Chilean Adventure (the novel- Part 2) Aug/Sep 07

[Patrick]

Agosto 31:

El Colorado and some turns at La Parva

Different day with the same morning routine. The only difference was that I needed to get all my gear out of the room. Unfortunately it’s pretty hard to find stuff when the roommates from the lower bunk has scattered her stuff next to the bed and all over my own stuff. Had to sort through her pants, shirt and bra to find a missing sock.


The Bellavista Camp transportation to the ski areas was with a bus today, not a van. I guess that the demand is greater on Fridays and weekends. Another difference was the delays in leaving Santiago. It wasn’t until 8:30am that people were done renting skis and clothes and were ready to leave. The next delay was at the “mandatory” stop at the convenience store. Driver mentioned 5-10 minutes, unfortunately some people are never in a hurry. To make matters worse, once back on the road and climbing up to the mountains, traffic was backup because a tracker-trailer. Fortunately the driver was aggressive and we eventually were able to takeover the twenty cars and the van in-front of us.

Everyone on the bus were going to Valle Nevado, except for myself. The driver had told me in Santiago, or tried to tell me that he was going to dropped me off in Farellones instead of El Colorado and continue on to Valle Nevado. I wasn’t going to frustrate passengers on the bus by having to wait after me, so I was getting ready and putting my boots in the last few shape curve on that road. Once the bus stopped, I was ready got my skis and left everything in the bus. See here you at 5:30!!! I don’t think the driver was 100% sure I understood.

 

[Patrick]

Farellones is a junction in the road and the non-resort place to stay when you don’t want to stay in the resorts of Valle Nevado, El Colorado or La Parva. Farrellones has a tiny hill with lifts that is connected to the greater El Colorado about 300 meters higher. El Colorado is a volcanic cone, from the base on the West Face (ski area’s main side), the runs get steeper the higher you get. The bottom half is the face which is about 200m is served by a few lifts and is pretty much green land (easy runs). The top 300m are red runs (intermediate) with a very regular slope and was very popular for different race camps. Terrain doesn’t really change regardless which line you choose on the West Face, what else I can say, it’s a cone. After a few runs on hard frozen granular next the different courses, I moved on to the steeper East Face. Definitely more Springish surfaces, although still frozen for the first few runs. After that I started looking at the other face. There are some nice runs plus a nice face of ungroomed terrain further down along the Condor chair, unfortunately that lift wasn’t running.

Moved to Cono Este side of the mountain. This side of the cone has steeper runs in bounds; the most interesting stuff would be lower out of bounds and skiing toward the road to Valle Nevado. It was not going to happen today for myself; I was skiing solo and had the clock in mind. After one run on the steeper corn side of Cono Este. It was close to noon as I took back the t-bar to the top, I decided that I’d better look into skiing toward La Parva before the 2pm rendez-vous time I had set with Andy. I saw a group of skiers, one of them had BRO skis, I said to myself that they were probably Americans and could maybe confirm the way to get to La Parva. I was able to talk to one of them, but he wasn’t sure. The connection between El Colorado and La Parva isn’t marked and easy like the ones from Valle Nevado. Fortunately, someone was able to confirm the connection and inform me that they wasn’t any terrain traps.

The connection in through a fairly unmarked open and relatively flat traverse behind at the base of the other side of the Cone, terrain that had a few knolls or ridge and small gully (creek bed). Snow coverage was okay, but the base wasn’t very far in some places. I had to remove the ski for cross a snow less ridge then look to make sure I would connect with the La Parva.

At the bottom of La Parva lift, I had to try to figure out if they had many combo lift ticket with El Colorado or sold half days or something. This was harder to do when the lady at the ticket booth only understood Spanish and my Spanish wasn’t good enough in order. Ended up having to buy another day ticket for La Parva.

It was already 12:30 and I had 90 minutes to get back at the bottom of Cono Este t-bar for the rendez-vous spot I had set with Andy. Did a quick look at the map to figure out what I could do? I took 5 lifts and skied 300 meters vertical to reach the place where I could crossover. This took me 90 minutes. Conditions were great corn, mountain definitely seems to have a better variety than El Colorado, unfortunately I didn’t want have to much time to explore.

At 13:15, I was staring at where I wanted to go. I wasn’t sure how to get there, eventually crossover into Valle Nevado trail network always stayed on skiers’ right all the way skied the 600m vertical to the bottom of Cono Este without requiring another lift and going a long traverse. This connection was easy than anticipated and arrived 30 minutes ahead of time. Decided to eat my lunch here and wait to see if Andy would show up.

