South America 2009 Thread

**marketsherpa** · 10-15-2009, 02:39 PM

Valle Nevado Heli Trip (VN/3 Valleys) Review:

Me: 190lbs, 6'1', Rossignol S7 Barras, 188cm

First week of September, 2009

Haven't seen any heli reviews on Valle Nevado heli so this might be useful to others.

Valle Nevado (+ Parva/Colorado) is a vast, above the tree line resort in Chile, located outside of Santiago. This resort area connects to La Parva and El Colorado. Some reports say these resorts combined have 20,000 skiable acres but I doubt that. Don't get me wrong - it is vast but 3.5x as large as Vail? No way. Altitude of base is 9,500 feet and peak is around 12,500 feet at VN. At the resort, if you want to have fun, you will spend 90% of your time off-slope which is easily accessed without fear of getting lost unless the pea soup fog rolls in which happens with regularity. 95% of terrain is off-slope with very few folks sticking to the groomers. When it snows, off-slope will reward you will unchallenging but super-pleasant endless powder fields, gullies, windlips, some decent steeps and jawdropping views. Crowding is non-existent and frequently I would feel I had the entire mountain to myself. For what its worth, the folks I heli skied with, who had returned to this spot for the third time running and had skied LL, Portillo and Termas, insisted VN was the best all-round spot for South American skiing. This is surprised me because I have come across opposing opinions on this subject in favor of LL and Portillo.

Santiago seemed super nice, obsessively clean, more affluent and westernized than you would expect. A proper modern city. Bern, Switzerland meets Charlotte, NC is the best way I can describe it. No tarted- and busted-up chicken and goat laden, black smoke spewing trucks, as you might find in Peru or Ecuador. All the cars on the roads appeared to be brand new and many familiar western establishments are present.

Heli ran $1000 day and you could let the heli office know on short or little notice. Heli pick up and drop offs were made in a shiniest, cleanest helicopter I have ever seen; a EuroCopter AS350 a la Mt Everest landing fame. The chief heli guide and pilot were excellent. We skied heli after a two day blizzard that prevented skiing altogether. Landslides took out a village below and some deaths were reported. Roads were closed for a time. The storm probably deposited 36" in in 36 hrs. Road outages are pretty common.

The Skinny: The heli skiing there was INTENSE. I will be honest, I experienced both skiing bliss and spooked-out fear on this trip. This was no sightseeing "tour". 50% inclines, cornices and narrow chutes were the norm. Powder was about waist deep. Rocky outcropings everywhere and uphill-elbow-gets-dragged-through-the-snow and beware-the-sluff, type of skiing. Skiers are dropped off at around 13,500 feet. Verticals were 6,000 feet. The helicopter would do touch landings with a contact patch that seemed to be only 2-square feet between the bottom of the helicopter and the mountain. Jump out and you could straddle the mountain with your legs like riding a horse. The four of us would struggle to put on our skis, huffing for air at that altitude, in an area the size of a dinner table with spooky dropoffs in all directions. I recall looking down a run, throwing my pride to the wind, and muttering out loud "that is unskiable". But boy, the skiing that followed was amazing.

It should be noted, that before I went down, a colleague of mine had visited the week or two before and got nailed in a category-3 avalanche. The avy caught their group which included Jeremy Nobis and the lead guide from CPG. Fortunately, there was only one injury (CPG). I was told by Miguel Ledda, the chief heli guide, that it was only the second avy event in 20 years.

**bklyn** · 10-15-2009, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by PowderJunkie

...Haven't seen any heli reviews on Valle Nevado heli so this might be useful to others....

Glad you had a great time. There's at least 4 TR's here about VN's heli op. Search them out, they're good and have pics.

**Vihren** · 10-19-2009, 07:18 AM

Is anyone still skiing in Argentina? I am leaving on a trip to Argentina in a week and I would love to get some up-to-date info on the snow conditions in the Bariloche area and on volcano Lanin... Does anyone have a clue how things look like around there at the moment? At what height does the snow start/end on the N face of Lanin? I had a plan to try to summit and ski down if we get good weather while in the area in about 10 days. What about Bariloche? What would be the best options at the moment for short 1-2 day tours with decend spring skiing ( or we are late already?). Anyone in the area planning any skiing and touring in the last days of October-beginning of November? Would be happy to join!! Gracias..

**tomi25** · 10-24-2009, 06:24 PM

40 cm of new snow reported on Bariloche! Seems winter has extended...

**unpossible** · 10-24-2009, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by spantik

Man, if someone drove from CO to LL I want a full TR. That's some epic driving

I second this request.

**steven hatcher** · 10-25-2009, 02:15 PM

So, let me get this straight, people pay mas o menos $1000 to get to S.A., $1000/day to ride in a helicopter, and an untold bunch of money to stay (presumably in Santiago, the most expensive city in S.A.) and eat and party, etc, while they're there for, what, a week? Two weeks? Now that's impressive. And here I thought the world was in a recession. I have no doubt that you didn't have to reserve in advance to spend that kind of money. You compete with no one.

If you wanna know, I can tell you where the helicopters didn't go.

**Catenok** · 11-09-2009, 12:45 PM

Ushuaia is good for tasting those fishy dishes like black hake, codfish, sea bream. I came across there in 1999 and was satisfied with choice and service.