after getting out of yerba loca i caught a ride back to santiago to meet up with Nicco and JP. they had been planning a 10 day tour of the southern chile volcanoes for some time and invited me to come along. it sounded awesome and i was pretty bummed and i when i found out i was confused about what day it was (this happens a lot) and they had allready left for volcan antuco (maybe 8 hours south by car). after some self pity i kicked into mission mode, googled ¨ski antuco¨ saw ¨92 km from los angeles¨, grabbed my ski kit and remaining oatmeal packs and hike-metro-hike hustled to the terminal omnibusses just as one was leaving for LA.
it was sept 17, the night before chilean independance day and the red velocidad sign at the front of the bus hovered between 0 and 25 kph for the first 2 hours. when we got to LA at midnight, the bus station is empty and in an emptier part of town. i took my best guess and struck out. of course it starts to rain and i dodged from awning to awning until i got to a more inhabited part of town. internet cafes and hostels were not forthcoming and the only hotel i found was too pricey so like any good ski mountaineer errant (credit) i headed for the liveliest tavern i could hear. i had the good fortune to pick a table next to the owners family and by 1 was enjoying all the pisc-cola i could drink. karaoke started around 2, i doubt finer rendition of ¨she don´t know she´s beautiful¨ has been heard south of the equator. mostly we sang songs like ¨puerto montt¨, and my favorite, one that had a line about los piedras del camino (?) . more importantly, along the way someone drew me a map to antuco. when things shut down around 5 i politely declined offers of youuuu staaay at myyy hoooussse from my new amigo/a´s and started hiking again.
the rain soon came back and i found a shed to nap in for a bit. a little after daylight a woman caught up to me and assured me (in elaborate pantomime) that nobody was going to stop for a hitchhiker and if they did they would cut my throat. at last a bus stopped that said antuco, saved! i payed my $2, and promptly fell asleep. when i woke up the bus was empty and we were stopped with no buildings or side roads (or volcanoes) in site. the driver assured me this was the end of the line, and antucco was only 10k away. i think he was confused about his numbers because roadsigns soon revealed it was over 3 times that. 6 painfully short hitches (including the house-house bread delivery van which isnt any faster than walking but way more interesting) got me to the entrance of the park. the valley below antucco is pretty amazing (and a little like VT down low) and i was well stocked with bread so it was a pleasurable morning. i walked the last 5k or so up to the small ski resort and arrived at 11:00 just as JP, Nicco, Sebastian, Tom and Claudio were hoisting their packs to head up!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
crazy weed
on plomo, drew and i made tentative plans to ski the next week. after a couple santiago rest days i headed back up to farellones (town below la parva) and did a couple skin powered laps through the santa theresa backcountry. at the australian hotel rest days easily turn into drinking days (my cricket bowl is improving...still cant hit anything) and i wasn´t feeling too strong. that night i met drew and some friends for a bbq. drew was excited to check out the yerba loca valley which sounded great to me. it starts pretty low, so the next morning we hitchhiked down to the entrance and spent the day hiking and skiing in to the head of the valley. on the way we passed a group of chilean capital-M-ountaineers wearing helmets, gaiters, shorts over polypro, and harnesses a good 10k from the nearest glacier. they happily informed us that they were headed for the same stone hut we were and there would be plenty of room for all. When we arrived just before dark the casa piedra was just a boulder that you crawl under with a stone windbreak so when no chilean mountaineers showed up we were a little relieved.The next morning we decided to head up La Paloma, another popular (summertime) peak at the head of the valley. the route looked a bit roundabout for a good ski but it looked like a pretty cool peak. when we finally got to the top of the ridge (around 16000´) drew said you aren´t going to believe this. i was thinking a sweet ski line but instead there was a giant open pit mine (copper?) that had to start at over 14000´.