 

[Patrick]

After 30 minutes, it was 2pm and Andy wasn’t there. I decided to ski a few runs on this lift, which was okay because this was the best part of the mountain, the face was nice and corny Someone had the slide for life by falling off the very steep top of the T-bar, this girl really scared herself and slide a long way.

After 2:30 I headed toward the next rendez-vous spot #2 which was a nice on mountain restaurant like the ones that can be found in the Alps (and the Andes apparently). Meet Andy and Brendan just before 3pm meeting time. They just started skiing at 2:30. I was actually amazed that they made it, having just arrived at the airport a few hours earlier. Headed back to Cono Este and ski the steeps with Andy and Brendan. After a few run, we went back to that same restaurant for a refueling break. We finished off on the front face and skied through the terrain park for our last run toward the car.

The adventure is moving further South, but that is going to be another day. 8)

 

[Tony Crocker]

If you're skiing for a few days, this [Farellones] is a better option than Santiago.

Your description of the bus ride clinches that impression, for sure.

rendez-vous spot #2 which was a nice on mountain restaurant like the ones that can be found in the Alps (and the Andes apparently).

From your map, is that marked D by the Cornisa T-bar at El Colorado? I don't remember a restaurant in that area, but I was skiing Cornisa in a fog bank .

I was not impressed at all with on-mountain food at Valle Nevado and La Parva. Tio Bob at Portillo and Santa Fe at Las Lenas are good, and Cima at Las Lenas is better.

But the on-mountain restaurants at Verbier, Courmayeur and Serre Chevalier are in a completely different league.

Nice navigation job considering the timing and the rendezvous. From the the pic at the bottom of Farellones, I see traverse tracks coming in from the right below the cliffs. Can you go OB skier's right from Cono Este and make it around to Farellones via a long traverse? That's probably a question for Geoff, but it would make El Colorado a lot more attractive to experts if that's possible.

=D> =D> =D> to skibum4ever for lighting a fire under Patrick and getting these reports resumed.

 

[Geoff]

Nice navigation job considering the timing and the rendezvous. From the the pic at the bottom of Farellones, I see traverse tracks coming in from the right below the cliffs. Can you go OB skier's right from Cono Este and make it around to Farellones via a long traverse? That's probably a question for Geoff, but it would make El Colorado a lot more attractive to experts if that's possible.

I've skied that a number of times but I've always stopped at the Valle Nevado access road. I've stayed at Valle Nevado and never had a reason to ski any lower. It's tough enough to find a driver to pick you up and there's big competition if you are trying to hitchhike.

 

[Patrick]

rendez-vous spot #2 which was a nice on mountain restaurant like the ones that can be found in the Alps (and the Andes apparently).

From your map, is that marked D by the Cornisa T-bar at El Colorado? I don't remember a restaurant in that area, but I was skiing Cornisa in a fog bank .

If you notice, I skied my 15th passed the based on the Cornisa T-bar to continue on toward the restaurant at the base of the Triple (C). Run #16 is the same as run #4 of graph/map.

From the the pic at the bottom of Farellones, I see traverse tracks coming in from the right below the cliffs. Can you go OB skier's right from Cono Este and make it around to Farellones via a long traverse?

No, that cat track wasn't that long. I believe that the cat track might extends only to the area below the Condor lift. I think I saw a lift or two (rope tows) lower down. Farrellones had a few beginner lifts, they biggest lift was the one connecting with the base of El Colorado.

 

[Patrick]

Agosto 31 - Après-ski :

El Colorado to ???

So I was finally able to tag up with Andy and Brendan at El Colorado, so I didn’t need take the bus back down to Santiago and THEN hoped that they could find my Hostal and rendez-vous spot #3 in Downtown Santiago.

Back at Andy’s car, I started wondering how the hell we could fit everything in this rental for our voyage. The car was already packed with 5 pairs of skis and their gear. :shock: :shock: :shock: Mine was still in the Hostel down in Santiago. After struggling to fit on the backseat with my ski boots on, the car wouldn’t start. :x :x #-o The battery was dead and we needed to get to Farrellones to recuperate my things like my shoes that I left on the bus. The pickup time was 5:30, it was currently something like 5:27. [-o< [-o< We pushed the car back on the road and down. Once it started rolling faster in neutral we jumped in, eventually the car started \/ and we got at the Farrellones at the same time as the bus.

