Ski Chile 2016

[Casey E]

40cm in the 3 valleys, here the last curves to Farellones:




And higher up from the road to La Parva:



It is now snowing again.

[llyon]

Looks like El Colorado is opening tomorrow.
http://www.elcolorado.cl/

[Casey E]

Looks like El Colorado is opening tomorrow.
http://www.elcolorado.cl/

Yup, limited to 4 lifts, two of which are going to be good, Copa and Pioneros.



La Parva was warming up their lifts today, but probably won't open until a couple days after the approaching storm.

[Mike Pow]

Great early start

[Duckpond]

Hey guys I'm keen to hike/slackcountry a few sick lines in chile when we find out where the best snow is !!! Let me no if anyone's keen iv got no plans and have nowhere to be just need another person as I don't want to solo hike my first time in the Andes.

Hey there, I will be doing the same come late August/Early September. Also going solo, also first time skiing down south.

I won't be able to provide any personal experience/knowledge, but im down to rip it up.

Lemme know.

[Casey E]

This storm is coming in from the north, which is unusual, and will be most intense in the Coquimbo region of Chile, 200-500km north of Santiago, where they have only been getting around 30-100mm of rain a year lately. Snow is forecast for the mountains all the way up into the Atacama desert. Thus Portillo will likely get significantly more than the 3 valleys, as it is further north.

I have to say that regardless of the snowfall, it is great to see the hills a bright green at such an early date, and this next storm means the northern desert will burst into flower in September!

[Casey E]

This would seem to be the definition of "really piling up":



And it ain't over yet:

[hoarhey]

que bueno!

[m10ba3]

I'm just currently chilling in vina loving this raining weather checking every Web page known to man for the next clearing has anyone got any plans to go for a ride this weekend?

[PNWbrit]

looks like they need to get shoveling at Portillo

[Coño Frío]

This thread continues to pump stoke. Casey, thank you for your wealth of knowledge on all things Chile! Your posts the past few years are directly responsible for my wife's frustration and mental anguish as she deals with my crescendoing passion to ski the volcanic slopes of the Southern Andes. Unable to ignore the siren song of Sudamerica any longer, I have booked my flight to Santiago and plan to head to Nevados de Chillan the last week of August. I'd rather just pack my boots and not drag my skis through multiple airports and customs checkpoints, so my question for you, mi amigo, is how likely am I to find decent all-mountain skis (preferably 100 to 110 underfoot) to rent at the ski area or in and around Las Trancas?

[PNWbrit]

Take your own skis is the common consensus regarding SA.

[ThreeRidges]

Wow, this looks like a good start. Hope it stays around through June.

[Casey E]

"how likely am I to find decent all-mountain skis (preferably 100 to 110 underfoot) to rent at the ski area or in and around Las Trancas?"

I have flown Chile Canada several times with skis and they book them all the way through (one stop), no hassle. You can probably get reasonably good rentals here, they are improving all the time, but I cannot guarantee anything especially outside Stgo/3 Valleys and, yes the best advice is to bring your own.

One option is to call the place you are going to stay at and ask them before travelling. Some would be pretty good and honest about the latest rental situation, you may have to get lucky though to find someone knowledgeable...

In any case, keep up on the volcano monitoring, you may be restricted on access to the Chillan cones due to recent activity (calm now though).

[m10ba3]

Hey there, I will be doing the same come late August/Early September. Also going solo, also first time skiing down south.

I won't be able to provide any personal experience/knowledge, but im down to rip it up.

Lemme know.

How early August I'm leaving chile end of August to head up north

[Casey E]

The snow has stopped falling and the 3 Valleys have around 170cm, which fell without much wind. Portillo would appear to have more and the road is closed. Farellones road is open but Valle Nevado is closed. Digging out has begun.

Opening dates are supposedly June 9 for La Paeva, 10 Valle Nevado, and 18 Portillo. I say supposedly because the pressure is on and they may open earlier.

Colorado would be the place to hit. Here mid station before and after shots:



After, no fences or cars to be seen:



If it weren't for the wedding I have to attend today, you know where I would be... Hope to go Monday!

