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Mattadvproject

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
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Tuesday 22nd August – San Carlos cultural day

As part of this trip, we had a cultural day planned for the group. I’d looked at the weather forecast and decided that this would probably be a bad day to be on the mountain given it was the start of the storm and the winds were due to be really high, so the skiing probably wouldn’t have been much fun. At 10am we were picked up a nice spacious VW minivan and then driven down past Chillan and onto the Santa Berta winery. It was about an hour and 45 minutes to get to the winery and it was raining hard on the way down. That would mean big snow hitting Nevados. It was really cold down valley too, I was underdressed for the day (should have taken the puffy jacket!), but that was my fault. Whoops.

Susana, the marketing lady from last year, was there to meet us. She showed us around the complex, starting with a behind the scenes look at the large shed with the wine vats in it and then to the outside crushing plant. Then we went to the lovely church and then into the best bit, the cellar. They have done an amazing job of the cellar/tasting room; it’s dark and atmospheric, full of wine barrels and with several bottles of wine on display with spotlights on them. Susana picked out three bottles for us to try, one white and two reds. I forget what the white was (maybe a Muscatel?) but the two reds were a Pinot Noir and a Merlot. The white was nice, very cold and nice and fruity, not too dry and both the reds were nice too. Both were pretty easy to drink and had a pretty mellow finish (not trying to sound like a wine snob here, I don’t drink much wine, I like beer myself, but I did like all three wines). They also had a really nice cheese platter with lots of different Chilean cheeses on it and dried fruits. I do have a weakness for cheese so I made sure I properly investigated all possible cheese and wine combinations. My research was very thorough……

After that we went to the shop and I bought 3 bottles; the merlot, the pinot noir and a rose. I’m not sure what I will do with them; I will probably give them to people in Nevados as a thank you present as I don’t want to travel with wine. Everyone bought a few bottles (except for Gordon who doesn’t drink) and we said thank you to Susana and then headed off to San Carlos for the meal. I was already pretty full from my cheeses sampling, but we knew there would no doubt be more food to come. We stopped in the main part of San Carlos and were taken into a butchers. I thought that was a little strange but then I saw David, the owner of Violeta, the restaurant we were going to, inside. This was the butchers that he bought all his meats from, so that made sense. David gave us a very warm welcome (he had a local lady there to translate for us, which was nice) and then he of course had some of his choice meats for us to try. More snacks! Then it was off to the restaurant.

It was only about a 5 minute drive. David’s restaurant (Violeta) is close to the flour factory his family owns and is a working class neighborhood. David was a chef all over Europe before coming home to Chile and starting up his restaurant in San Carlos. San Carlos has a growing arts scene and he wanted to bring good food to the area and create his own slice of culinary art. His restaurant is an old rustic building (partially destroyed in the earthquake of 2010 and now almost fully renovated) and is very charming.

We had a lovely 4 course meal, with an empanada (beef, egg and olive, very tasty), then a nice vegetable soup, then the main course of bbq’d beef and sausage slow cooked in his 100 year old oven. We had a desert as well, but I didn’t eat it as I was in a food coma by this stage. We also had pisco sour (strong, pisco and sour lemon drink, very popular locally), fresh strawberry juice (very good) and more wine. What a banquet! Everyone was very full and happy. We left Violetta and a warm goodbye from our hosts to go into Chillan to go to the market. Originally we were supposed to go truffle hunting but as it was pouring with rain, we pulled the plug on that. The market had some fun stuff, mostly Chilean handicrafts and a lot of nice gaucho style clothing, with panchos, hats and riding wear. Jacques bought a nice pancho and posed for some sweet photos in a bunch of Chilean gear. He looked quite the part. Then it was time to drive back to the mountain. It was snowing hard and we needed chains (which the driver had to go rent) and by the time he had that figured out, we were back pretty late. This was another nice day and a well-earned rest from skiing.

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The wine lab!

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Where all the wine is stored. Those are some big tanks!

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The old cobblestone courtyard of the former monastery makes a great backdrop for a winery.

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Checking out the restored carriages.

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Inside the chapel.

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The atmospheric wine tasting room.

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A couple of the different reds.

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Turns out it works quite well as a cheese tasting room too! Who knew......

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Science! Tasting wine AND cheese is a detailed process...... thankfully we were all dedicated to the task at hand!

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Salut!