Once I got my stuff from the bus and took off my ski boots, we were all set. The final destination was approximately 500km (300 miles) away in Las Trancas, however I wasn’t sure how far we would get. Andy wanted to drive as long as he could. Andy and Brendan had just arrived after an overnight flight from Canada and skied a few hours plus we needed to do something about this car. There was no way we could drive over one thousand miles in our current setup. [-X I had 5 pairs of skis within inches from my face, not a comfortable and safe way to see South America, especially on crazy mountain roads. :? Lets just say that I almost got a shave from the skis. There was discussion of our car options during this descent. Instead of going back to the airport and getting a larger rental car, Andy mentioned that we could probably fixed something up. :roll:

After stopping at a few ski shops in Santiago, we finally headed for this Mall. The biggest sport mall I had even seen. Only sport stores in the size of a suburban mall. This is what I found on the internet about this mall:

Canadian Government Source for Mall info.

Chile's first mall exclusively devoted to selling sporting goods will open next September 2004. The investment, US$26 million, is 100% Chilean. Is one of the largest department stores in Chile. The mall will be located in Avenida Las Condes and Fernandez Concha, a 18,000 square meter ground.This shopping center will include 62 stores in the sporting goods industry as well as clothing and equipment related to each sporting area. Two levels of stores, a food court, two levels of parking for 750 cars, an artificial lagoon surrounded by 7 formal restaurants, a fitness center, a spa, a sports health center, an indoor pool, a shooting polygon, and an area of multipurpose courts are projected for this sports mall. Among the companies contracted to be in the mall are Bata with New Balance, Sparta and Athletes World. This is a new business format for Chile, but according to analysts this is an answer to the market needs. Pablo Reszczynski, General Manager of this project, says “Mall Sport was born mainly from the idea of assembling in only one place sporting goods stores currently all over Santiago. We have noticed that the big channels of distribution and wholesale of sporting goods are not specialized.”

Let me just say that we were all impressed. As we walked all over the place looking for God knows what?. :roll: We eventually bought some rope in a boating store and a yoga mat in order to built a Chilean roof rack. :idea: Brendan was initially looking for noodles, the type of noodles that go with Swimming, but couldn’t find any, so he bought a yoga mat instead. Back in the underground parking, we started building our roof rack. Andy and Brendan are kayakers, so they were pretty confident that this would work and hold, even at 130kmh. :shock: [-o<

Once everything was set up, we headed downtown, got the rest of my gear at the Hostal downtown and proceeded to fill every cubic feet still available in the car. It was pretty late when we left Santiago, maybe 9pm. After eating on the road, we headed off the Trans American Highway at midnight looking for a place to sleep. We weren’t going to make it to Las Trancas or Chillàn for that matter. We spotted Hostal sign on the side of the road, it looked like a individual home. It was midnight and we found a place to sleep in Talca. This was roughly half way to Las Trancas.

Next day we ski in Termas.\/\/\/

PS. I'll have limited access to my home computer in this coming week, so you'll have to wait (not as long as last time :roll: ...I hope) before the next Chapter.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Yes, that car looks a bit small. The definition of "compact" in U.S. and Canada is a bit different elsewhere in the world. Might want to try Johnny Kay's Murano next time. Adam, Ben and I had a tight fit in the Dodge Caliber (midsize?) rental from Calgary last February. We did get the skis inside, but the other stuff was piled all the way to the roof.

Adam remembered this while shopping for the WRX, which has similar room inside. These compact wagons will take skis diagonally with one rear seat down, but probably would not have 20 years ago when most skis were over 190cm. His surfboard will not fit diagonally, so his limit is one surfboard (on the center console between the front seats) unless he gets a rack.

I do remember seeing a restaurant at the base of that El Colorado triple. I didn't eat lunch that day as I knew we were going to hit a top restaurant in Santiago that night.

 

[skibum4ever]

Patrick, thanks for the next chapter. We enjoyed reading it and especially seeing the photos. 8)

 

[Patrick]

Yes, that car looks a bit small. The definition of "compact" in U.S. and Canada is a bit different elsewhere in the world. Might want to try Johnny Kay's Murano next time.

Small is an understatement. It wasn't my call as it wasn't my rental. Andy didn't mind one bit about the small car. :roll: Fortunately everything got sorted out once we put the skis on the roof.

