I arose early in Santiago to check out the partial solar eclipse. There was a solid cloud deck over the Andes to the east, but as we were leaving the hotel the sun got above the clouds. We stopped a few minutes to view the 25% eclipsed sun through solar shades.
When we got on the hill at 10:30AM the clouds were just breaking up so the snow was hardpacked. The only direct east facing area for morning corn at Valle Nevado is the 800 vertical Las Ballicas poma lift. In spring conditions you are mostly confined to groomers, but there are many of them with decent standard of grooming. Best is probably the 2,000 vertical El Sol (misleading, mostly faces south on the west perimeter of the area) from the top of Andes Express to the Prado base. The lower portion of this had good corn midday and early afternoon. The highest Tres Puntas poma has good afternoon cruising once it softens.
Off piste skiing is limited due mostly to lift placement. There are canyons on either side of the area but no lifts to bring you back. Thus the allure of the El Colorado to VN road with shuttle pickup. I met a father and son late Sept. 11, and for our last run we skied the natural gully that twists and turns for about 1,000 vertical from the middle of Andes Express to a couple hundred feet above the Prado base. VN has a terrain park, but the long natural pipe is much better when the snow softens.
The past 3 dry weeks have not been kind to VN/LP/EC skiing. Some potential off-piste has burned off or has thin/rotten snow. The groomers are all fine now, but some spots get resurfaced every night. Continued warm weather will result in more limited skiing by the end of the month. At lower latitude the sun effect here is like Sierra or Colorado a couple of weeks later in the season. In terms of both snow and lack of crowds it has the feel of first of April up north.
When we got on the hill at 10:30AM the clouds were just breaking up so the snow was hardpacked. The only direct east facing area for morning corn at Valle Nevado is the 800 vertical Las Ballicas poma lift. In spring conditions you are mostly confined to groomers, but there are many of them with decent standard of grooming. Best is probably the 2,000 vertical El Sol (misleading, mostly faces south on the west perimeter of the area) from the top of Andes Express to the Prado base. The lower portion of this had good corn midday and early afternoon. The highest Tres Puntas poma has good afternoon cruising once it softens.
Off piste skiing is limited due mostly to lift placement. There are canyons on either side of the area but no lifts to bring you back. Thus the allure of the El Colorado to VN road with shuttle pickup. I met a father and son late Sept. 11, and for our last run we skied the natural gully that twists and turns for about 1,000 vertical from the middle of Andes Express to a couple hundred feet above the Prado base. VN has a terrain park, but the long natural pipe is much better when the snow softens.
The past 3 dry weeks have not been kind to VN/LP/EC skiing. Some potential off-piste has burned off or has thin/rotten snow. The groomers are all fine now, but some spots get resurfaced every night. Continued warm weather will result in more limited skiing by the end of the month. At lower latitude the sun effect here is like Sierra or Colorado a couple of weeks later in the season. In terms of both snow and lack of crowds it has the feel of first of April up north.
:roll: