Termas de Chillan, Chile

Conditions in Chile were perfect for tracking the Rare Alpine Skunk. It had been dumping for two days prior to our arrival in Nevados de Chillan.

Nevados de Chillan is reminiscent of Alta, but substantially larger. Mostly above treeline, very steep, very rocky. One major difference between Chillan and Alta is that the Chilean locals can't ski worth shit, so when conditions are good, you've got the steeps to yourself. Unlike Alta and Snowbird, a powder day doesn't consist of 400 local legends-in-their-own-minds elbowing you out of the way in the lift line and cursing at you. As is typical of South American ski resorts, more than half the terrain is only accessible via hiking or skinning. A very cool local phenomenon on the mountain are several volcanic hot springs. Traversing across an awesome, almost-vertical face in hip-deep powder, you'll get a strong whiff of sulfur. Suddenly, in front of you will appear a raging mountain stream erupting from the snow, and the water is hot. Steam billows into the sky.

All the indicators were pointing to a potential Skunk sighting at Nevados de Chillan:

20 inches of fresh powder? Check.

Steep and Deep? Check.

Snow soccer, anyone?

Nobody around. Virgin, untracked powder everywhere. Check.

No pasar? No problem in Chile. Just lift the ropes and go for it.

Yours truly, with CASA Tours owner David Johnson, aka Gomez.

Yours truly with the Antuco Volcano (see perfect snow-covered cone just above my head). Supposedly, when the conditions are right, Antuco can be skinned or hiked, after which you can ski about 6000 vertical feet down to a place called the M.I. Lodge. We had dinner at the M.I. Lodge last night, after which some of the group soaked in the hot springs. I was so beat from shredding hip-deep powder all day, from bell to bell, that I passed on the hot springs and was asleep by 9:15.

A quick plug for Maui Cyclery. My K2 Coombas have been working spectacularly. Great ski.

Looks like a Rare Alpine Skunk has been here.

Here too.

Here too.

The elusive Alpine Skunk is all over this mountain.

For the first skiing day at Chillan it continued to dump. Fantastic skiing, but sketchy visibility. Our adventures were mostly limited to inbounds, even with our hired guides, because skiing off cliffs obscured by weather and falling to our death was not on the agenda.

The second day was truly epic, in the finest sense of the word. Overcast but clear, miles of untracked powder, nobody around except our group. Not one minute spent inbounds, except when we took a lunch break at the lodge.

Miguel Torres Winery

This post is for Kristan K from Detroit and Tomas B from Brno, Czech Republic. Wish you two had been here yesterday.

We drove about 6 hours from Santiago down the "central valley" wine-growing region to Termas de Chillan. An amazing area, with hundreds of wineries lining both sides of the road, as far as the eye can see. On the way, the owner of CASA Tours arranged a gourmet lunch for us at the Miguel Torres winery.

Beautiful place, and the food & wines were amazing. We enjoyed a fixed menu of four courses, each with its own wine. Starting off with champagne and something resembling a bruschetta, we moved on to a white wine with a salad, a red wine with prime rib, and a Riesling with dessert (a crepe).



My friend Tomas B would not have bothered buying bottles to take with him. He simply would have bought a cask.

Miguel must make one helluva wine. Check out all the awards.

More awards.

View from the lunch table. Very civilized.

Hungry skiers. Nobody left the Miguel Torres Winery hungry or sober, including Yours Truly.


The coolest part of the winery was their Garden of Variety, which has every grape they grow lined up next to each other.


This way to the Garden of Varieties

Two varieties of grape. It's the middle of winter here, so of course the vines were empty.

All the varieties.

Smog-iago

Skied La Parva today. Bluebird day, but no fresh snow. Just cruised on the groomers.

Both the Canadian and US "B" teams were training at La Parva today.

Check out these shots of Santiago, aka "Smog-iago", from the top of La Parva (11,000 feet). You can only see Smog-iago until about 10AM. After that, the little you can see disappears into a revolting cloud of smog.








I would estimate Santiago is only 50 miles from the Farallones / Valle Nevado / La Parva area, but of course the vertical distance is 8,000 - 9,000 feet and the road is barely passible. If this were a North American ski area, there would probably be a 4-lane highway (like I-70 from Denver to Vail) which would enable people to make the trip in 35 minutes. With the existing road, the trip takes about 2.5 hours when traffic is light, 4 hours when traffic is heavy.

Back in Santiago tonight. Briefly.

Off to Termas de Chillan tomorrow. BIG storm coming in. Supposedly. We hope.