[Casey E]

Slava shared this photo of an avalanche yesterday, an extremely rare inbounds one on the southwest cone face in El Colorado.

[Casey E]

Portillo says 250cm, road still closed, could be for days, lots of avalanches.

[Casey E]

Finally got to ski after multiple social events and a feverous infection.

The bad news is the 3 valleys settled snowfall is much less than I estimated, and the good is there is a very evenly distributed pile of light snow, which has packed to between 50 (2,400m) and 140 cm (3,500m). I skied El Colorado today, and had a variety of good condtions from packed piste fun on an old staple, El Embudo in Farellones, to 40 turns in light powder on my way back to La Parva from Pioneros, and that on more northerly slopes.

Hope to hit opening day in La Parva tomorrow, they are furiously preparing runs and doing god knows what to get their new "parvapass fotográfico" system up and running. Worst case scenario for opening day is a new techie system which until now hasn't been able to deliver my midweek pass. Anyway, some photos follow.

[Casey E]

Not every year you can do this in June!

Valle Olimpico looking nice:


That nasty slide on cono sur (I saw some 3 more in La Parva, 2 at least probably from blasts):


Anyone need some ice?

[PowderQuest]

Not every year you can do this in June!

Valle Olimpico looking nice:


That nasty slide on cono sur (I saw some 3 more in La Parva, 2 at least probably from blasts):


Anyone need some ice?

Hi Casey, this is David from PowderQuest. How are you? Curious if you had any additional info on this avalanche inbounds at El Colorado. Would love to share this with our guides team. Thanks.

[Casey E]

Hi Casey, this is David from PowderQuest. How are you? Curious if you had any additional info on this avalanche inbounds at El Colorado. Would love to share this with our guides team. Thanks.

Sorry, I have no more info, but it must have been early the day after the storm. Looked like it got down to the old April base. There were tracks all around it, and El Colorado was roto-tilled everywhere with no other signs of slides.

[Casey E]

La Parva opened today, and although the staff had skied a lot of the powder the past 5 days, there was still room for more tracks in about 30cm of light snow on the southern exposures, although slightly wind affected elsewhere. Easy to plunge a pole down to the handle in places. System worked fine, flat light, but no people!

The top of Las Aguilas, where the sponsors signs are close to being buried:

[PowderQuest]

Sorry, I have no more info, but it must have been early the day after the storm. Looked like it got down to the old April base. There were tracks all around it, and El Colorado was roto-tilled everywhere with no other signs of slides.

Thanks Casey. It looks like it was skier triggered (or skier remotely triggered) and it certainly slid covering recent tracks. Good thing no one was injured. Have a good season out there. I will share the images with some guides.

[Casey E]

The sun came out at La Parva on Friday, and the groomers were superb. The remnants of powder were mostly wind crusts at the higher altitudes, here a hucker on La Muela (he wiped about 1 second later):



The snow cover is as even as it gets, with people hitting several lines rarely skied due to rocks.

On a more somber note, I got a better look at the avalanche activity, and chatted with the ski patrol. Seems several slides came down during the storm, shortly thereafter, and after blasting. The area along the La Parva ridge and the Manantiales traverse had many different slides. The two ugliest which came down before skiing and blasting follow.

This originated above the top of the descenso, perhaps from the cornice breaking, and ran out 700m down the Piuquenes run:



This one, lower down and away from the ridge, crossed the Barros Negros run:



I have skied that before and in over 30 years, never seen an avalanche there.

Here a view of the ridge, with X´s marking some of the slides:



The ski patrol says there have been a variety of types/depths of slides and the situation in general is very unusual. They did a upper mountain profile, and found the most serious layer barriers at 150cm and 165cm, at least close to the April snowfall base. I am trying to get a copy of the profile.

That said, just about everything steep has now been skied, including La Chimenea. La Chimenea chica, La Parva bowl, the chute above the Piuquenes lift, etc. and there are no reported disasters. The temperature has risen dramatically and the snow is melting fast below 3,000m. It snowed and sleeted a bit today, and wet snow or rain is expected at the ski area base over the next 2 days, to add to this strange brew.