South America 2009 season

I just returned from Catedral, was there last week.  The bottom is all dirt.

The top has LOTS of ice and a little snow, they have NO snow making

There was at least 1000 people on the mountain

Get a Priveldged pass so you can cut the lines

The middle is full of traffic.  If you are a strong skiier try the South side, Very few people, no lines but its a long icey black run

The North side has a fun connector to the middle, N side also has a lot less people

The Flu is BS, I spoke to my cousin who is a leading cardiologist in the US and my son's pediatrician

Both said its just a flu.  If you are not 100 years old, just born, or have an auto immune disease this flu poses no danger to you.  Its just a flu like any other

The media and the politicians are using this to try to control us, dont fall for it

I haven't been to Las Lenas since around 2001.  I think a wealthy Argentine family that owned a milk company owned it then.  I stayed at the Aquarius which was quite nice and had a great view, food, spa.

Who are you guys using to book your reservations to SA ?

Thanks for the news, HUBBSTER.

Right now I'm more worried about the lack of snow then about the flu...

I still have 2 weeks before my trip, hope conditions improve.

I've been checking the forecast, and they are supposed to get some precipitation from today untill Wednesday...

but you know, freezing level is always an issue over there.
I will keep my fingers crossed and my snow dance anyway.

It's coming! 

9 Day Forecast for Valle Nevado (Chile) at 3264m altitude
Issued: 01 am Wed 05 Aug local time

Short Forecast for the next 3 days for 3264 m altitude
A moderate fall of snow, heaviest on Fri afternoon. Temperatures will be below freezing (max -1°C on Thu afternoon, min -20°C on Wed night). Winds decreasing (fresh winds from the WNW on Thu afternoon, calm by Fri night).

		Snow (cm)	Rain (mm)	Max °C	Min °C	Wind km/h	Chill °C	Freezing level m	Sunrise	Sunset
Wed morn- ing (05th)		-	-					2350	7:28	-
Wed after- noon (05th)		-	-					2250	-	18:05
Wed night (05th)		-	-					2200	-	-
Thu morn- ing (06th)		-	-					3050	7:26	-
Thu after- noon (06th)		-	-					2750	-	18:06
Thu night (06th)		4	-					2350	-	-
Fri morn- ing (07th)		2	-					2400	7:26	-
Fri after- noon (07th)		3	-					2450	-	18:06
Fri night (07th)		3	-					2250	-	-

Day 6 to 9 forecast for 3264 m altitude
A moderate fall of snow, heaviest on Thu night. Freeze-thaw conditions (max 2°C on Tue afternoon, min -7°C on Thu night). Mainly fresh winds.

		Snow (cm)	Rain (mm)	Max °C	Min °C	Wind km/h	Chill °C	Freezing level m	Sunrise	Sunset
Tue morn- ing (11th)		-	-					3650	7:22	-
Tue after- noon (11th)		-	-					3550	-	18:08
Tue night (11th)		-	-					3350	-	-
Wed morn- ing (12th)		-	-					3150	7:20	-
Wed after- noon (12th)		-	-					3150	-	18:09
Wed night (12th)		1	-					2850	-	-
Thu morn- ing (13th)		2	-					2600	7:20	-
Thu after- noon (13th)		2	-					2600	-	18:09
Thu night (13th)		8	-					2200	-	-

Bariloche got a big dump last night!

Lets hope things keep improving!

No kidding - heading down there Saturday for 7 days. Could be a long six ski-days in Bariloche unless the snow improves significantly.

Anyone who can recommend any other activities in the area if skiing is truly awful, happy to take suggestions. We will be stay in the center of town.

2.5 feet of new snow yesterday at Catedral. Plenty of other things to do and see. Here are some examples.

 http://livinginpatagonia.com/?page_id=1001

Forecast looks great for the next four days at Bariloche!!!

Snow dancing

It does, except wind is proving to be a problem. Hopefully the gusts die down by this evening and the mountain is able to open Thursday/Friday.

Sitting in town, waiting for a chance to ski before I leave on Saturday........

Unfortunate luck that we chose the one area in Argentina (for our first South American trip, no less) that is having an unbelievably bad season. At least this week, percipitation hasn't been a problem - the temperatures are not cold enough and the wind has closed lifts.

ASL,

Well, at least you can eat some great "bife de chouriço" or "bifes de lomos" with a good bottle of Malbec at Boliche do Alberto, to wait for better weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The things will begin to improve I'm very optimistic!!!

It's snowing right now!!! 

Take a look
http://www.bariloche.org/imagenes/camaras/catedral.html','cerro',0,650,650,0)

Dumpage is good, Valle is looking like it's ready to start any minute.

Things begins to look better!!!!!!

Much better!!!

Now they look like a real ski resort!

Hope the freezing level don't go up, because more precipitation is on the way.

Anyone knows if Chapelco also was hit by this dump?

if anyone has a valle report (other than the web and onthesnow) please post.  Forecast is looking strong over the next 5 days. If we get half of what's predicted, it's still pretty good.

