My sister came to Chile!...our adventures Part I

Nevados de Chillan was the goal.
Begin long bus ride.

Mountains on the left, we are going south.

Follow the green line.

Special reading material aka best thing my sister brought from home for me. Winter is coming...

This place is beautiful. Unlike the skiing outside of Santiago, there are trees!! and bushes and greenery when you look down the valley. The skiing was really good. So so much snow, thus all the runs were open. Conditions were warm and kinda springy, but very fun the same once the bowls got some sun.

Katie photographing the gnar.

Going up the chair.

Off Las Tres Marias, the longest ski run in Chile, we stumbled across a giant kicker in the nearby backcountry. We sat down to watch some skiers session it.

This was cool.

Unknown skier. Throwing an off axis spin with grab after hitting the jump switch. Really impressive stuff.

The jump and the surrounding wilderness. Beautiful. So much ski-able terrain all at a fairly gentle angle.

Katie, ripping.

...more to come from this trip....

Oh, let's go skiing again- Valle Nevado, Chile

Getting stoked. (and no I did not ski in jeans, we were taking a look at the mountains while our driver threw some chains on).

Oh ya, it snowed a ton before this day. Good thing I knew that before going up hahah. The resorts were reporting 4 cm fresh and it barely sprinkled the night before in Santiago. First time I have ever skied this much powder (8-16 inches) on skis that were ~78 mm underfoot. Someone give me credit for this.

Here is a pic. K2 Apache Chiefs, the last person who used these skied more rocks than snow. No worries.

The best snow was down low. With a base of 9,000 feet, that can happen. Especially because this has been a dry snow year for Chile, with really high winds.

This is a picture of the false summit at Valle Nevado that is to the left of the central (lift-served) peak of the resort. I hiked this to drop in off a lil cornice and get some untouched lines. Good hike and great skiing. Nothing like a drop into high speed powder turns.

This is kinda what I did. Hard to see in the flatish light and from the perspective of where this picture was taken from. But, orange is hiking, green is skiing.

Great Day!! I have a lot more respect for everyone who skiied powder prior to the year 1998 and the reality of fat skis. A lot more work, but still so so worth it. Cannot wait for December, in the Sierra Nevada, to ski pow with the fam and friends.

So this one time we went to a Las Vegas party...

this entire suit cost under $14 US dollars.

2nd day of skiing I believe...El Colorado, Chile- July 30

This was an early morning. Metro stop Manuel Montt at 6:30 am.


Cloudy day, but did not matter, never complain about the Andes. Things never softened up though so it was a day of ripping groomers. Or in Chile, ripping something that does not have a bulletproof wind/sun crust and had some machine passed over it the night before.....

Serious lunching.....

Then around 3 it got really cloudy, I mean really cloudy. I think is picture of me is in a cloud. Could not see more than 2-3 meters ahead. Hence slow turns back to the terrain park to spend the rest of the day.

Winter Break Travels-Pt.3- San Pedro (continued)

What to do on a slow Friday night in Santiago when you have to get up before 7 the next morning? Update the Blog!

More San Pedro.........

Leaving the geysers to go swim in a hot creek. This picture was taken at the guard station just as the sun was coming up from Bolivia.


Vicuna in the brush on the way between the geysers and the hot springs. Similar to llamas/alpacas I believe. They eat the seeds of the desert brush to survive.

Just over a random rocky hill lies this creek. It is visible from the distance though because of the steam rising from its hot waters. Why is this creek awesome? Because it is moving water that is naturally heated. Also it is hidden and hard to reach, thus we were the only people in the water.

O ya, still below freezing outside, even in the sun. Ice all around the creek.
After getting out of the hot springs. This was a great time. Probably 10 of the group of 20 actually got in the water. All young people from western europe and us gringos! woo! Even after spending 20 minutes in the hot creek, my swimsuit still froze to a rock, in the direct sun, after taking it off.

More desert. And a frozen river. and salt

Then our guide led us on a hike. In the desert. This did not seem too appealing especially when considering the surroundings.....(for me the desert is beautiful in the morning and at night)

......more of the same

The suddenly,
Our guide took us into this beautiful little box canyon with a creek in the middle. Since it is fed by snowmelt, it was rushing by the time we arrived. This was a beautiful little spot. Potentially the highlight of the day.

Had to put in another shot of this creek. Way cool in the middle of the driest desert in the world.


en fin, for the adventures for that morning at least......

Winter Break Travels-Pt. 3-San Pedro de Atacama

Drive through the desert.....

Debatably the best p&s picture I have taken on this trip. San Pedro at dusk with Vulcan Licancabur in the background.
or maybe this one...
San Pedro de Atacama. Famous as a high desert oasis, which allowed for early indigenous (and now tourist life) for centuries. The majority of the town lies above 7,900 feet. It is a pretty little town of adobe structures and small dirt streets. In the last 10 years it has become the tourist destination north of Santiago. Almost every shop in town is either a shop selling assorted llama clothing or is a tour company. Because much of the beauty here needs to be accessed by car, tour companies make a killing shuttling tourists all around. Regardless of the 'tourist trap' aspect to this town, using tours is worth the money. They take you to some great spots. for example...

