Ski Chile 2021

[Casey E]

The dangers of a major eruption include the entire valley of the ski town (lower left).



This is detail from a great map of the dangers here

https://www.sernageomin.cl/wp-conten...de_Chillan.pdf

[Casey E]

Yup, the Pacific is neutral for the foreseeable future...

Synopsis: La Niña has ended, with ENSO-neutral likely to continue through the Northern Hemisphere summer (67% chance in June-August 2021).

https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/produc...ensodisc.shtml

Who knows when the season will start, zippo on the horizon at any latitude.

[Casey E]

Maybe this will start things off



A local perspective of the 3 mountain passes going south, near Portillo, Laguna del Maule, and Lonquimay



For now, the Maule pass is open, as the snow has yet to accumulate at the lake level.



This precipitation should help dissipate the smoke haze that envelopes the urban areas of the central valley at this time of year. Santiago had it´s first "pre-emergencia" on monday.

Todays map



https://sinca.mma.gob.cl/

Chile is trying to ween folks off of wood stoves and heaters, but it is a long haul.

[Casey E]

Big election last Sunday. Mayors, City councils, Governors, and most importantly, the 155 Constitutional Convention members, who will write the new constitution proposal to be voted on next year. A godawful load of paper...





43% of eligible voters actually made it to the urns. So the result was a shunning of traditional political parties with dozens of never-heard-of-them independents getting elected (mostly left leaning, including communists). Depending on how you calculate it, almost half of the reps will not be from more traditional parties. People with no experience whatsoever in constitutional debate will attempt to write a constitution from scratch. Making history at the end of the world.

Gender parity was reached at almost 50/50, and indigenous peoples were assigned 17 seats (11%), including AIMARA (2 seats), ATACAMEÑO, CHANGO, COLLA, DIAGUITA, KAWASHKAR, MAPUCHE (7 seats), QUECHUA, and RAPANUI (Easter Island). Some indigenous reps were elected with less than 100 votes. Only 23% of the total indigenous population voted, for less than 5% of the total number of votes.

Interesting times. I hope the street violence and snarky politics calm down now, and a rational discussion ensues. Yesterday, the dollar went up 3%, and the stock market fell 9%.

[altasnob]

Fascinating. Thanks for the updates on both skiing and politics down there.

[Casey E]

This is the list of the constituents that will write the constitution, by profession. Mostly professionals, of which the biggest groups are lawyers and teachers, but also quite a diverse assortment in the "other" category, including activists, actors, matrons, a medicine woman, a chess player, a scuba diver, ex-marine, veterinarian, and so on. Massive social experiment...

61 Abogadas/os
20 Profesores
8 Egresadas/os o Licenciadas/os de derecho
6 Activistas
6 Periodistas
4 Trabajadoras sociales
4 Administradores públicos
3 Psicólogas/os
3 Ingenieros civiles
3 Ingenieros comerciales
2 Sociólogas/os
2 Médicas/os
2 Diseñadores
2 Actores
2 Administradores de empresas
2 Ingenieros
2 Matronas
1 Machi
1 Dueña de casa
1 Científica
1 Ajedrecista
1 Asistente de párvulo
1 Buzo
1 Ingeniero agrónomo
1 Contador
1 Cientista político
1 Bioingeniera
1 Ingeniero civil ambiental
1 ExAlcalde
1 ExMarino
1 Licenciada en filosofía
1 Odontóloga
1 Veterinaria
1 Arquitecto
1 Empresaria
1 Economista
1 Diseñadora de vestuario
1 Geógrafa
1 Licenciada en Historia
1 Mecánico automotriz
1 Gestor cultural

https://www.elperiodista.cl/2021/05/...onstituyentes/

[Casey E]

It has begun, and will end at the morn

[Casey E]

What a difference a day makes

[Casey E]

What a day for a daydream, in quarantine. Vitacura, Santiago, and l-r the cerros Provincia, San Ramón and Punta Damas.



A tightrope-type ride, canal on one side and a prickly plunge on the other, with unusual urban art

[Casey E]

Nice time lapse video of volcán Villarrica smoldering thru the night

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPIl2X6F..._web_copy_link

[hoarhey]

What a difference a day makes

Cono este liking nice!


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[hoarhey]

What a difference a day makes

Cono este looking nice!


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Casey E]

V Callaqui today


And Chillan has been pretty rowdy the last few days, incandescent and the north side already snowless

[Casey E]

A couple more shots from Santiago on Friday.

El Plomo with one of the higher homes in Lo Curro district in the foreground.


El Colorado and Farellones, with more of Lo Curro



The weekend was in quarantine, but weekdays are not. No overnight lodging is allowed in second homes, as this part of Santiago is in stage 2 (most of the rest is stage 1, lockdown). More on the pandemic coming up.

For an extensive kml file of Chilean peaks and routes for google earth, check out
https://www.andeshandbook.org/home/c...a_google_earth

32mb...