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Might have to buy a couple of bottles, especially when they are only a few dollars each!

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Meat tasting science..... the diligent work continues in San Carlos.

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This is where David, the owner of Violeta's, does his shopping.

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Empanadas, these were really good.

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Pisco sours, a popular local drink. A little too strong for me. The strawberry/raspberry juice was more to my liking.

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BBQ time! Beef, sausage and potatoes, fish for Gavin.

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Our awesome chefs!

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Violeta in San Carlos. Definitely away from the tourist trail here.....

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The cathedral in Chillan.

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The markets in Chillan.

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Jacques, el Guacho! (cowboy).

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Plenty of fresh snow was waiting for us back in Las Trancas.

- Matt
 
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Mattadvproject

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Love that powder!
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Wednesday 23rd August – Another powder day!

Ok, this was getting a bit silly, but it just doesn’t want to stop snowing! It was another powder day, but unfortunately, the winds were really up again. They had had about 50cm’s of new snow and it was bluebird outside, but the winds were ripping. We got a lift as far as the bottom of the Tata lift (our driver didn’t want to go up to Tio Willy’s as he had heard the road was really icy, so we were left down low at Tata). They were still getting the lift open and we didn’t load till 9:25am (supposed to open at 9am). As we neared the top, they were loading the Wenche chair and about 20 people were ahead of us. As we got on the Wenche chair, we could see that nothing else up high was open.

We did a couple of laps on the steep open face near the Enlace t-bar and then the Enlace t-bar opened. That goes slightly higher than the Wenche so we changed to that lift and then we could traverse out skier’s left, towards the bottom of the freeride area and lower part of the Otto chair (no way that was opening today!). We found some really nice light and dry snow on the very last ridgeline of the resort. We lapped that for several hours, the wind helping it to keep filling in.

People we slowly creeping up into the area outside of the ski area and a few steeper lines were being put down. It was definitely risky, we stayed away from the people up higher and were more cautious (it was a definite red flag day with plenty of new snow and high winds, a perfect recipe for a big avalanche). Thankfully that did not happen. There were a few smaller slides on isolated terrain features (2), but nothing too big.

By 12:30pm the winds were getting even higher and the Wenche chair shut down. We decided it was time for lunch. During the course of lunch, the Enlace t-bar closed down, so just the Tata was left. We at least thought we could do some laps in the lower trees, so we got ready to go out. By the time we got outside, the wind was even higher and Tata closed down. We were left with nothing to ski so we thought we would go back to the Alto Nevados and have a beer.

About 30 minutes into our beers, we saw the wind died down and then heard Enlace was opening up again, so we finished up and raced outside again. We took the t-bar up and got in another couple of laps on the far skier’s left side. The wind had filled in all of the tracks again, so we had some fresh (though wind-affected) lines again. 2 laps and it was time to head back down to Tata for our lift back home. We had a nice meal out and were done for the day. Another big storm rolls in the next day, so who knows what will be open. If only the winds would drop….. apologies, not many photos were taken this day. It's all on the GoPro!

I was struggling for photos, but Gordon did give me permission to use these photos from the soon to be released calander, "The 12 months of Gordon, a year in pictures>" He suggested I put them up.....

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This is Ferrari, a softer look for catalogue-type work.......

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And yes, the Roaming Gnome does use the Roaming Gnome's website......



Thursday 24th August – Storm day and day off for me!

It kept snowing and the winds were still ripping. Eric was back with the group and I figured there wouldn’t be much terrain/lifts open, so I asked Eric to take the group up the mountain and lead the group (I had a lot of work to catch up on). It was only open as far as Tata and the group got in a lot of laps in the trees down low, skiing some deep snow. The snow was really deep and quite light by all accounts, sounds like I might have missed out. Tomorrow the winds are due to die down a bit, it’s still snowing hard but hopefully we can get more lifts and terrain open. Fingers crossed! We had another lovely dinner back at the Cabanas los Hualles (shrimp and prawn risotto) and then I hit the hay early. Hopefully a big day of riding powder tomorrow…..

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Lot's of new snow in Las Trancas!

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Should be an awesome day.....

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Going to have to clean your car off tomorrow Francisco!