Patrick, thanks for the next chapter. We enjoyed reading it and especially seeing the photos.

I need to finish the September 1st chapter and resize some pictures. Hopefully I'll get it on-line by this weekend, all depends when I can use the home computer.

 

[Tony Crocker]

all depends when I can use the home computer.

Midnight to 6AM it's often available :lol: .

 

[Patrick]

September 1 - the morning after:

Talca to Termas?

Okay, what happens when you take a 12-hour overnight flight ski a few hours at 3000 meters then drive until midnight? You don’t get up in the morning. Or maybe it’s just Andy? So we found this Hostal in Talca. This Hostal is in fact an individual house with a few rooms to rent. We found out when we arrived here that Canadians were “Persona non grata” in Chile or maybe with this Football (Soccer) fan owner (see why in link below)

CTV News (July 20, 07): Chile officials blame Toronto police for soccer brawl

Anyway, our reception in the Hostal wasn’t that bad and he was nice to us, but he had to let us know that he wasn’t happy about the incidences in Toronto. After a late breakfast we headed back on the Trans American Highway in direction of Chillàn at 10ish in the morning. :shock: :shock: Chillàn is about 160 km then another 80 km to Termas. Not sure if we going to ski today? We noticed on the roads that our setup with the skis was probably better than a few that we passed along the way. :roll: The drive is fairly straight and we can see the Andes and a few volcanos to the East of us.

We left the highway in Chillàn and turned left toward the Andes. Scenery isn’t the same as near Santiago. As we get closer to Termas we drive through the woods compared to the very dry field with cactuses near the Santiago ski areas. We passed through a few villages and we also saw some peasants sitting at road side next to homemade rack selling gloves or things like an 80s style one piece ski suits.

We arrived at Las Trancas and checked in at our accommodations at the Chil’In at 2pm. After a quick discussion, we decided to go skiing anyway and head to the local ski area 7km away at the end of the road. This even if we would only have time for a couple of runs at the most. It’s Spring time in Las Trancas with some snow still present on the ground, the road from the village to the resort isn’t paved and there are just a few switch backs, but nowhere near to road to Farrellones. As we get closer, we get a glimpse of the mountain and are very impressed. Not sure what is in or out-of-bounds, but the mountain is impressive. =P~ =P~ =P~ We parked in the upper parking lot and hurry to buy our full day lift ticket. :roll:

No mapa de pista in las manos, we hesitate between the triple and the double. No time to think, we hop on the old double. As we slowly climb, we realized we picked the right chair as this lift is much longer as the triple we saw. The higher we get, the most amazed our long this lift is and by the beauty of the terrain that is revealed. We just took the Dono Oto lift which 2.5km long with a vertical of 700meters. Lookers’ right is pretty much the resort’s boundary and so we traverse to the left. We totally freak out as we notice in the distance a t-bar that goes higher followed by then another one. The possibilities are endless. =P~ \/

We decided to go to the top of the last lift and ski along the ski area boundary on our right not far from the outer trail. The terrain is a natural terrain park with a bunch of rolls, sidewalls and cornices. The untracked snow is wet and heavy, difficult to ski in. We rejoined the trail just above treeline and we find a kicker built by some snowboarder right in the middle of the trail before a pitch. Andy urged Brendan to go big, he does and.... crashes sideways. Found out that Brendan has had a few concussions and he literary doesn’t have any depth perception. WTF??? Now I know what this guy has been giving me a hard time about my lack of helmet. Hell of the skier that isn’t afraid to take risks going big. Would you believe if I tell you this guy is a ski patrol? Andy is the other ski patrol and fellow Masters racer, an amazing skier that makes it look easy. He’s suppose to take it easy as he coming back from a broken leg. We skied all the way down for 15-20 minutes for over 1100 meters and 13km. This long trail makes it to the bottom of the resort next to the Termas hotels and village.

Down at 1600m, one chair connect with the base area with main lifts 120 higher where we started from. We take the triple this time which much shorter. We decide to continue to the top via the detachable poma and the two t-bars we took before the previous run. Skied a groomer from the top then moved slightly between runs on the steeper bottom. Unfortunately it was passed 4:30pm and the Doto Oto was closed so we headed for the Triple for last run.

WOW!!! \/ \/ \/ We are going to have fun here. I can’t wait to ski tomorrow.