	Days 0-3 Valle Nevado Weather Summary: A heavy fall of snow, heaviest during Fri night. Temperatures will be below freezing (max 25°F on Fri morning, min 0°F on Sun night). Winds decreasing (strong winds from the NW on Fri night, light winds from the WNW by Sat night).									Days 4-6 Valle Nevado Weather Summary: A heavy fall of snow, heaviest during Tue morning. Temperatures will be well below freezing (max 21°F on Mon morning, min -38°F on Wed night). Winds decreasing (strong winds from the WNW on Mon night, calm by Wed night).
Metric Imper.	Fri 14 morn- ing	Fri 14 after- noon	Fri 14 night	Sat 15 morn- ing	Sat 15 after- noon	Sat 15 night	Sun 16 morn- ing	Sun 16 after- noon	Sun 16 night	Mon 17 morn- ing	Mon 17 after- noon	Mon 17 night	Tue 18 morn- ing	Tue 18 after- noon	Tue 18 night	Wed 19 morn- ing	Wed 19 after- noon	Wed 19 night
Wind (mph)
Summary	light snow	light snow	heavy snow	heavy snow	heavy snow	heavy snow	snow shwrs	some clouds	snow shwrs	light snow	mod. snow	heavy snow	heavy snow	heavy snow	heavy snow	snow shwrs	snow shwrs	snow shwrs
Snow in	-	0.8	16.9	6.3	5.5	6.7	-	-	0.8	1.6	3.1	9.1	5.5	4.7	4.7	1.2	1.2	0.4
Rain in	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Max °F	25	25	21	21	21	19	18	19	19	21	19	19	18	16	14	14	16	10
Min °F	23	21	18	19	19	14	12	18	0	19	19	18	16	16	12	10	14	-38
WChill °F	7	3	0	3	5	1	-2	5	-17	3	3	0	-2	-2	-6	-6	0	-38
Freezing level (ft)	9400	8500	7400	8200	7900	6700	6200	6900	8000	8000	7900	7200	6900	6200	5600	5400	5400	3400

Its puking in Valle Nevado!

Finn

When do you leave?  Sounds like you should have great conditions!

Mike

 We have had a good amount of snow in Bariloche this week. Things are shaping up finally!

Soulskier,

Thank you for the updates. I'm part of a group of 42 people who will be arriving in Bariloche on Saturday. This is encouraging!

EC

 I'am in Chapelco right now, they got some good snow this week,
the lower slopes are still thin, but the upper mountain is in good shape.

Yesterday was light snow the hole day.
and today was cloud, with some good snow late in the afternoon.

Some good Patagonian powder can be found from "Silla del Mallín".

Lets hope things keep improving, heading to Bariloche this Friday.

Great !! Good to know!!!!

Keep us posted!!

Have a good runs!

Eduardo

Chillan is a great resort. Were there on 8/8-9. 4 hours drive from Santiago. Lots of great freshies even after 3 days of a dump. We had a lots of fun out bond, virgin snow all the way...a memorable heli skiing like experience with lift served price.Cat skiing is a reasonable $70 per run. 

 Group of 42, goodness. Next time track me down, I can help you with your group travel. Suerte!

The 22-year monthly snow data history from Las Lenas supports the above observation.  August snowfall is less than July, and September is only half August.  These are of course averages, and the variability is far more than in North America.  So the big dumps can sometimes be later than normal, as has happened over the past week.  Some reports from my son Adam, who has been in Las Lenas the past 2 weeks: http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8114

The observation about sun is right too.  I was at Portillo, Arpa and Valle Nevado Sept. 6-13, 2007, it had not snoiwed since August 20 and conditions were very springlike, like early April in the Sierra or Rockies.

Hi Tony, you're said,


" These are of course averages, and the variability is far more than in North America. So the big dumps can sometimes be later than normal, as has happened over the past week."

I agree! Also, my (little) experience told me that in the early years was quite common that season's best just come late in mid Aug, begin of Sept. This happens last year and tree years ago too.

Cheers

 I'm leaving Bariloche today after a week here.

First skied Chapelco (from 18-21) and then came to bariloche.

On August 22 Catedral got a HUGE dump. About 3 feet in 24 hours.
snow was all the way down to lake level
since then, things deteriorated in record time!

It rained top to bottom and temperatures were really warm.
In 48 hours, the winter wonderland became late spring conditions
Yesterday they finally opened the top of the montain and some good spring skiing could be found from Punta Nevada, Lynch, Militares, La Hoya and Condor 3.

Today is raining again... and the freezing level is very high...

Hope they get some good snow before spring finally arrives.

greetings.

Yes, you're right

Conditions seems  to deteriorated very quick since they aren't had enough snow for a good base and, also the temps are changging so broadly!"

Tell us about Chapelco!

Cheers,

 Snowed some and the upper mtn in powder, lower third is dry.

Chapelco is considerably smaller than Catedral.
their runs are shorter but in the other hand you don't spend time in lift lines.

This was the second time I skied there and in both times we had the mountain to ourselves during weekdays.
Don't expect any in-bounds extreme terrain, even their double-black runs are not that hard...

they dont signal every obstacle, even if it's a stream...
My snowboarder friend and I had to take off our gear in order to finish this "run"


We were lucky with snow, a week before we arrive, they had a very thin base... then things began to improve and it snowed the 4 days we were in the mountain.

The town of San Martin de Los Andes is very nice, IMO is much more charming than Bariloche.

Cheers!