With some daylight to spare we climbed to another ridge in the sun hoping for some good corn which didn´t really materialize. we spent another night in the casa piedra and hiked out the next morning. there is another cool looking peak closer to the road that looked like a great ski but i was feeling a bit lazy and worried about meeting up with nicco and jp to ski volcanoes the next day so we dodged the gaurds at the valley entrance (you are supposed to pay $4/day but we are cheap) and hitched back to town.
plomo
El Plomo is kind of like the local mt rainier for santiago, its big and impressive looking, you can see it from town and its relatively easy to get to and climb. i had enough food left to give it a go and it looked like a great vantage point for checking out the rest of the nearby peaks. The forcast was pretty cold so i figured i would camp relatively low, start early and see where i got to. this worked out pretty well, i had a short day´s ski in to a camp on dry ground around 12000´ and spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun and went to bed early. solo adventures are fun but solo camping is pretty damn boring.
I got going around 3 and with the help of a bright moon and a pretty straightforward route was able to make quick progress, but i was pretty happy to see the sun when it started to light up the NE ridgetops. i got to the top about 9am and spent awhile checking out the views and wishing i had a better map to id the peaks with (got one now). The terrain between plomo and the argentinian border is pretty awesome, i hope to get back in there and explore some more someday. Also had a good laugh at myself, i was worried about the altitued and had been debating whether to turn back at 3 or 330pm i think.
i walked down some flat glacier icy stuff and put my skis on on the top of the face, mostly thinking about getting down safely. As it turned out the skiing wasn´t super steep and the windpacked snow was plenty soft for fun turns. Halfway down i noticed what looked like a tent on the rocks with 2 people by it. i stopped to investigate, a little confused what somebody was doing lounging in the sun at 16000´ at 10am. At a small metal hut i met Drew and Griffon from seattle and utah, they were doing plomo in a day from la parva, drew was skiing on k2 obsethed´s with duke bindings (very heavy alpine skis). most people say this route takes 4 days!
non goofy ski partners wanted for action photos
i had some more great turns down to the valley bottom, got my gear and headed out along the ridge to la parva. this is a little more direct and scenic than the way i came in but ended up being a lot of walking on rocks on the scoured ridgetop. i got to la parva just as the resort was closing, put out my thumb and got a ride from andres and friends. they were climbers and skiers and after a short phone conversation of which i only understood ¨gringo plomo solo! gringo plomo solo!¨ andres offered me a place to sleep at his place in santiago that night which gratefully accepted as i was out of food and ready for some rest.
I got going around 3 and with the help of a bright moon and a pretty straightforward route was able to make quick progress, but i was pretty happy to see the sun when it started to light up the NE ridgetops. i got to the top about 9am and spent awhile checking out the views and wishing i had a better map to id the peaks with (got one now). The terrain between plomo and the argentinian border is pretty awesome, i hope to get back in there and explore some more someday. Also had a good laugh at myself, i was worried about the altitued and had been debating whether to turn back at 3 or 330pm i think.
i walked down some flat glacier icy stuff and put my skis on on the top of the face, mostly thinking about getting down safely. As it turned out the skiing wasn´t super steep and the windpacked snow was plenty soft for fun turns. Halfway down i noticed what looked like a tent on the rocks with 2 people by it. i stopped to investigate, a little confused what somebody was doing lounging in the sun at 16000´ at 10am. At a small metal hut i met Drew and Griffon from seattle and utah, they were doing plomo in a day from la parva, drew was skiing on k2 obsethed´s with duke bindings (very heavy alpine skis). most people say this route takes 4 days!
non goofy ski partners wanted for action photosMonday, September 28, 2009
some skiing at last
after 3 days in the city i was getting pretty ready to ski. Still, the road to the mountains was closed while mudslide debris was cleared (heavy rain caused unstable steep slopes to wash over the road and into some house. tragically, a family was killed when their house was swept away; keeps things in perspective). I gathered a few days of food and what maps i could find in case the road opened up. some very good topos are available for popular hiking and climbing areas, in most places google maps terrain feature and internet cafe printers seem to be the best bet.
