Ski Chile 2023 vroom vroom

[PB]

NOICE!

[Huskydoc]

My contribution: 36 hours at VN. The vibe was legit, but in retrospect I'm kicking myself for not sending us to Bariloche and LL... Next time

[Casey E]

With Piuquenes running today, yesterdays dump kept on giving





This is what all the security was about yesterday



Traversed over to the ghost lift, Fabres



And got a last run in before the fog took over

[Casey E]

The GOPE was back looking for Tomàs Van Wersch, with dogs, but have had the weather to deal with, and found no trace of him.

[wordbird]

Just gonna do my best of Las Lenas photo dump here. The Mid August storm was insane and set up some amazing conditions. I got 3 Marte openings with fresh snow in the 10 days I stayed there. GOAT terrain for resort skiing!


i'll add some Bariloche photos later

[Norseman]

^ rad

[Scooter65]

this thread has been great

[hoarhey]

Las lenas getting buried like days of yore


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[hoarhey]

Nice to see La Parva and Portillo getting some late season love


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[Casey E]

I guess the scope of this this thread now officially includes Las Leñas. Good to hear, pics and tales are always welcome.

A lot of snow everywhere it seems, I hope the approaching storm for the south doesn’t have too high of a freezing level.

La Parva has great cover, with the typical places having slid.



Crossing to Manantiales





But fresh tracks were possible, in bad light

[Casey E]

Starting to get in the mood…

[Casey E]

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?s...00059199110290

[Casey E]

Corralco got the goods, wind and all.



https://www.facebook.com/10006965605...ibextid=cr9u03

[Casey E]

Don Otto makes its debut tomorrow, with single rides up to randonear too

[Casey E]

Portillo road opened, but I hear there are thousands of trucks (10k on the Argentine side), that have been piling up waiting to cross the Andes.

[Casey E]

In a snap of the fingers, winter switched to spring yesterday, starting with an overnight/early morning drizzle, then the afternoon sun hit and all was slush.

Some of the last tracks



The GOPE was out in force probing Falso Parva for the lost skier.



The clouds finally broke up and the cirrocumulus lenticularis lacunosus took over

[Casey E]

Icy snow and poor run maintenance made today not so good skiing







Ran into lion dog at the base of Alpha

[hoarhey]

Rough.

Friend stayed up at guardia vieja last night and said Portillo was firm in the am and starting to soften up


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[Sol Skier]

Really appreciate this reporting from S.A. Thank you.

[Casey E]

News from the south, scratch Chillan off lift service for the spring


https://fb.watch/naCdQsagUO/?mibextid=cr9u03

Too bad if it still looks like this





But Antillanca soldiers on



https://www.facebook.com/10006454483...ibextid=cr9u03

[TonyC]

News from the south, scratch Chillan off lift service for the spring

Does anyone know why Chillan is so incompetently operated? Yes I know most of the season sucked, but the smaller and even more remote Corralco and Antillanca are still running with the new snow.

I stand corrected on the comment about Don Otto not running this season, as it ran during this guided trip mid-August. https://www.skitalk.com/threads/2023...chillan.31281/ Conditions were low tide but manageable, not nearly as bad as farther north during that time.

[Casey E]

The rainfall to date, variances to last year and historical averages.



For some reason Temuco has a 28% deficit, which is strange, as Villarrica (which I gleaned from the web) has double the rain from last year, and even more than Valdivia. It is only 80km SE from Temuco. So there is a fairly wide range of deficits and excesses, making this almost a "normal" year, even if much was concentrated in two major events.

Although the last week has seen warm temps in the Central Zone, the sun hasn´t shone either. So the snowline is rising fast, and the north faces are getting bare, but there is still a lot of snow above 3,000m. Closing dates are Oct 1 for the meantime, as no new snow is on the horizon. BUT the Portillo road is closed again, cause "Complejo Los Libertadores se mantiene CERRADO por hoy 22.SEP debido a malas condiciones meteorológicas en sector argentino". Damned Argentinians....

The south is still receiving precipitation, and snow, with relatively low temps. The general situation is sogginess, and 4 days ago a mud/rock slide killed 3 and blocked the road to Argentina in Curarrehue.





I am heading to Villarrica to ski in a week, so we shall see.

[Casey E]

The lost skier in La Parva was found, skis on, buried below a ridge of Falso Parva. He was found after a 15 day search, by a team coordinated by the parents, not the GOPE.

https://www.theclinic.cl/2023/09/22/...squi-la-parva/

Lots to unpack in this story. For starters, the late timing of his climb up Falso Parva, with high winds, clouds, and blowing snow. See my post from Sept 7, when the weather went from bluebird and mostly calm, with 40cm of fresh, to howling winds and clouds, on my last run at 2:30pm. I think he was blown off the ridge. Tragic.



Tangentially, the current saga of funding problems for the “Cuerpo de Socorro Andino”, a professional volunteer mountain rescue crew, meant that the GOPE (“Grupo de Operaciones Policiales Especiales”, a kind of SWAT/rescue police) was in charge of the search.

https://socorroandinochile.cl/wp/

https://www.ladiscusion.cl/los-motiv...ocorro-andino/

I spoke to them and found that they were poorly informed and inexperienced in a winter mountain search.

[Casey E]

V Villarrica raised to Orange alert, shutting down the ski area for the season.





Clear tonight and I have been getting photos from a neighbor.



Schools out in Pucon, until further notice. An 8 km crater radius has been evacuated.

[Casey E]

A real shame Chillan is closing.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/865040...ibextid=0NULKw