Ski Chile 2021

[byates1]

always enjoy this thread every NA summer!

[Casey E]

Could be a downturn forming there.



Unfortunately, the toll of this final fling may delay the opening of borders.

[Casey E]

I have tried to find a good location in the Araucanía for the yr weather forecast, and came up with https://www.yr.no/en/forecast/daily-...rro%20Colorado

Cerro Colorado is a sub cone on V Llaima´s south west flank, at 1,790m. It looked like this 3 years ago



L-R Llaima, Pichillaima, and Cerro Colorado



Llaima is the most western of the ring of volcanos in the region, and gets most clobbered. Rain too.

Looks like a good end to June is coming to the Cerro.

[Casey E]

Here is an interesting initiative just outside of Santiago. A 142,000 hectare park is being proposed in perhaps the most remote part of the Region Metropolitana, a scant 32km from eastern Santiago (in a straight line, but a 1.5 hour drive to El Alfalfal, the end of the open road).

https://queremosparque.cl/



A long route out of El Alfalfal towards Farellones. Go visit the officers by rank.



Route in Andes Handbook https://www.andeshandbook.org/montan...tan_del_Quempo

A view looking north along the Continental divide from a Stgo-BA flight, with the upper left peaks included in the park, crowned by Volcan Tupungato (6.500m). Most of the ice in this picture is in Argentina.



But there are still 18,000 ha of ice in 300 glaciers (many rock covered) in the Olivares/Colorado watershed just north of the Cajon del Maipo.

Some hiking in there





You can sign a petition for the park here https://queremosparque.cl/petitorio/

My oldest son appreciates the wonders of these high Andes

[Casey E]

Big storm in the south.



The north will have to wait for opening. But this week may do it for the south.

Too bad the infection rates are still peaking in much of the area, and travel is off the books for the most part. Rates are 200-600 active cases per 100.000.

From Chillan at the top (Pinto), to Pucon in the south (Villarrrica), there are mostly phases 1 or 2.



The same stretch in technicolor 6 hour snowfall for late thursday

[Casey E]

Several warnings out there for northern and southern Chile (no central, darn):



Another way to look at the current two funnels of precipitation (and snow!) at the latitude of Tropic of Cancer (Zona Norte or Antofagasta in the map) and the Araucanía (Temuco), is





Islas Juan Fernandez in that forecast above gets at lot of rain for being at the same latitude as Santiago. Now there is a adventurous place for youse, the Alejandro Selkirk and Robinson Crusoe islands that are included in the Juan Fernandez group.

https://goo.gl/maps/2gXijk2YdqJ1cyV38

Lots of vertical on those islands, no roads, but seafood heaven with abundant lobster, crab and fish. Just a 3 hour flight from Santiago, to the scariest landing strip I have been on (before Lukla, Nepal, imagine!). When we went, the trip was sunny and not too rough the whole way up to our approach, when we could see dark clouds hanging over the Yunque peak at the inhabited end of the teardrop island. Pretty soon raindrops were hitting the windshield of our rickety little plane carrying my pregnant wife and two kids (and 2 other passengers).

As we headed towards the "low" narrow part of the island where the landing strip is, the wind picked up, the pilot gunned it, and we swooped just over the dirt runway with a convenient incline at the end, then out over cliffs with a raging sea crashing on the rocks below. One loop around the tip imaging an impossible plan B, and the pilot announces "we have enough fuel for this last try, and then we have to head back to the continent". God is great, as we landed, fully using the incline to slow down, then skidding back to the airport shack where an ancient jeep awaited to transport us down to our final mode of transport, a "transbordador". That rain turned the dirt to slippery clay and we slithered down several switchbacks to the dock. Welcome to the island!

But we still had a one hour ocean segment to get to town, which of course provoked some rude expulsions from other passengers. Finally, our ocean side lodging awaited us with lobster empanadas and cool white wine, and all was forgotten (well, not according to my wife as I am frequently reminded). A week of trekking, swimming, boating, and fishing awaited with nary a vehicule is sight.

[hoarhey]

Is that the island where Felipe Camiroaga (chilean celebrity) and others died in a plane crash as well?

[skideeppow]

Story in the WSJ today about South America imploding with COVID. Civil unrest in Chile. What are you seeing down there Casey?

[Casey E]

Is that the island where Felipe Camiroaga (chilean celebrity) and others died in a plane crash as well?

Yes it is and the air force plane crashed into the sea somewhere near the photo I posted, and 21 people died. A submerged iphone eventually helped lead them to the remains of the plane, which was blown into the sea by high winds . It was to be a mediatic trip to tell the story of the island's recovery from the devastating 2010 tsunami, with a TV crew, and leaders of a reconstruction charity. They went down coming around on their third attempt at landing, without enough fuel to return. The story is similar to mine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_C...ce_C-212_crash

Tragedy upon tragedy.

On the tsunami, the 2:30am 8.8 earthquake just off the coast of central Chile was not felt on the island, and communications were down, but within a few hours, the wave hit while the village was sleeping. Another incredible story therein.