- Matt
 
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Mattadvproject

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Friday 25th August – Another Storm Day

It had been snowing hard all night and the winds were still forecast to be light. I was excited for the day and was hopeful that some of the lifts up high might be opening up finally. When I woke up, I could hear the water dripping down outside, grrr, it must have warmed up. Sure enough, it was raining! All the soft fluffy powder was now soaked and heavy looking. It might be better up the mountain, but I wasn’t optimistic.

We left around 8:45am and the roads were an absolute mess. They hadn’t plowed them and the road was covered in snow and slush. Our driver had the chains on straight away and he made pretty easy going of it, but we past all the snowplows and the one snowblower, sitting idle in the car park next to the police station. It’s a little frustrating to see that. As the road gets steeper, it became narrower and was pretty much only one line wide. Then we finally saw a plow on the other side of the road but he was stuck, having plowed too deeply into the embankment. That was a sign of things to come…..

It would have been difficult to get up to Tio Willy’s so we had Carlos drop us off down lower at Tata. It was past 9am and they were nowhere near opening the lift. They still had a ton of digging out to do and it wasn’t until 10:20am that they were ready to go. Nothing else was open yet. We headed up and then skied some lines in the trees. The snow was very wet and heavy but it was deep, about thigh deep. If it had been colder, man, this would have been some epic conditions but we had missed out on that. We did a couple of laps through the trees, skiing some drop offs into the deep snow (we had to make sure we didn’t overshoot the landing and land on the cat-tracks down below). That was kind of fun.

On our last run before lunch, we came across a group of 3 Chileans who were in distress. One of their group had fallen into a tight gully and was stuck upside down, submerged in the snow. Eric was first in and we all got our shovels out and dug the guy out. Then patrol arrived. He was ok, shaken up and thankful we had been there as none of them had any gear. That was a close call. Then we had some lunch in a new place, in the old Hotel Nevados which was nice. It was the exact same menu as up at Alto Nevados, but it was warmer with radiators where we could dry out our clothing a little.

After lunch we saw that the Wenche chair was open so we dashed outside and headed up. On the way up we saw that the ridge directly under the chair only had 3 tracks on it, so we made a beeline for it. The snow was still pretty heavy but it was deep and it made for some ok turns. You couldn’t really turn much past the fall-line and had to keep them pointed pretty straight. We headed back up and this time we headed out skier’s left, towards the terrain above the Hotel Alto Nevados. Here we could make a few steeper turns and the skiing was better, but the snow was still heavy. We skied until about 2:45pm before we headed to the Alto Nevados, Gavin and Richard were pretty tired. We had a couple of drinks and then headed back down for our 4pm pickup at the bottom of the Tata. Eric and Jacques were already there waiting for us.

Carlos the driver didn’t turn up till 4:45pm. He said he had gotten stuck behind a bus that had gotten stuck on the access road and had spun 90 degrees and was completely blocking the road. We jumped in and not far down the road, we encountered another blockage. The same bus had gotten stuck again! Grrrr! We had to wait another 45 minutes and finally we got through. It took us nearly 1.5 hours to get down when it normally takes only 20 minutes. Crazy times! The weather is forecast to get windier again tomorrow, so who knows what will be open. We’ll have to find out! Fingers crossed we can get up higher but I’m not optimistic.

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Whoops! Mr. Plow got a little too aggressive with plowing and got stuck in the snowbank. Practice makes perfect!

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Tons of new snow down by the Tata lift.

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Richard, the Rampaging Bull, does some snow density testing of his own, whilst we waited for the Tata lift to open.

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He's actually a scientist back in the UK.

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Jacques testing the snowpack on top of the Tata cafeteria roof......

- Matt
 

dave-o

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Hey Matt,
Hope you had a safe trip home, it was great to meet you.
I think the snowfall those last few days at Nevados were quite rare as my driver back to Chillan took a few photos of the conditions, the snow almost reached to Pinto.
He said the snow usually halts just below Las Trancas.
It felt like Japan for a while...
Dave
 
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Mattadvproject

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Saturday 26th August

I wasn’t optimistic for the start of the day as it was overcast and the winds were still high, higher than the previous day. If they couldn’t get many chairs open that day, then I thought even fewer lifts would be open today. We’d have to see. There was even more new snow on the ground and when we got there only Tata and Wenche were open. That meant we couldn’t get too far out. When we got off the top of the Wenche we cut skier’s left and out to the untouched snow. It was still quiet and in front of us it was pretty much untracked. Unfortunately the snow had about a 4 inch breakable crust on top of it. It made for really hard skiing (horrendous skiing if I’m being honest). The snowboarders definitely had an advantage over the skiers with their much wider and floatable boards, the skiers (me included) really found it tough.