 

[Patrick]

Here are some shots from Andy and Brendan on the mountain plus the log. I didn't bother getting my camera for this short ski day.

 

[Tony Crocker]

From the map the lifts are all scrunched together like Valle Nevado but the terrain looks more expansive.

Are the fall lines along the D and I lifts good? Is the off-piste between runs 13-15 and the main part of the area mostly skiable?

 

[Patrick]

From the map the lifts are all scrunched together like Valle Nevado but the terrain looks more expansive.

This map is probably as bad as La Parva in representing terrain.

Are the fall lines along the D and I lifts good?

I've added the stats from the mapa de pista that I have. It can give you a feel which lifts would potentially have the best fall line. Every lifts are generally fall line, however lifts H & I are pretty flat intermediate terrain. C & D are the best on-piste steeps. K (added blackline). We didn't see anything except towers for lift J and L. Come to think of it, not even sure they were towers for L. :roll:

Lift K wasn't build where it's written on the map, it starts next to the base of G - I've added a black line on the map where the actual K lift is.


length vertical %
A double 1050 120 11
B poma 366 41 11
C triple 1100 350 32
D double 2500 700 28
E poma 400 30 8
F double 450 32 7
G poma 1305 275 21
H t-bar 3000 220 7
I t-bar 1500 200 13
J t-bar 593 197 33
K double 1600 390 24
(not the K from the map, black line next to G)
L poma 300 130 43

Is the off-piste between runs 13-15 and the main part of the area mostly skiable?

The picture #10 was taken probably where 13 becomes 16 on the map. The runs are groomers that generally runs in the main valleys. I believe that picture #9 was taken just pass the top of lift K not far from top of H. You can see that pretty green blue run, but the fall line is constant so you can pick up some speed.

Anyway, you'll see more pics from the other days. However I'll not divulge on the internet where they were taken on the map. [-X

 

[Patrick]

September 1 - Après-ski that doesn’t involve driving :

La Trancas

Back in Las Trancas, we chill at the Chil’In in Chile. We take a short walk to the store and buy some food and refreshments. The Chil’In is a Hostal, but it’s also a restaurant and a bar. That evening we meet a few fellow gringos eating at the table next to us. We started talking and they mentioned that did a big tour to the top of a volcano and skied a long descent afterwards. One American telemarker wasn’t part of their group, but I believe he skied with them. He was another patrolmen, one that no one could miss. At the restaurant/Inn, he still had his ski pants and tele boots on. Some people talked about the “American”, but he made sure that everyone knew that we wasn’t an American, he keep saying that he was from VERMONT!!! Found out that he was a patrol from MRG and he’s been living in a tent on the mountain somewhere. Wonder if Mark Renson can guess who this guy is?

After an Escudo and some vino, we went to check out the Snow Pub after having heard much talk about it. Snow Pub was maybe 500 meters from the Chil’In, but it was a cold walk. Oh yeah, it’s still winter in this part of the World. As we get to nightlife heart of Las Trancas, we noticed that the Snow Pub has a Disco and a Pub. The difference between the two is fairly obvious; the one with dance music and flashing light is charging a crazy cover charge that us poor Canadians are too cheap to pay for what it seem a dead quiet place. We walked in a crowded and smoked filled pub instead. Apparently they were many girls at the Snow Pub; not many girls here, maybe they aren’t as cheap as guys, who knows? After maybe a few hours, we see our friend from MRG walking around with his teleboots still on. Meet some fellow skiers and had a few drinks. Not sure at what time we got back.:^o

 

[Admin]

Things started looking fuzzy afterwards.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Patrick]

September 2 - Oh well:

Waking up is hard to do, this sounds like a song? Coming back from the DL two days ago, Andy was taking a pass on morning. He decided that he was going to join us later. While Brendan and I were having breakfast, we noticed our friend from Vermont. We was having breakfast at the table next to us with a beautiful chica. “Yeah man, the disco was happening!!!” :roll: Yep, he still had his teleboots. As he was set to leave as the owner intercepted him about breakfast. “No I didn’t have breakfast, juste café.” As he’s walking out, he saying to charge it to the Canadians. NO WAY...he kept insisting!!!! [-X

Anyway, as soon as we’re done, I start getting stuff in the car in order to leave as soon as possible. As I come back in, Brendan said I should get my swim trunks for hot spring poaching. Termas is pretty volcanic area and means Hot Springs in Spanish. Once I found my swim trunks, Brendan mentions he got my stuff and we’re ready to go. All right, a full day to explore this ski area. WE ARE STOKE!!! Contrary to yesterday, we parked at the lower parking lot. We put on our boots and gets the skis out.

