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

[Patrick]

September 4 - We are finally going skiing

OH YEAH!!!! \/ \/ \/

Snow in Las Trancas. Well, I believe we noticed that the previous night going to the SnowPub, although I don’t recall for sure. Maybe it was because of what we drank OR is it because an writing this TR over 9 months later? :roll:

So we are really stoke to finally go skiing. The ski area is only 7km away. As we exit town next to the shops we get stopped by locals that tell us in Spanish that we need chains and pointing to a sign at the side of the road next to the Police station. The locals are trying to get us to rent chains and are surrounding the car. Andy talks to them calmly and tell them that we’re okay. The locals don’t really understand us and inglès and we don’t really understand what they are saying. Brendan is freaking as the locals starts going towards the wheel to install the chains. After a few tense moments, Andy simply tell them that we’ll try getting to the hill and we’ll come back if we can’t. Not sure if the local understood us as we finally drove off.

The road was snow covered and pretty muddy. We were okay as long as we had momentum...crap, cars in chains are pretty slow. After a few passes with wheels spinning and snow and mud flying, we get to the parking lot.

First up the slow double at the resort to the base. Wind is still pretty strong and the Dono Oto double is still close with two top t-bars. The triple is open with 7 minutes wait then off to the poma which has a cluster of skiers as a lineup similar to France. :shock: Yep, it’s the only top lift open and there is a bunch of ski teams on the Hill training for the next few days FIS races. After a 20 minutes wait, we’re off. We did laps off the poma for the first three out of four runs. Great fun to start off the day. Also skied to the bottom of the triple twice in the morning.

On the first of those longer off-piste runs in trackless terrain, both Powderquest guides show up and mentioned “I can’t believe we got snaked by Ontarians.”

The snow was somewhat wind blown, but surfaces were amazing. On our 6th runs and last before lunch we headed in between some trails on this massif terrain, ended trying to find the best way down. This run ended up in the woods, however the snow below was pretty wet and heavy. Pretty hard to ski.

As we are about to head back up the lower double we see the coaches from the previous day/night. Talked about the great stuff were skiing. They are having fun themselves, they’re letting they kids free ski instead of going gates on this beautiful day. It’s a beautiful day indeed.

As we eat lunch outside the lodge, we happen chat up the CASA guide and her one girl group. WTF??? I can’t believe that the other guy that was with her isn’t even skiing. Apparently he partied too much the night before. The day was Priceless and this guy is missing it while paying for a CASA tour. #-o

We run into the Canucks coaches again and eventually take them and their kids out-of-bounds with us. You should have seen their smiles, another priceless moments. That was reward enough.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Nice to see pics of the great conditions. Unquestionably an epic day worth waiting for.

Looking at the map, lift ratios, etc. it's not obvious to me why Chillan is any better than Portillo based purely on terrain. Is it that much bigger? Are there similar sustained pitches like the Roca Jack traverse runs we missed or the Lake Chutes?

I do want Chillan's snow stats if anyone can get them.

The day was Priceless and this guy is missing it will paying for a CASA tour.

I remember the guy at Las Lenas who partied hard and got sick and missed the ONE day of Marte open. I'm not too sorry for him, as he's a regular and goes on one of the EC Las Lenas trips every year.

 

[Patrick]

Nice to see pics of the great conditions.

There are a few others to post from THIS day with map and graph. The pics are selected and almost ready to post. Wife needed the computer and was tired of waiting. :| I'll try posting the rest of this day's pics tonight.

Looking at the map, lift ratios, etc. it's not obvious to me why Chillan is any better than Portillo based purely on terrain. Is it that much bigger? Are there similar sustained pitches like the Roca Jack traverse runs we missed or the Lake Chutes?.

This map doesn't do any justice to this place. You'll see the map of our day and the limited lift opens. However I had to respect ski forum internet etiquette and no clearly indicate where we skied. All the picture I posted yesterday were simply access via the Poma (lift G). One of the advantages of this place is the terrain and endless touring possibilities. This will be clear in the next chapters. Everything is very confined at Portillo, the vertical of Dono Oto alone, which was closed on this day, is 700 meters.

I do want Chillan's snow stats if anyone can get them.