[Casey E]

The pandemia is taking a strange turn. 50% of adults have now had 2 doses, probably 45% now 2 weeks out from the second (which is the defined threshold for max protection). The age group being vaccinated with the first dose this week are 25-30 year old's. BUT, there is currently a third wave forming, with cases up from the early May drop after the second wave peaked in April.



ICU beds are up slightly now too.



https://www.gob.cl/coronavirus/cifrasoficiales/#datos

They keep saying the vaccinations are working in keeping 2-dosers out of the hospital, which I suppose is reflected in the rising proportion of under-50's in the ICU (from 19% in the first wave to 43% now, of which 21% are under 40). ICU beds are steady at about 3,000. Apparently there are still older folks in the ICU that entered back in March when the roll-out really took off.

So the re-opening is going slower than expected, but it is happening, even in comunas with 200+ cases /100,000. Quarantine fatigue is taking its toll. The phases are:



And Santiago, where 40% of Chileans live, looks like this:



For comparison, the Araucanía map



https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories...1cfbd707db2810

The latest announcement allows the 2 dosers + 2 weeks to travel between regions in phase 2 (before it was phase 3 for everyone), and greater mobility in phase 1. Border closure measures were extended to June 15.

[Talisman]

Do you happen to know which vaccines are being distributed in Chile? The efficacy of some vaccines like Sinopharm aren't as high as Sputnik V, Pfizer and Moderna.

I enjoy reading your posts on Chile and some of the articles in Spanish help me with remembering verb tenses.

[Casey E]

Do you happen to know which vaccines are being distributed in Chile? The efficacy of some vaccines like Sinopharm aren't as high as Sputnik V, Pfizer and Moderna.

I enjoy reading your posts on Chile and some of the articles in Spanish help me with remembering verb tenses.

So far, about 82% Sinovac and 18% Pfizer, with AstraZeneca now being distributed and Sinopharm ad portas.

[Casey E]

Eclipse tonight, 2 degrees above the horizon at dawn.




https://www.shadowandsubstance.com/

Full moon is blinding right now...

[Casey E]

So the "pase de movilidad" polemic continues, and we strayed above the fray to La Parva, to lodge for the first time in over a year. Permitted, just starting at 5am today. The eclipse was awesome.





Unfortunately, it faded into the dawn








The runs look inviting, but way too many rocks lurking

[Casey E]

Yes, there are tracks in that photo.

And yes work has begun, with the snow guns out.

[Casey E]

Nice to see some reactivation in Farellones.

Rentals are starting, even if there is really nowhere to ski



"Parque Farellones", a snow-oriented entertainment complex where we used to crush the cliffs on the left



$US20 to get in, but only the chair was running for round trips. It`s a start...

The school is open, sort of



La Parva looks nice from the road up



Alas, the snow is melting and there is only a few cm of wet stuff on the horizon. South faces above 3,000m will keep their snow tho.

[Casey E]

At least it is snowing in the tropics, well, above 3,000m

Nieve, anegamientos y pasos fronterizos cerrados deja sistema frontal en Calama y varias localidades

https://www.emol.com/noticias/Nacion...al-Calama.html

https://tv.emol.com/detail/202105281...as-localidades

[Casey E]

If you liked those eclipse shots, and want some extraordinary stimulus to get out and enjoy nature, this is a good place to start.

https://www.facebook.com/roberto.antezana.92

Roberto is an astronomer based in Cerro Calan, Santiago, who frequently goes way out of his way to get “just that shot”.

Like Saturn rising above Cerro Provincia, 21 years in the planning.



Or the Aconcagua at night with thunderstorms, from 5,400m.



Or the recent eclipse

[llyon]

Placing any bets on when the border will open for tourism, Casey? Looks like they pushed it till June 15 for now.

https://cl.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/world.php

[Casey E]

As mentioned above, the border closure was recently extended to June 15. Given the record levels of cases in Chile and other countries nearby (Argentina is even worse), I would think that date could be extended again.

The vaccines are working, but hospitals in Santiago are 98% full.

““Así, según las cifras que exhibió el Ministerio de Salud, el 86% de los hospitalizados UCI no ha completado su esquema de vacunas (que hayan transcurrido 14 días desde la segunda dosis), mientras que el 63% no se ha vacunado. Así, de las 5.471.728 personas de la población objetivo no vacunadas, 3,38% contrajo Covid, 0,32% se hospitalizó, 0,11% ingresó a una UCI y 0,05% falleció. En comparación, de las 4.173.574 personas con las dos dosis, 0,29% contrajo Covid, 0,03% se hospitalizó, 0,008% ingresó a una UCI y 0,009% murió.”

“Según los cálculos de la autoridad, los no vacunados caen hospitalizados 3,23 veces más, 3,57 veces más ingresan a una UCI y 4,54 veces más mueren. “

"Por tercer día consecutivo, Chile registró este sábado sobre los 8.000 nuevos casos de cor..."
https://kiosco.latercera.com/reader/...021-la-tercera