Farallones / Valle Nevado / El Colorado / La Parva

The road up to Farellones is unbelievably gnarly. Getting an exact count of the number of switchbacks is impossible, but most people say about 65, then another 25 or 30 up to Valle Nevado. The road is so narrow that it is one-way in during the mornings and one-way out during the afternoons. This is the last - and relatively benign - section leading to Valle Nevado. Most of the switchbacks do not have guard rails.

The rescue chopper is more for road accidents (survivors of vehicles falling off the switchbacks) than for ski accidents.



This is the backside of El Colorado, taken from Valle Nevado. You can easily ski from one to the other, but your lift ticket doesn't have reciprosity, so unless you've got skins and are up for a good hike, obey the (very tiny) sign which tells you which resort is where and stay at the resort to which you are ticketed.

Valle Nevado, El Colorado, and La Parva are all above Farallones. Obviously, all are above the tree line as well.

A little alpenglow at the end of a hard day of skiing.

Another Sighting of the Rare Alpine . . . FOX? Hey WTF!?!?!?!

The perfect conditions at Portillo, Chile today led many to believe a sighting of the Rare Alpine Skunk was imminent. Fresh powder? CHECK. Bluebird Day? CHECK.


But then this little fella stole The Skunk's thunder. He showed up at Tio Bob's mid-mountain restaurant, no doubt drawn by the intoxicating smell of lomos roasting on an open spit. A lomo, ubiquitous at lunch in South America (where the beef is to die for) is a hard baguette roll, cut in half lengthwise, with a huge honkin' 3-lb slab of divinely tender seared cow flesh thrown onto it. Usually served alone on a large plate, simply because it's so much food, nobody can possibly eat a lomo and still have room for fries or cole slaw or any other accoutrement commonly served with a sandwich.



"WHAT NO COLE SLAW?????" sniffs the Alpine Fox


What exactly is the altitude at Tio Bob's? And it's only mid-mountain.


But could it be...the Rare Alpine Skunk shows up anyway?

Note the complete absence of any clouds.


Just to show he didn't mind having his thunder stolen by our foxy friend, the Rare Alpine Skunk showed up anyway.



Meet my new friend Bode (yes, that's really his name). Bode is from Holland. He snapped the photos of the Rare Alpine Skunk. Here he admires our powder-8s. Bode can flat-out SKI.


Flying the KSC / Hahnenkamm colors in front of the Hotel Portillo.


This guy must share a press agent with The Fox. He wants in on the act, too.


Portillo is a gorgeous place, but it has its quirks.....

All the upper pistes, and I mean all the upper pistes, are only accessible via these homemade contraptions. 4- and 6-person, hand-welded steel Poma-type lifts. And they're not even on a loop, they are set up on two opposing cables, like the Snowbird cable car. The crazy Chilean cowboys running the damn things send you up like you've been shot off a catapult on a carrier deck, FULL THROTTLE.








Try riding one of these damn things with a couple of snowboarders. At 35 mph.



The cowboy, er "lift attendant" prepares to launch this poor motherf@%$^er like an F-14 Tomcat off a carrier deck.

When it reaches the top, the damn thing just STOPS. You're standing there BACKWARDS (ski tails pointing downhill) with a steel pipe holding you up by your crotch. One by one, the riders have to peel off, ski backwards, and slide out of the ride track, like an alpentour turn.

Every time I completed a ride on one of these things, I checked between my legs just to make sure the original equipment was still intact. Needless to say, I saw dozens of people (especially snowboarders) crash off these things, all day long. On my first ride of the day I was next to a snowboarder, and he ate shit after less than 10 seconds.

Now that I ponder that first ride, I think I LOVE these things. They eat snowboarders by the half-dozen.

JANE! STOP THIS CRAZY THING!!!!!!!!

Micah in Fuerteventura

My friend & cycling partner Micah Buzainis, multiple-time World Windsurfing Champion, is currently in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, racing World Cup.


Micah (US-34) first around the mark. Look how F$#%^&*ing windy it is, and look at the humongous sails these guys are holding down.


11-time World Champion Bjorn Dunkerbeck eats it.



Finian Maynard (KV-11), Micah (US-34), Antoine Albeau (FRA-192)



Probably not a World Cup competitor. Who cares?

Thanks to Micah's father Jay, another friend & cycling partner, for sending along these pikkies. Jay, myself, and Bill Darrah won the Maui Team Time Trial cycling race two weeks ago.