I mentioned this somewhere in this TR, the place was having a great year snow wise. Looking at snow depth, not so great this year. So regardless if it's further south, if it's doesn't get the same amount of precipitations...it's not going to help. Of course, all my information is second hand. Yes, someone give Tony so snow stats.

 

[Patrick]

Here are pictures from our last run.

***********
For our last run, we opted for another long run to the car. We got an extra lift higher up, although the higher lift was still closed. We climbed over the small ridge of rock in order to start our last run higher and access a nice 800 meter vertical mostly off-piste. (see graph)

 

[Patrick]

What a day. \/

There is a certain in ski forum etiquette which prohibit me to post off-piste details on the internet. :mrgreen: Sorry folks. As you can see from our pictures and the map, we skied on a few limited lifts, but terrain wasn't limiting. Basic used the Poma (H) on every runs and the Triple (C) every few runs. It was definitely my best ski day in September, to date!!! :twisted:

 

[Tony Crocker]

There is no reason based upon rainfall stats from the cities why the pattern by latitude would not be like the Pacific Coast of North America. So it's could be a fairly close analogy to the Sierra vs. Cascades. In both cases the lower latitude mountains are much higher altitude, snow is more erratic but it comes in big dumps and doesn't rain as much as other places.

Where the analogy breaks down is that Portillo/Valle Nevado are not Sierra latitude but L.A./San Diego latitude. And Chillan is Sierra latitude but Oregon altitude. Therefore snowfall is likely lower in these places than their North American counterparts. But since Portillo is 254, Chillan could still be 300+.

Valdivia at latitude 40 on the coast gets 100 inches of rain. Pucon/Villarica is at latitude 39 and elevation 4,600 -6,900. Its claim of 400+ inches snow might be credible, though I'm sure it gets its fair share of rain.

We still must keep in mind, as in North America, that some seasons' storm tracks will favor the lower latitudes, even though that's not the long term average.

 

[Patrick]

There is no reason based upon rainfall stats from the cities why the pattern by latitude would not be like the Pacific Coast of North America.(...)But since Portillo is 254, Chillan could still be 300+.

I don't know, there might other factors at play like air currents, topography. Mountain above Santiago are much more higher and might form a barrier that favour precipitations? This said, I don't have any knowledge of this being the case.

Pucon/Villarica is at latitude 39 and elevation 4,600 -6,900. Its claim of 400+ inches snow might be credible, though I'm sure it gets its fair share of rain.

Yep, the 30cm Termas was suppose to be 90cm in Pucon, however much of it was rain apparently.

 

[Patrick]

September 4: Après-ski or Drive 800km?

Our initial plan was to ski in Portillo tomorrow morning which is something like a short 800km away. We had a nonrefundable reservation for September 5-8 which included skiing, lodging and meals. But when you’re in South America (or elsewhere for that matter), you have be flexible, especially that Termas had received 30cm of snow the previous day and Portillo hadn’t received any snow in 20 days. Hard choice, n’est pas? :-k

At the Chil’In, some other skiers walked in and arrived from Pucon, the place that Brendan was looking to go at. Found out that it’s was closed and they received mostly rain apparently. You cannot be stress when in South America, you just have to stay put and wait it out, because you never know and cannot guarantee what will happen. I guess it’s the TISA factor; This Is South America!!! This is one of the important lessons learned from the Powderquest guides staying at the Chil’In.

So what did we do? We started our Après-ski at the Chil’In and finished at the SnowPub down the street. OH YEAH !!! :shock: :shock: :shock: #-o

So good that we decided to ski here tomorrow regardless of our paid ticket in Portillo. This is too good. \/ \/ \/

As we walked in the SnowPub, we are greeted by a bunch of people we know, just like Norm on Cheers. Some of them were surprised that we’re still in town. We told, “f*ck Portillo, we are skiing here mañana.”

Canucks coaches were there at one table, banned TGR guy that isn’t SNR and friend skiing on BROs were there talking to the CASA lady guide and her girl client at another table. Don’t recall seeing the MRG skibum patrol.or the other CASA customer. As we shout at each other, we were all pretty much on a buzz from our awesome day. Coaches pay us back for bringing them and their kids off-piste. After a few beer, shooters and great discussions, we leave the smoky pub probably a bit late. The girl customer is totally wasted, coaches aren’t probably going to have a rough day working on the hill, TGR guy shout out that he’s looking forward to read THIS TR!!! Sorry man, life is busy, hope you like it?