We were all feeling pretty tired and this was the perfect storm for someone to get hurt. All the snow in this area was like this. Gavin called it first and I agreed with him. We were done skiing off-piste for the day. It had been a great week so why risk it? The skiing wasn’t fun at all so we decided that we would ditch the packs and go and work on technique. That was fine with me. Gordon had things he was working on (he had developed a downstem in his short turns and was crushing the front of his boots, so he had plenty to go on) and with Gavin and Richard, we could work on a decent progression. Eric would keep riding with Jacques. The Enlace t-bar was running by this stage and the Nono also opened up shortly after. Surprisingly, the sun was also starting to come out and the wind was also dying down too. Not exactly what the weather forecast has called for, but nice when they get it wrong in a good way!

Neither of them had had a technical lesson for a long time. First off I talked them both through the 4 skills of skiing (balance/stance, rotary, edging, pressure control movements) over a couple of t-bar rides. Gordon was off working on things on his own for a while (we had radios so could call each other when we needed to meet up) so I worked Gavin and Richard through a progression. We worked on fore-aft balance (skiing with the boot tops undone), then we worked on lateral balance with a whole series of drills (stork turns, double pole drags, then back to storks and stork hockey stops), then rotary skills (viewfinder drill, poles around hips with some more stork turns thrown in to challenge them). We took the cage drill (poles around the hips) and worked on edging (increasing hip angulation in the turns). Gavin had been having a lot of trouble angulating on his turn to the right (wasn’t able to angulate with hip easily on that side) and this drill really made a difference for him. The stork turns were challenging for Richard and he really started to improve after a while. Overall this was a really positive session for everyone, me included. I like to teach from time to time and mix it up (nice to get out of the guide frame of mind for a while).

Gordon joined us about half-way through when we were working on lateral balance. The drills we went through were good for him to develop balance over the outside ski without the need to push the outside foot away for braking. He needed to be more patient in the turn and learn on consistent balance (from start to finish), especially in his short turns. The session really helped him. He has really started to come a long way in his long turns (skiing the most dynamically I have seen him with his long turns in the off-piste in Nevados). His use of cross under was also something new and I wanted him to take that approach into his short turns as well. It’s coming on. He’s on some big wide skis, so not ideal for the task, would really love to get him on some slalom skis to really help develop that movement. He’s going for his level 3 this season in Telluride and I think he should do well. This session also helped him with some teaching ideas too, so it was a good all round session for his skiing and teaching. Nice job Gordon.

No one was in a rush to go in for lunch as we were getting a lot done. It was nice to not be skiing with our heavy packs on too. The boys were fired up so eventually we got into some ungroomed snow (still tough but at least it was broken up now) and took what we had worked on into short turns in the crud. The guys all did well and we did a couple of runs in the nasty stuff. Then by about 2pm it was time for lunch so we did our usual and went to the Alto Nevados for what would turn out to be, out last lunch there. We didn’t get back onto the snow till around 3pm, so we only had an hour before we had to be down at the bottom of Tata for our lift back. As we got outside, I looked up and could some some big puffs of smoke coming up from the mountain. The volcano was erupting! It wasn’t a huge eruption and we could see two different types of clouds, a lighter colored steam cloud that was hanging higher in the air and then a darker ash cloud that stayed lower.

No one seemed to be paying much attention to it; it was pretty much only the gringos that were making any noise about. Last time the volcano erupted it didn’t last for long so we went up the t-bars to the top of the Nono for a better look. Sure enough we could see the top of the Volcan Nuevo and it was definitely erupting. There was no noise though. We took photos and video before skiing our final run all the way down to the bottom of the Tata. The eruption was the icing on the cake for what turned out to be a really positive day (especially after the terrible first run). It was fun to teach the guys again.

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Heading up the Wenche when the sun came out. That was a welcome surprise!

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The cloud slowly pulled away.....

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And then the volcano started firing up!

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Pretty cool way to end the trip.

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Time to take a closer look.

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Yep, definitely letting off some steam (and ash). The Volcan Neuvo probably vents one or twice a week.

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Didn't stop us from enjoying our turns. Richard next to the Nono t-bar.

