?

  11. #61
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    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shredhead View Post
    Any reports from Portillo's opener?
    Just what the website says, 1 meter base at the hotel, 80cm at the bottom, all lifts open.

  12. #62
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    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    Here is the ski area data sheet, updated with the latest prices. Only the first five areas are operative, the southern ones have no opening dates confirmed yet due to the drought, the opposite of what happened last year.

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    A real lift is any lift that has more than 100m vertical. T is triple Chair, and Q is Quad. There is only one high speed chairlift in Chile, the Andes Express at Valle Nevado. Many runs are only accessed by surface lifts, including platters, t-bars, and va et vient (Portillo).

    And these are the ski area links in the same order:

    http://www.skiportillo.com/
    http://www.skiarpa.com/
    http://www.vallenevado.com/
    http://www.elcolorado.cl/
    http://www.laparva.cl/
    http://www.nevadosdechillan.com/
    http://www.skiantuco.cl/
    http://www.corralco.com/
    http://www.skiaraucarias.cl/
    http://www.skipucon.cl/
    http://www.antillanca.cl/
    http://www.volcanosorno.com

    Often the best up to date conditions info is on each areas facebook page. In general, don't expect good info on snow conditions on these websites, when it exists, sometimes it is hard to find, and others it is outdated or incorrect. Usually the most reliable are Portillo, Valle Nevado, and Corralco. Also, if you get lucky, you can find special pricing somewhere on these pages (certain local credit cards, Telco promos (if you buy a plan with 3G you can get some discounts mainly midweek), "2x1" days, etc.).

    Avoid the two middle weeks of July, which is the kids winter holiday, as it is quite expensive and crowded. "High season" prices go from July to mid/early August in general, then just weekends, except for Sept 17-19 (National Independence holidays).

    A bit of stoke for those headed to Portillo, they published this photo June 24:
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  13. #63
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    11
    Que tal skiers!
    I'll be in Chile from July 1 - 21, and I'll be guiding at Ski Arpa these next weekends. Let me know if you'd like to come up to shred with us and take part in one of the most unique, rustic, beautiful ski experiences around. I'm also working with a local guide on a heli-supported camping+ ski touring trip. There are still a couple of spaces available for that, hit me up if you're interested. I'll be back in Chile in mid-August and have some other other guided backcountry skiing packages available through local company WhiteWorld. This will be my 11th season skiing in Chile and I'm super stoked to share my love of the Andes. You can get ahold of me directly at facebook.com/drewtabke.

    Arpa last year: Acongagua sees all!

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  14. #64
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
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    73
    Spent the weekend camping in Cajón del Maipo!
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    Attached Images Attached Images  

  15. #65
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    Nov 2003
    Location
    Vallee Teton
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    2,586
    looking pretty...
    never skied there, but drove way up that road in late September 2002, aka massive snow year
    that place is so sick
    thanks for sharing
    Aggressive in my own mind

  16. #66
    Join Date
    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    Quote Originally Posted by P.A.B.C. View Post
    Spent the weekend camping in Cajón del Maipo!
    Great shots of Cerro Arenas. Looks like you got to the top, well done! The forecast is for temperatures to drop and some snow will fall this weekend. 4 weeks after the big storm, and some too-warm-days, this is certainly welcome. The Southern areas continue with no opening dates.

  17. #67
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    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    After 2 days of heavy clouds and fog, only 2 cm of fluff fell. It did freshen the runs though, and there was even a bitsy bit of powder, which together with fantastic groomers and bright sunshine, made for a fun day. Snow making is saving the lower mountain base, and the top 2/3 are in great shape. The offpiste is weathering smoother and the wind buffs were skiable with a nice dusting.
    A solid overall snowpack at the top:
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    Spot the tracks here:

  18. #68
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    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    The grooming in La Parva this year deserves applause, with almost no new snow in over a month, the runs are perfect packed powder. The ski school on Las Flores:

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    Ditto for the snow making, lots of cannons pumping it out and keeping the lower mountain in perfect shape. Here the lowest lift, Manzanito, from close to the exit from my apartment:

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    As for the snow prospects, snow forecast is once again optimistic, mainly for the central zone. I think this is exaggerated as usual, but lets hope not:

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  19. #69
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    Jan 2006
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    Vanity Fair
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    Cool Maipo camping shots!