It’s late in this story and now, I’m going to bed.

SEE YOU ON THE SLOPES TOMORROW!!!

 

[Patrick]

September 5: ski hard, party harder later, much later!!!

September 5th and it’s ain’t Portillo. Plan is to get to the mountain early, ski a few runs and then drive forever until we reach Portillo. Sound fine, si?

Unfortunately the SnowPub nightlife conspired against some of us. :? That morning the Powderquests were talking to the Chil’In owner about their plan for a huge tour. We vacanted the room and paid our tab for meals, lodging and maybe a few drinks. :|

Once on the mountain, we parked at the lower parking and got on the lift at 10:30ish. No wind issues today, we didn’t notice any lift clossure. Once at the second and main base of the mountain, the old double, Dono Oto IS OPEN!!!

We get on that old rustic lift; I wonder if this lift would be able to pass inspection and run in North America? Below us on the lower moutain, a FIS slalom race is taking place. As we climb higher away and passed the midstation, we’re getting excited with anticipation. We're going to be able to access part of type of terrain we were hitting yesterday but much higher and longer runs with one lift.

In order to respect the ski forum etiquette, I’ll limit with words to only mention the spetacular scenery in front us, amazing natural wind grooming powder runs in untracked fresh snow every run, cliff and cornice dropping, truly amazing.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I wonder if this lift would be able to pass inspection and run in North America?

Powdr Corp would have no problem running it at Mt. Bachelor. :lol:

These pictures were a bit better in conveying overall scale. It looks like exposure away from the sun is decent, judging by shadows from the lift towers.

 

[Patrick]

I wonder if this lift would be able to pass inspection and run in North America?

Powdr Corp would have no problem running it at Mt. Bachelor. :lol:

Are you sure? :wink:

Yep, that chair didn't have a backrest. I believe it was mine. :mrgreen: Seat and back rest are tiny metal sheet. People skiing a resort in the US wouldn't put up with a chair is this. Long and slow double. I love it. TISA factor again. I would be a shame if they would replace with a HSQ. As long is this place is off-radar, is going to be good (unless they isn't any snow).

These pictures were a bit better in conveying overall scale.

There are a few others coming. 8)

 

[Patrick]

In order to respect the ski forum etiquette, I’ll limit with words to only mention the spectacular scenery in front us, amazing natural wind grooming powder runs in untracked fresh snow every run, cliff and cornice dropping, truly amazing.

That doesn't mean I cannot post any pics from it.

Isn't there something about a picture is worth a 1000 words? :wink:

After waiting for Andy to set up, he missed the cornice dropped. ](*,)

 

[Patrick]

We repeated this loop as much as we could with keeping in mind our drive to Portillo ahead. This repeat would include the cornice, we didn't miss capturing it (from two different angle) this time!!! :mrgreen:

As we skiing the fuck , we noticed our ski patrol/ski bum for the summer friend from Vermont. He was skinning up with his teles. We noticed that he had some issues yesterday with the lift attendant checking lift tickets. What he would do was skin up to the higher lift in order to bypass people checking for lift passes and ski free. Not only Free the Hell, Free the Ski!!! I guess that when there’s a crowd, the attendants crackdown on poachers. The true ultimate skibum living in a tent and paying the least possible. LONG LIVE VERMONT!!! I'll probably see you at MRG next winter (which I did). Mark Rewson would probably know him. :mrgreen:

After 4 runs in “fuck” , we bumped into the coaches. We decide to take the faster Triple-Poma combo and ski the long run back down to the resort and the car. We didn’t ski touch the upper t-bars as it was getting already pretty late for us.

It was 2:15 when we got to the bottom. We only did 5 runs, but what memorable runs. I stand corrected, THIS is my best lifetime September ski day.


Here are two more terrain pics for Tony.

 

[Tony Crocker]

In order to respect the ski forum etiquette

A bit overdone, I think. Patrick & company had never been there before, it looks pretty wide open, and I don't think they found the goods courtesy of a secret tour led by locals.

I'm guessing on Sept. 5 they were skiing in the general area of the yellow lines on the right side of the map.