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Gavin, Nono t-bar.

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Richard.

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Gordon letting them run.

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Carlos our driver for most of the trip and the bottle of Santa Berta wine I gave him. He was pretty happy.

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End of the road for this motley crew!

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Francisco and Eric joined us for our last night altogether. A great way to finish it all off.

- Matt
 
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Sunday 27th August – Leaving Las Trancas

Given that everyone was feeling really tired and the snow had the nasty crust on it (we had also seen a ton of new avalanche activity and had heard of reports of some decent sized avalanches, doesn’t help to have a heavy wet snowfall come in on top of much colder, low density snow), we decided to pull the plug on a half day of skiing in favor of heading down valley a little earlier. I had a lot of work to do myself to get everything settled up and everyone else was ready for a lie in anyway. We left around 1pm with Ramiro coming to pick us up. The van was a little cramped but we had enough for 5 people plus lots of luggage.

We stopped in at Wuatonchi’s in Chillan for some last-minute asado. The food was really good, better than the first time. I had this massive slab of pork ribs that was cooked really well, lots of meat on it this time, plus some spicy sausage and then all the potatoes and trimmings from last time. The Cantador was in full blast, but with no seniorita's on our table, he pretty much left us alone. I was very full when I had finished. Then it was another 1.5 hours on to Concepcion. Ramiro dropped us off at the Ibis and then we arranged to all meet up for dinner at 7pm.

Gordon was on a mission to find some Chilean Sea Bass so we opted for sea food in a little enclave on the coast. We grabbed a cab and took the 20 minute drive to the place we had been recommended. It was a seafood restaurant with a pretty big menu, all in Spanish with very little English spoken. All good though! They didn’t have sea bass so we all had different seafood dishes. I had some fried fish but couldn’t eat much of it as I was still full from the night before. We headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Richard and Gavin were up early the next day and left before 7am back to the UK. Jacques, Gordon and I weren’t leaving for Santiago till 330pm. There were no problems and we made it into Santiago around 5pm. In the meantime, we had heard about all the floods in Houston and finally I got a text saying that my flight with United (and Gordon’s) was cancelled. We were stuck. Jacques flight back to LA via Dallas was still on but Gordon and I would have to work on a plan b. The United counter didn’t open till 7pm so we had some time to kill. Finally at 7pm, I was able to talk to someone. Indeed the flights were cancelled (Gordon was speaking with his travel agent back in the US and she was saying United wouldn’t be flying back to the Houston till at least the 1st Sept) so I’d have to find another way back. Gordon was using air miles so under the conditions of his ticket, it was non-transferable meaning he couldn’t fly with another airline. I could though.

The girl at the ticket desk after a lot of searching, she was able to put me on an Air Canada flight to Toronto and then back down to Denver the next night. A long way round but I’d take it. Jacques then jumped on his flight and we checked into a hotel close to the airport. I discovered that I would need a visa to transit through Toronto. This could add another layer of complexity! The next day (Tue 29th) I was up early trying to find out about this visa and do the online application. The internet connection at the hotel was really slow and the application I needed to fill out kept crashing. The hotel let me hardwire into their internet connection and that helped a little, but I tried 3 times to complete the application but it would not let me submit the payment to complete the process so no dice. Oh great, no visa!

I found the local number for Air Canada and called their Santiago number. They confirmed that I did need the visa and wouldn’t be allowed to fly without it (I have a UK passport and am a US Green Card holder). Now I was really stuck and it was all becoming a little stressful. I decided to call United and see if they had any other flights they could try to get me out on as Air Canada couldn’t change my ticket (only United could do that). The agent was very helpful; he found flights back to Denver via Dallas and Miami with American. The Dallas flights were not letting him confirm the seats so he put me on the Miami flight. It was a longer route but I was happy to have a booking that didn’t have me going via Canada. I was hopefully all set; I’d be flying out that night at 9pm. That was a big relief.

I left early for the airport and was there by 530pm. Check in wasn’t open till 6pm but I got in line anyway. I checked in by the automated kiosk and everything was a go. They even had a somewhat low price to upgrade to business so I treated myself. The rest of the flight was full so I appreciated a little bit more room. I checked my bags in and was all set. After some dinner it was time to head through security and immigration to the gate. All went smoothly (take the upstairs priority security/immigration check and you are laughing) and I went on board. It turns out business class is very nice! I can’t get used to it though; this will likely be a one off. I made it to Miami (man it’s humid in that airport, so it was definitely time to change into shorts/shirt) and then made my flight to Denver. Now I’m home. Gordon is still in Santiago enjoying the city and seeing the sights.