"On February 27, 2010, at least eight people lost their lives when a tsunami caused by the Chilean 8.8 earthquake hit the island and inundated the town. Most of the buildings in the community were destroyed.[4] The disaster could have been worse if not for a timely warning from a 12-year-old girl named Martina Maturana which saved many of her neighbors from harm."

16 (of 700 inhabitants) died in the end, and the tsunami went on to hit Hawaii and Japan.

[Casey E]

Well, civil unrest was the name of the game in many parts of LA before the pandemia, and Chile was one of the worst. It flares up here now occasionally even with quarantines.

Deaths on Our World in Data are pretty bad compared to other parts of the world, and continue to be bad. Peru takes the cake, although reporting is weak across the region.



The situation is even worse than that graph shows, as undercounting for various reasons results in excess deaths showing the real picture, at least for the first five in this chart.



Selected data from the Economist



With the winter in full swing in the southern hemisphere, all of the south american countries are experiencing serious surges, the worst being Argentina.

[Casey E]

Snowing now, could be 15-20cm today and more on Friday.

[jummo]

It's good to see it snowing there. Sadly, we just canceled our trip to Portillo for this August. We rolled it forward to next year. When we finally get to go again it will be on our booking from 2019. There was no snow that year and they were kind enough to let us take a credit for the next year and then the COVID hit and we've lost two years.
We have had the good fortune of skiing in Chile and Argentina quite a few times at several different places and always have an incredible time.
Hasta proxima ano!

jummo

[Casey E]

Better luck next year!

This snowfall was short lived. But the full moon at least brought a change in the weather, which it often does. Late last night in Valle Nevado:



15cm or so. Tomorrow could get a dump which might permit a limited opening. If such a thing were possible in quarantine. …



That map goes from Ski Arpa in the north to Puma Lodge in the south.

Some of the lesser known ski areas and "places" on snow forecast.

https://www.skiarpa.com/gallery/

https://www.skilagunillas.cl/

https://chapaverde.cl/web/quienes-somos/mapa-de-pistas/

https://www.noihotels.com/noi-puma-l...al-attractions

Looks like Puma Lodge is no longer mainly a heliski lodge. Bad snow years and pandemia?

https://youtu.be/-47Kh1e2SAM

Also a bit off the radar now is Alto del Padre.

[Beder]

It's good to see it snowing there. Sadly, we just canceled our trip to Portillo for this August. We rolled it forward to next year. When we finally get to go again it will be on our booking from 2019. There was no snow that year and they were kind enough to let us take a credit for the next year and then the COVID hit and we've lost two years.
We have had the good fortune of skiing in Chile and Argentina quite a few times at several different places and always have an incredible time.
Hasta proxima ano!

jummo

I'm in the same spot. Booked in 2019, took a credit, then covid.
I will say Portillo is doing the best they can. They offered a refund last summer, or the option to take a 10% discount towards this year. They must be hurting financially, as are the hundreds of employees. So I will go this August, as long as Chile opens and the snow is at least decent.

[Casey E]

Border restrictions were extended to July 15, and stricter controls are being implemented due to the first case of Delta being detected.

On the other hand, cases continue to fall and some loosening up is coming. Even in the comunas where cases are still high, the govt is moving into phase 2, as after some 90 days of quarantine the cases haven’t fallen. As of June 29, most of the comunas in Stgo will be in phase 2. Other changes in strategy will be coming.

https://www.emol.com/noticias/Nacion...-24-junio.html

[Casey E]

This means we can ski in the Farellones area in July.

[Casey E]

Profesor Eduardo’s pronóstico for today

[Casey E]

Colorado, as is its wont to do, is the first to announce "pre-opening", citing phase 2 rules with Pase Movilidad.

Al pasar Lo Barnechea a fase 2, abriremos en un modo de pre-apertura esta semana, donde estaremos pediremos tu Pase de Movilidad. Además, contaremos arriba con ciertos protocolos como toma de temperatura, uso de mascarilla, dispensadores de alcohol gel, entre otros.

[Casey E]

Not to be outdone, out of the gate is Corralco, June 29.

[Casey E]

Perhaps 30-40cm fell in total

Thursday


Saturday and the rebels are out

[Casey E]

Sunset in Stgo, Cerró San Ramon




Chillan put up a moon shot from last night.

[Casey E]

El Franciscano in La Parva, run prepping



V Callaqui today



Add Valle Nevado to the oferta, matching Colorados June 30 for opening.



La Parva hasn’t committed to a date yet.

Neither has Portillo, which may have gotten a bit less snow.

[Casey E]

Seems the base is not quite enough on the lower runs in La Parva, which is delaying opening to July 5, while they make more snow.

[Casey E]

Cono este was skied already

[Casey E]

Villarrica Pucón appears ready to open



But with 300-400 cases per 100k currently, they cannot give a date yet. Disclaimer- the chair on the left never runs.

Meanwhile, Chillan puffs away.