Where are *&?$@%? my skis???? Brendan got my boots, not my skis near the door. ](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

Anyway, Brendan offered his second pair (the Seth or the Machetes, I can’t remember which was which?). After a few seconds, I decided I was going to return for my B3. Little that I went, this was a smart move. Brendan was ready to go skiing and he gave me the keys to the go-cart. The go-cart had manual transmission...I haven’t really driven manually transmission in over 20 years. :shock: Driving the 7 km wasn’t too bad and I could always pick up Andy. Once Andy was ready, we headed back up to the ski area. Andy and Brendan had radios and this is when we got the news!!!

“LIFTS ARE STARTING TO SHTUDOWN EVERYWHERE”, only the bottom was open. The top t-bars lifts were closed plus the Doto Oto chair. Only interesting lift running was the Poma and the triple under that and they were going to close that also.

Andy and I had a wait and see approach. After trying to communicate to the people from the ski area, we were told that it was too windy. I tried to get a refund or discounted tickets for yourselves, but nothing doing. This was the famous TISA factor (we didn't know it was called that) that I heard some people talk about, SuperNat had made references to it. So the two of us didn’t ski and one was REALLY pissed off having only skied 2 runs for $40. [-( The only main lift that remained open was the chair that connects both bases, maybe 120 meters.

At least we poached the Hot Springs at the Resort. We walked from the ski area lot toward the hotel. Brendan opted for the "through the woods in deep snow in sandals" approach. Fuck that, Andy and I decided to walk through the front door of the hotel.

Our Vermont friend arrived in his teleboots as we were sitting back and relaxing. He seems surprise to see us. Yep, he had told us about the HotSpring poaching after a few drinks the previous night. 8) Brendan demonstrated diving into the snow which Andy capture on video...too funny. Si, he is a loco gringo!!! :lol:

We're having fun and living the moment. Not thinking about tomorrow....YET!!! :shock: That happened later. :roll:

 

[Patrick]

September 2 - Oh well - part 2 - Après-Poach: :?

We soaked for maybe a few hours. We headed back toward Las Trancas, but stopped first at the entrance of Las Trancas to check out the small shops. Can’t remember what we eat or if we did get a few local souvenirs at that time or later in the week? The shops are just on the outskirts of the village in front of the HI Hostal.

Once back into the Chil’In, a few of us went back for a siesta? Not sure. I’m talking with the owner, a few other skiers are eating lunch at the restaurant or crashing on the couches with their laptops. As I surf on the internet, I find out that the guys eating were the Americans I saw at El Colorado (one of the guys had the BROs). Started talking to them, funny thing is that noticed me surfing the forums and one of them told he used to write on TGR, but then got banned !!! :shock::shock::shock: WTF??? Anyway, he knew who I was!!! :shock:

Later on, I noticed that the three guys with the laptops spoke French; a Frenchman that I believe used to work for TGR, a Swiss and a Quebecers spending a few months in this part of the Wrold. There were also a few Chilean skiers later on, one of them would be Admin’s Chilean counterpart. He ran a Chilean ski website. All in all, this is a great meeting place...even if most of the people didn’t stay at the Chil’In.

During this spare time, I also had time to surf and write a bit...here is what I wrote on FTO/TGR (mini-TR): Here is the last paragraph I wrote that day...

edit: link removed to original story in order not to give away the ending.

September 2:

Over one foot of snow is forecast for tomorrow...odds are very bad for opening lifts. :? Not even sure for Tuesday...winds are suppose to be like today. We supposed to be in Portillo on Wednesday where it hasn't snow in many days with no snow in the forecast.

Oh yeah...we talked about the coming days.

FRUSTRATION...FRUSTRATION...FRUSTRATION

Brendan was still really pissed having skied approximately 2 runs with massive liftlines on the poma plus having paid $40 for that. The fact that Andy and Brendan might have skied a TOTAL of maybe 4-5 hours in the last 3 days with probably no serious skiing for a possible day or two really got him frustrated. He couldn’t believe that the ski area actually shutdown the poma because of wind, “Jay Peak runs lifts where it blowing harder than this!!!” The problem, this isn’t North America. Different atmosphere and customs from nightlife to running lifts. Andy is cool. I personally was warn about this and take it with stride, remembering SuperNat’s experiences in Chile to know to expect the unexpected.