That’s pretty much the end of the adventure then. I have to say I really enjoyed myself this year; it was a very positive experience. I got to explore a lot more terrain and am really seeing the potential of Nevados. It’s such an amazing mountain with great terrain and options for all levels of skier/boarder. The options for low angle, safe powder skiing are really impressive. That’s what separates it from other destinations. Gulmarg has the same steeps as Nevados, but lacks the lower angle options (apart from tree skiing lower down) that Nevados has. The food was really good too, especially at the Cabanas los Hualles where stayed (thanks Francisco, Barbera, Jaime, Ignacio and all the team there) and we found some great local eats too. I’m very happy go continue staying in Las Trancas, that is working really well.

The only challenge we had was the weather, it actually snowed too much. That’s only the second time I have ever said that (the other time was my first time in Gulmarg back in 2008 when it didn’t stop the entire trip and we only got to the top of the gondola 2 days out of 2 weeks). Not having some of the upper lifts open was regrettable, but there was nothing we could have done about that. The cultural day works well when it is storming up on the mountain (not sure if the truffle hunting is a viable option if we are down in Chillan and it’s a bad day, we’ll have to see about that one, I think the markets work better in that regard). It’s also a place where we can take all levels of skiers and boarders and work on technique and have that as a program too, not just the guiding for more experienced riders. I’m already looking forward to 2018. Well, that’s it for now in terms of the writing, I’ll be adding plenty of video’s in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

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Our amigo the cantador, in full voice! Gordon was loving sitting next to the speaker......

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The pork was amazing. Thankfully Ramiro had room for some intestina as well!

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Our last night altogether in Concepcion, enjoying some seafood by the beach.

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An Uber XL in Concepcion has plenty of room for 3 guys and their luggage! Thankfully it was only a 6 minute drive to the airport from the Ibis.

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The windows were pretty dirty, but the view of the Andes was pretty good from our hotel near the airport in Santiago.

- Matt
 
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Mattadvproject

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Ok, it's video time. I started filming a video blog as well. I didn't do it every day, but most days. It normally starts with an intro and then I edit in some skiing or video of whatever else we were doing. The first few days were with Kim. We worked a lot on technique and definitely skied a lot of groomers at the start, so you don't get to see too much of the mountain. That comes a few days in when we get out into Tres Marias. Hope it gives you a better feel for what we were doing. For anyone that is interested in coming out next season (definitely want to have a Pugski trip go out) then dates and costs are almost ready for 2018. Space will be limited as I have everyone from this summer coming back and I have people that came to Japan last season also coming back. Will speak to the powers at be here at Pugski and come up with a set of dates that works for everyone.


- Matt
 

TonyC

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Nevados does have the highest snowfall in South America at over 10m a year.
I have little doubt that Nevados has the highest average snowfall of any lift served area in South America. But is there any actual data supporting the 10m claim? I'm guessing not, because reporting down there is generally weak, and Chillan is one of the hardest places to get any current info.

That's a big reason these reports are so informative. I'm just reading this for the first time today. Liz and I were quite busy during the time frame of your trip, not thinking much about skiing after we were done with Mammoth Aug. 3. https://forum.pugski.com/threads/solar-eclipse-2017-discussion-thread.5566/page-15#post-135466

I read a lot in these TR's about having lunch and/or crossing the bridge to Hotel Alto Nevados. With the various road adventures, it sure looks tempting to stay there.

In terms of long term snow stability, I would think that's a very coastal snowpack, should be quite stable in contrast to Gulmarg. Obviously with the storms and wind loading your were getting, you needed to be vigilant on this trip.

We will keep an eye on this trip in future seasons. We would want our own rental car to stay down there longer and visit some other places.

As I noted in the general South America thread, the overall ski industry there is having an extended run of seasons worse than California had from 2012-2015. But Chillan has the best overall track record, the terrain looks fun and we would like to give it a shot sometime.
 
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I have little doubt that Nevados has the highest average snowfall of any lift served area in South America. But is there any actual data supporting the 10m claim? I'm guessing not, because reporting down there is generally weak, and Chillan is one of the hardest places to get any current info.