El Tatio Geyser tour

3:45 am start....

On the shuttle ride out to the geysers from town. About an hour and 40 minutes. Coldest I have ever been in my life. I did not dress nearly enough for -18 Celsius ~ -1 Fahrenheit. Only sweat pants and a few jackets and a beanie. With all my years of skiing in sub-zero wind chill, I was the least dressed for this trip.

Cameron and I were stoked regardless of the cold, the early start, the back of the bus, car sickness, 2 hours of sleep, and the frozen window.

Here is the van and the geysers just starting to get active, before sunrise.
At this point it was so freezing cold, still well under -10 degrees Celsius.
Breakfast being prepared (sweet tour company).


It was so cold that me and this French lady remained in the van in front of the heaters while everyone at breakfast outside. We did not mind at all. Inside the van we could still see our breath. The geysers go off between 6-8 am. They are best to view early when it is cold and all the steam is visible.
View of the smaller geyser field.


This is some significant geological formation. I was too cold to think. My favorite part of the tour was when we got to walk around. I ran. Our tour guide was hilarious. Like a young santa claus with a giant down jacket and rosy cheeks. He articulated good Spanish. Then said everything again in sing songy english, hilarious to listen to. But I give him credit for trying to accommodate everyone on the tour.

Ya once again, no idea what this thing is, he said it was over a thousand years old I think..

They have a lot of fences and safe, marked paths in Chile. (joke!) Water ran all over the ground in the valley with all these geysers, crazy. Also all of this is occuring at around 13, 800 feet.

Last pic for this post....Part dos for San Pedro on the way......I have a lot of pictures from this place.

In this picture, the protagonist. With one towel over the shoulders for warmth. And two around the waist to keep in the heat on the legs (this works!).
In the background: chile's version of sage brush and stuff coming out of the ground. Again to coold to know if it was just steam or not. Proxima vez, mas abrigado!!

Winter Break Travels-Pt. 2-Antofagasta

Antofagasta is the fastest growing city in Chile. It is located up north about 19 hours in bus from Santiago. It was originally part of Bolivia, but won by Chile in the War in the Pacific in the late 1800s. The town is situated right on the Pacific Ocean. It is wedged between the rocky coast and a coast mountain range. The dynamic is as if Palm Springs was on a rocky beach. Beautiful place with arguably the nicest people I have met in Chile. The economy is doing well here, everything revolves around copper mining.
2 views of the city.

This picture is from a copper exhibit at the museum next to the old Bolivian nitrate plant. All the copper in the pieces displayed below originally came from this region.

A view of the ruins and the museum.

In the center of the downtown area is the Plaza de Armas. In the center of the Plaza is a large clock tower. It was a gift from England to Antofagasta, because England operated many of the most successful mining companies in Chile back in the day. Now almost all of them are state owned, I believe.
Clock town with Cathedral in the background.

Hector, my chilean friend who lives in the same house as me, had me over to his place while I was in town. His mom is an amazing cook. Highlights-homemade salsa and lots of fresh palta (avocado). This is was a portion of the table at lunch, not including the meat and rice of course.

Winter Break Travels-Pt. 1- La Serena

The reason this series is labeled "Winter Break Travels' is because here in Chile it is winter time, and I traveled in the time between semester 1 and 2. That too is backwards. Their summer vacation occurs between the first week of December and March. Thus I have just started semester 2 in school, whereas everyone in the US is about to start semester 1. Anyways, end of explanation

Part 1-La Serena


We stayed at a great hostel about a 10 minute walk from the bus terminal. Hostel Balmaceda is only about 8 US dollars a night during midweek for 5 people to have their own apartment at this hostel . This includes a working kitchen, private bathroom, living room and nice/clean sleeping quarters. This place is run by a super nice family that loves gringos. We had a amazing time here especially because we could walk to a nearby market and cook dinner each night. Cannot wait to go back.

Just down the street from the hostel lies the main drag in La Serena. This road connects the Plaza de Armas (town square) with El Faro (pictured below). La Serena was a Spanish port and military outpost, and El Faro stands as the Spanish's most obvious military presence in this town.


Just beyond this is the beach. Nearby city of Coquimbo in the background.

Great colonial architecture all around La Serena.

Daniella II. This restaurant had an amazing lunch deal. bean + pasta = porotos, plus beef and rice, plus pan (bread) for $4 us dollars. Lunch deals are the way to eat well in Chile.

All in all a great trip. La Serena is low key and only good in the non-beach season for 2 or 3 nights. Sight seeing is abundant if you enjoy looking at lots of old churches, but I recommend it regardless.
Next time I go up this way (7 hours north of Santiago in bus) I will be sure to go east in the Elqui Valley where the Chilean pisco industry resides. On the tops of the surrounding mountains also lie some of the best observatories in the world, often open to the public. Next time...