Tuesday morning the road opened suddenly and i was able to catch a ride to valle nevado resort. I hadn´t done any real research into the resorts and it turns out Valle Nevado is not where its at (La Parva is). i was able to stay interested skiing some flattish powder fields for awhile and then while hiking for better skiing out of bounds met JP, Nicco and Danica who were skiing the sidecountry of the nearby El Colorado resort. Nicco and Danica are young doctors who work in the clinic at colorado and were able to get me on the lifts there. we skied a few great slackcountry runs and then parted ways when the lifts closed.
Night came quickly i began to have second thoughts about my budget accomodations (bivy sack and a shovel). i neglected to get any gas before in my rush to catch the ski shuttle and was struggling to convince a maintnance guy solo ingles to let me siphon some gas from his sled by waving a msr bottle and 2000 pesos in his face. He is not buying whatever i am selling and i am steeling myself for cold dinner when a woman stops to clear some snow from her jeep. It is Danica! Soon i am eating with friends and spend the next two nights in a bunk above the clinic.
Wednesday i hike up and ski a nearby peak, cerro la parva with a french couple i met at the resort. The powder from the storm is getting pretty wind affected but very stable, time to see some real mountains.
Tuesday morning the road opened suddenly and i was able to catch a ride to valle nevado resort. I hadn´t done any real research into the resorts and it turns out Valle Nevado is not where its at (La Parva is). i was able to stay interested skiing some flattish powder fields for awhile and then while hiking for better skiing out of bounds met JP, Nicco and Danica who were skiing the sidecountry of the nearby El Colorado resort. Nicco and Danica are young doctors who work in the clinic at colorado and were able to get me on the lifts there. we skied a few great slackcountry runs and then parted ways when the lifts closed.
Night came quickly i began to have second thoughts about my budget accomodations (bivy sack and a shovel). i neglected to get any gas before in my rush to catch the ski shuttle and was struggling to convince a maintnance guy solo ingles to let me siphon some gas from his sled by waving a msr bottle and 2000 pesos in his face. He is not buying whatever i am selling and i am steeling myself for cold dinner when a woman stops to clear some snow from her jeep. It is Danica! Soon i am eating with friends and spend the next two nights in a bunk above the clinic.
Wednesday i hike up and ski a nearby peak, cerro la parva with a french couple i met at the resort. The powder from the storm is getting pretty wind affected but very stable, time to see some real mountains.
getting started
apologies for low literary, gramatical and photographic standards. the plan here is to keep folks up to date on my adventures in chile and argentina with a minimum of time on le internet (las internet; das internet¿ fuck i cant even find the question mark and what is alt GR? got it¿)
a storm rolled into chile just after i landed in santiago and closed the roads both to the resorts nearest to santiago and the mountain pass to portillo and argentina. this was ok by me because i needed to figure out a) where i wanted to ski and b) how i was going to get there. i spent the first 3 days exploring the used car lots of santiago, as the plan was to buy a cheap car or truck to live out of and resell after my trip. my rule was that if i got in a bind and had to sell quick for 1/3 the purchase price it should still be cheaper than renting a car for the time i was here. used cars are pricey here and i soon found myself looking at barely street leagal 10 year old xr250 dirtbikes and it still wasn´t working out. so i started looking at the ski possibilities using ski area shuttles and public transportation and realized that there were way more than a couple months of adventures to be had there.
a storm rolled into chile just after i landed in santiago and closed the roads both to the resorts nearest to santiago and the mountain pass to portillo and argentina. this was ok by me because i needed to figure out a) where i wanted to ski and b) how i was going to get there. i spent the first 3 days exploring the used car lots of santiago, as the plan was to buy a cheap car or truck to live out of and resell after my trip. my rule was that if i got in a bind and had to sell quick for 1/3 the purchase price it should still be cheaper than renting a car for the time i was here. used cars are pricey here and i soon found myself looking at barely street leagal 10 year old xr250 dirtbikes and it still wasn´t working out. so i started looking at the ski possibilities using ski area shuttles and public transportation and realized that there were way more than a couple months of adventures to be had there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)