That's a big reason these reports are so informative. I'm just reading this for the first time today. Liz and I were quite busy during the time frame of your trip, not thinking much about skiing after we were done with Mammoth Aug. 3. https://forum.pugski.com/threads/solar-eclipse-2017-discussion-thread.5566/page-15#post-135466

I read a lot in these TR's about having lunch and/or crossing the bridge to Hotel Alto Nevados. With the various road adventures, it sure looks tempting to stay there.

In terms of long term snow stability, I would think that's a very coastal snowpack, should be quite stable in contrast to Gulmarg. Obviously with the storms and wind loading your were getting, you needed to be vigilant on this trip.

We will keep an eye on this trip in future seasons. We would want our own rental car to stay down there longer and visit some other places.

As I noted in the general South America thread, the overall ski industry there is having an extended run of seasons worse than California had from 2012-2015. But Chillan has the best overall track record, the terrain looks fun and we would like to give it a shot sometime.


G'day Tony,
Thanks for the message, nice to hear from you as always. No, no scientific source of information to back up that claim other than what I have read on other websites (Powderhounds) and read in books (World Snowboarding Guide) and yes, not much historical data to back that up, if any. Nevados is in an ideal location to pick up the prevailing storms than come in from the West and the South Pacific.

As you know, there was a lot more snow than last season. The storms came in early and just kept on coming. For only the second time, I actually hoped it would stop snowing (first time being Gulmarg 2008!). The constant stormy on the mountain got a bit much. Oh well, a good problem to have. Having said that though, Francisco (my business partner in Nevados) said although there was a lot more snow, it was still just a typical season. Awesome, I'm ready to experience a really good season then. It was a very good season down south in Chile. I didn't keep too much of an eye out on the more northern resorts, but places like Nevados de Chillan, Corralco and Antillanca further south, all had good seasons (or, as I should say, are having good seasons as they are all still operating with great coverage). Nevados de Chillan is approximately 500km further south from Santiago and the resorts in that area. The weather systems that affect Nevados de Chillan seem to be different than the northern resorts. They have not had a great year this season, but they had a good one the season before (Nevados had a shocker by their standards, but I still had a great time, there was plenty of good skiing to be had).

Yes, the immediate avalanche concern is fresh snowfall, wind-loading (definitely a concern in certain areas, but they are easily avoided) and rapid temperature rise on northern aspects. There is one area that slides all the time (the often massively wind-loaded ridge that runs parallel to the Wenche and Cornisia chairlifts, see previous photos) but it is pretty obvious and easily avoided. The area next to the resort boundary near the Otto chair is also an area you have to be careful of, but the snowpack does seem to be more stable than (as you mentioned it) Gulmarg, for example. It's not far from the ocean so definitely maritime in influence. Even if the avalanche danger is higher, you can still find fun off-piste lines to ski (Tres Marias being an obvious example). There's plenty of options for touring as well (again, even if the avalanche danger is higher) and it's very easy to find untouched lines. I'm really enjoying the skiing in Nevados de Chillan.

We stay in Las Trancas for a few different reasons. Firstly, it's an awesome place to stay. The accommodation we have is really nice and Las Trancas has a lot of really nice restaurants and a few different bars that are nearby, so you get to explore a bit more and interact more with the locals. I do really like the Hotel Alto Nevados (as you have seen, we spend a lot of time up there anyway), but it's in a pretty isolated spot up on the mountain. Once you are there, apart from the hot springs, there's not much else to do. I prefer the variety that Las Trancas gives you. If you had your own vehicle, then getting away would be easier, but then you have to face that road and no doubt use chains which might be inconvenient to some. Again, I'd rather let our driver deal with all of that.

I also get to deal directly with the owner of the accommodation we stay at, he speaks fluent English and he's a great person to work with. We have a strong working relationship and dealing with him makes my life so much easier. That's always one of the biggest headaches I have when organizing trips is the accommodation. That's pretty easy in this program. The accommodation in Las Trancas is a lot less expensive than up on the mountain and that helps me to keep my overall rates down low. Yes, the drive up to the mountain can be a bit of a pain in the butt sometimes, but it's not the biggest headache and certainly not inconvenient enough to justify the massive rice-hike that a program staying at the Alto Nevados would entail. For my second group, we pretty much had a vehicle to ourselves and we didn't have to wait on anyone else. That worked pretty good.