    Casey, where is that air pollution map from? The wood fires in inversions are brutal. I updated my plots of the monthly precipitation data that they publish here to include winter 2015. The cerro Calán station had a dry winter, just like the previous years, although august was wet (which saved the ski season I suppose). Temuco was wetter than average and Punta Arenas had a super wet winter (record breaking if one wants to believe the data). I also plotted the ONI values given here with monthly precip anomalies. ONI above 0.5 is warm ENSO, i.e. el Niño. under -0.5 is la Niña. It wasn't very enlightening.

    May-September precip anomalies at C. Calán


    and Punta Arenas


    Contour plot monthly precip Temuco


    Monthly precip anomalies at C Calán and ONI for Niño 3.4 region. ONI curve ends May 2016, I fucked up the date scale.


    Same as scatter plot, red dots are winter months (May-Sept), blue is rest of year.




    More plots here.
    Ich bitte dich nur, weck mich nicht.

  20. #70
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    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    Quote Originally Posted by klar View Post
    Cool Maipo camping shots!

    Casey, where is that air pollution map from? The wood fires in inversions are brutal. I updated my plots of the monthly precipitation data that they publish here to include winter 2015. The cerro Calán station had a dry winter, just like the previous years, although august was wet (which saved the ski season I suppose). Temuco was wetter than average and Punta Arenas had a super wet winter (record breaking if one wants to believe the data).
    The online air pollution map is at http://sinca.mma.gob.cl/. It is green mostly everywhere now from recent rainfalls.

    Note that Santiagos average rainfall (Cerro Calan in your analysis), is about 60% greater on the east side (Central Andes foothills) than the west side (airport). Also, the rainfall within a year can have widely different variances between stations, and this year for example, the east has a +52% surplus, while the west and center have only 15%. This generally means the mountains have a disproportionate amount of snow at higher elevations than would be expected from center/east readings. Cerro Calan is in the west.

    It has started snowing again both in the central zone and the south. 30cm in the 3 valleys, and 68cm in Portillo, lots of wind. More is forecast for tomorrow.

    Corralco opened today with a thin base, but looks nice:

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    Chillan opens thursday. The other volcanoes are starting to look good too:

    Callaqui south face:
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    Llaima east face:
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  21. #71
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    Sep 2015
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    Crested Butte
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    3
    Thanks for the updates. Headed out there Aug 8th to do some riding. Thinking of using Farellones as a base camp for a few days and then moving where the snow is.

  22. #72
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    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    So Portillo got 48cm and the 3 Valleys 25cm. High winds for most of the snowfall, but it ended without wind.

  23. #73
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    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    The base in Portillo is better than normal: Plateau (top 3,310m) 219 cm, Juncalillo (base 2,548m) 159 cm.

    This photo from the La Parva facebook page shows the Fabres lift with the effect of the wind, good for snowboarding!

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  24. #74
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    May 2014
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    Santiago Chile
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    Got a bluebird day in La Parva, and took stock of the weeks snowfall. High winds ripped the snow off spots on the upper mountain, and produced some instability on the steepest pitches. I was told the Chimenea slid, but I couldn't see evidence of it. There were some sweet spots, mostly on the lower mountain.

    Windy spot, the biggest slide was on the upper right:

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    Old footprints at the top of Las Aguilas:
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    A closer look at the siide, not sure if it was natural or triggered by the ski patrol. It looked natural.
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    A sweet spot:
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    The Portillo road opened today.

  25. #75
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    29
    The road indeed did open! It's quite the ordeal to ski in Chile. PABC and I made it happen though. Great conditions the entire weekend. Here's PABC sending our first line of many.

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