Trip to the South of Chile

We just got back from a snowboard trip all over Chile's Ski resorts to check out the conditions hitting up El Colorado, Valle Nevado, Portillo, Pucon, Corralco, Los Arenales, and Nevados de Chillan. Here's a quick rundown of the resorts as of mid to late August:

Portillo Ski Resort: August 12, 2008 Snow Conditions: Good Snowpack, lots of powder. It was a kind of far day trip from Santiago, taking around 2 hours to get there but the lift lines were practically empty and it was powder for the taking. They even added another 5 person rastre. which provides access into the trademark steep lines and chutes of Portillos resort. We hit up all the runs and ended the day with a couple backcountry hikes for pure dry pow slashes.

El Colorado Backcountry: August 13, 2008 It can be a bit hard to see on a greybird day at El Colorado ski resort because there is a lack of trees for depth perception. So you end up getting dizzy and unable to tell which direction you are heading. Luckily we found a run through the rocks into Farellones that we could see alright. So we dropped the chute into the slushy pow and pointed it for a fast double rock drop. After that we called it a day.

Pucon: August 16 & 17, 2008 There was some fresh powder coming in for us in Pucon and we arrived to the resort with great conditions, bluebird and pow. Unfortunately the lifts weren't open so we hiked some runs through the trees and slid some logs. On the second day it had warmed up in most places and the resort was filled with ice. That didn't stop us from finding pow in the trees, but it resulted in some fresh board chips from negotiating the woods and a bit of hiking around.

Corralco: August 18, 2008: The resort is only open from Friday to Sunday and since we showed up on a Monday we had to find our own means to ride once again. After the amazingly scenic drive to the resort, with some very rare sun for the area we were stoked to have driven this far. You have to drive through a one car road which is carved out of snow taller than the roof and arrive at the volcano. From the parking lot we shredded along the side of the road above the drivers as they followed us down. Then we built a road gap and hit it up a few times.

Los Arenales: August 19, 2008 As we arrived it started snowing and the road to the lodge was covered with snow from the parking lot. We realized that we were spending another day hiking around. The only other people in the parking lot were some military skiers out on a mission into the snowy abyss. We hiked around in some trees and snapped some photos.

City of Chillan: August 19, 2008 Nightime: Sidenote for first time travelers to Chile: Our friend fell asleep while he was watching a truck full of snowboard gear in the Chillan jumbo parking lot. he forgot to lock any of the doors and he was parked in a dark corner of the supermarket. Apparently this parking lot is crawling with thieves who proceeded to steal 3 backpacks out of the inside of the truck while he was sleeping! Amazingly they couldn't get the snowboards in time.

Nevados de Chillan: August 20, 2008 It snowed a little overnight and the drive up to the mountain was beautiful. Some of the key chairlifts weren't working, so you were forced to take t-bars most of the way up. We had some girl beginners to circle-bar lifts and they had a tough time making it up on the things. The chair operators were of little help to these innocent girls and he would yank the handle and send them flying whether the were ready or not. Definately bad customer service by the lifties at Nevados de Chillan. There is a ski and snowboard contest going doing there the 21st and 22nd of August and they were building the park up with a boardercross, jumps, rails, and boxes. The park was in a cool spot in the steeps and I enjoyed this addition to Chillan's snowpark features. We headed all the way to the top of the mountain and checked out the volcanoes Old Chillan and New Chillan which were sending off volcanic steam. There was a cool mound of snow and we popped some ollies in front of the volcanoes for the camera. Then we shredded some fun pow mixed with icy patches. There were definately some goods out there, but it was hard to avoid bumping around on ice. It was really surprising to see the lack of base Nevados de Chillan has this year. We attempted to do some familiar tree runs, but there wasn't enough space in between the trees like usual and it was harder to negotiate the deep valleys on your shredstick without having to hike or one-foot a bit. It was fun to shred but not as good as years past.