In general, you still need to go to South America with an open mind and a relaxed attitude. It's not just the road, but other things like the lifts opening on time, speed of service in restaurants, things like that, that might not run as efficiently as some Western resorts. If you can cope with that, then life down south will be just fine! Roll on 2018, we'll be out there again in August/September and hopefully we'll have some of the Pugski crew in attendance too. Nevados de Chillan is a special place and well worth a look. You are more than welcome to join us.

Kind regards,
Matt
 

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In general, you still need to go to South America with an open mind and a relaxed attitude.
I'm well aware of that after two trips to Las Lenas, particularly the part about getting lifts open. Chillan is a better fit for Liz than Las Lenas IMHO so we will be keeping this trip in mind.
 
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Ok, time for more video's. I thought I'd skip ahead a few days into the trip, when Gordon arrived and we started skiing together with Eric. Let's move forward to Monday the 14th of August then. It was a powder day, but the sun wasn't out at the start. We started in the main bowls of the Freeride Zone near the Otto chair before heading out of bounds into the sidecountry. The stability was really good and we started to push into some more aggressive lines. This is what we found......

First runs in the main bowls. The light wasn't the best but the snow was good.


The visibility started to improve and as we gained more confidence with the snow, we started to push into some steeper lines. We got first tracks in Eric's favorite run, "Supertubes." I'd skied that before but never gotten first tracks and had never crossed the valley. It was a great run.


Then we headed to the "Elephant Rock" area, near the Cornisia lift. This is a safer part of the line to ski, unfortunately the cloud was just sitting on the edge of the line but at least we got a few really nice turns in before we hit pea soup.


Gordon's thoughts on day 1.

- Matt
 
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The next day, Eric lead Gordon and I on a tour to the Valle Hermoso, a whole other area to the side of the ski area. It took about an hour to skin there. The going was pretty easy at the start, it was mellow with a couple of downhills (always fun with skins on and the bindings unlocked in touring mode) and the only technical part was towards the end as we had to climb up the backside of the Pirigallo peak. That was a little bit more technical with some steep climbs and mandatory kickturns. The view of our line and the valley was amazing, what a zone! It looked untouched but when we got on it. it was hardpack. The wind had hammered it. Thankfully about halfway down, the snow was sheltered and we found great conditions. The 2nd half of the run was really fun then. We skied down to a sulphur pit and then had to do a quick bootpack over the ridge to get back to the frontside of the mountain and down to the ski area. We had a long lunch and then Eric and I headed back up to check out the Tres Marias area. I'll edit and post that video next. Here is the adventure over to the Valle Hermoso......


- Matt
 

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The next day, Eric lead Gordon and I on a tour to the Valle Hermoso, a whole other area to the side of the ski area. It took about an hour to skin there. The going was pretty easy at the start, it was mellow with a couple of downhills (always fun with skins on and the bindings unlocked in touring mode) and the only technical part was towards the end as we had to climb up the backside of the Pirigallo peak. That was a little bit more technical with some steep climbs and mandatory kickturns. The view of our line and the valley was amazing, what a zone! It looked untouched but when we got on it. it was hardpack. The wind had hammered it. Thankfully about halfway down, the snow was sheltered and we found great conditions. The 2nd half of the run was really fun then. We skied down to a sulphur pit and then had to do a quick bootpack over the ridge to get back to the frontside of the mountain and down to the ski area. We had a long lunch and then Eric and I headed back up to check out the Tres Marias area. I'll edit and post that video next. Here is the adventure over to the Valle Hermoso......

- Matt

Man, that was Ice-tastic! Glad you got some good turns in the middle there.
 
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Man, that was Ice-tastic! Glad you got some good turns in the middle there.

Ha ha! Yes, the top kinda sucked (and you heard my laugh at the bottom of the crappy part), then thankfully it got really nice in the middle part. That definitely made it worthwhile, in terms of the skiing at least. In terms of skiing and exploring a whole new zone, it was still a win. I can't wait to ride that valley in good snow. Here's one of my favorite video's from Nevados de Chillan that shows how good the skiing in that area can be, when the snow is good........ The skiing from Valle Hermoso starts around the 0:57 mark.


Thanks for your comment dbostedo!

Kind regards,
Matt
 

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