Yesterday was a bluebird. Today too.
I've been waiting for this weather for the past week. Fired up its here.
(Allman Brothers: Blue Sky)
A big storm hit central Chile over the weekend. Fierce winds. Lots of rain. Howling weather. It was all a bit disconcerting to be honest.
I returned to Las Trancas (Termas de Chillan) from Pucon. The forecasts had been calling for the storm to hit Fri-Sunday. We figured if the temperature could stay at -2 Celsius then any precipitation would hit the mountain as light snow. I spent most of Sunday in the lodge as rain hammered the village. Hard not to get a bit discouraged that the mountain - only 1,000m further up - was washing out. Even if it wasn't raining up there, I couldn't help but think it was getting caked in a wet layer that the wind would quickly turn into a slick face of ice.
By 6pm, as the sun was setting and village getting dark, the rain turned to hail. Later into snow. For the first time in the past couple of weeks it was snowing in the village. It had snowed up at the top of the mountain a bunch, but never in town. Spirits were turning.
I woke early. Bright, sunny & blue sky. Perfect day to rip a hill on skis. Only one way to find out how the mountain faired. I hitched a ride to the lifts - 8km up a winding dirt road. There were 6 of us all crammed into the back of a Toyota pickup.
Just after 9am I was on the lift. The sky still blue and not a trace of wind. The mountain had got a fresh 8' of snow over night. Giddy up. Today would be a good day.
Ripped fresh lines all day. 9am to 4pm.
The only downside was, in typical non-rushed Chilean fashion, the top peak double chair didn't open until 3pm. It took them the entire day to de-ice the chairs. Thus, we had to hike & traverse a quick 10 minutes to get peak to creek runs. Not really an issue. All part of the ski day.
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