Brendan couldn’t stand sitting around and not skiing again the next day. He started talking about Pucon which was expecting three times more snow (90cm) than Termas. He started lobbying to go to PUCON!!! :shock: snow-forecast talks about 271km, however that is as a crow flies, the drive would be much longer. I didn’t want to move, I thought that was a bad idea. SuperNat had been in Pucon in 2005 and she had her moments of frustration with lifts also not running. Andy was cool and relax as always, nothing got him worried. After a calm discussion and absortion of all information gather during this afternoon, we finally decided to stay put and wait it out, hoping to get some skiing in two days before heading to Portillo.

 

[Patrick]

September 3 - Oh boy, not again:

I woke up fairly early, not sure what I was thinking??? It’s raining outside. As I sit alone eating my Chilean Hockey Pucks for breakfast, I’m wondering if the lifts are running? The French owner of the Chil’In mentions that it’s probably snowing at the ski area. Las Trancas is at 1300m while the resort sits and the upper base sit at 1650m and 1800m respectively. Snow forecast was calling 33 cm at the top lift. He calls and confirm that the lifts aren’t running. It’s really blowing up there.

NO SKIING AGAIN TODAY...HERE IS THE SCORECARD IN CASE YOU’VE LOST TRACK:

Aug 29: Pat being a tourist
Aug 30: Valle Nevado (Pat)
Aug 31: El Colorado-La Parva (Pat; Andy & Brendan -2 hrs)
Sept 1: Termas (Pat, Andy & Brendan - 2 hrs)
Sept 2: Termas (Brendan - 2hrs)
Sept 3???

Pat: 2 days and 2 hours going on 6 days
Brendan: 3 times x 2 hours going on 4 days
Andy: 2 times x 2 hours going on 4 days

:shock: :shock: :shock:


This is going to be our second day sitting around and third day of very little skiing for me. This is a patience game...not much to do, but wait. Manu Chao, Renaud, Noir Désir, Les Rita Mitsouko are played on the computer and piped through the quiet place, definitely a French feel. Owner is a French immigrant who settled and married this beautiful part of the World. His young boy speaks spanish with his mother and speaks an excellent French with French accent. They are a few other French in Las Trancas, as guest at the Hostal or owners of businesses around this place.

Later in the day, we start meeting a few canucks; English and French.

At lunch time a few race kids come in to eat at the restorant. We start talking to the coaches as I recognized the French Canadian accent of one of them. We find out they’re part of the Sunshine race club doing a camp down here. The only skiers from North America are mostly racers, partially do to a few big races scheduled in the coming days.

BETTER MAKE THE BEST OF IT...ANDY AND BRENDAN ARE GOING SKIING.

So it’s pouring hard outside and Brendan is going nuts. Andy also wants to get out and at least do some skiing. After fiddling around with their AT gears, they finally depart toward the hill in the late afternoon. They got wet and the car made it to the upper parking lot. They were gone for a few hours and I believe they skied a few runs. They seem to have fun even if the conditions were less than ideal.

In the evening, the Hostal was once again a gathering point. A group from CASA had just round into town and showed up for few drinks in front the fireplace, then the competition walked in. Two quebecers from Powderquest walked in. It was evening for sharing stories. Pierre from Powderquest showed us his video on his laptop, I told him that someone had posted it on FTO a few weeks earlier. He was surely puzzled. Found out the guide from CASA knew my good friend that emigrated to BC 20 years ago. It’s a small world.

There was a discussion later on after a few drinks. Brendan wants Andy to forget about Portillo and they should stay in La Trancas. I’m would be royally fucked if that happens. If don’t go up to Portillo together, I need to be at Santiago the next night. :shock: I cannot cancel my reservation without losing 100% of my cash, Andy cancellation policy is also pretty rigid.

The forecast for the next day still calls for wind, but not as strong as the previous two days. As we stubbled into bed, we’re hoping that the lifts are running tomorrow morning or is it in a few hours? [-o< [-o< [-o<


Video by Pierre from PowderQuest mentioned in the FTO discussion a few weeks before. :shock:

viewtopic.php?t=5743


[video]http://video.google.fr/videoplay?docid=4729182676454780[/video]

I want to thank Andy and Brendan for the use of their pictures. Although I wasn't there, here is what it looked like on the mountain.