We decided to go with a place called Chile Extremo. It is next to the zoo, and they have newer equipment rentals. We stopped in the evening prior to get all set up so all we needed to do was catch the bus the next morning. The bus was a new Mercedes minibus that had 18 seats similar to a Greyhound bus. It is a high profile (tall...alto en Español) bus with overhead shelves. Seems like a great start.
The ride to Valle Nevado is advertised as about an hour from Santiago. It would prove to be a couple hours both ways due to traffic and road conditions. The road conditions were what we were unprepared for. Once you get off the main drag from Santiago and on to Camino Farellones, the real trip begins. Camino Farellones is the road that carries the traffic to a few different ski resorts, so there is a lot of 'to resort' traffic in the morning and 'to Santiago' traffic in the evening. They really should just make it one way to the resorts in the morning and one way from the resorts in the evening as it really isn't wide enough for all of the busses going to the resorts. You tend to run into traffic going the opposite direction at the darndest times.
Now Camino translates into Road or The Way. In this case it should translate into Camino Cabra as Camino Farellones is really a goat trail and not fit for those without a large life insurance policy and no will to live. Below is the Mapquest map of the road. There are 60 switchbacks on the way to Valle Nevado. That is 60 as in sesenta. The interesting thing about the map is that the road turns white in the graphic about the same place where you get into the snow line.
The next three pictures (found on Google) are taken of the Camino Farellones in the summer, which is the only time it should be used. (click to zoom pictures)
Imagine driving this in the winter where there is heavy traffic and your bus driver is El Diablo with a death wish. He rides closer to the bumper of the vehicles in front of him than a trailer. The brakes squeak each time they are used (metal on metal) and you are in a high profile (tall...alto) vehicle. To top it off, he often passes up to three cars in a row in what can hardly be called the minimal straightaways even when there is oncoming traffic. On switchback 16 we hit ice and broke traction. We slid backward nearly into another bus - which somehow went around us. We slid to a stop just short of a guardrail that didn't look high enough to stop a car, let alone a bus. It was many hundred feed straight down...PANIC! On switchback 18, which had ice and an accident, a half mile backup of traffic pretty much all put on chains (cadenas) -- not El Diablo. It would take too much time to put them on and then take them off on the way down...maybe 5 minutes!
This is what a guardrail looks like - when there is one. The vast majority of the switchbacks, let alone the road, had no guardrails (sin barandas). Perhaps they figured the many potholes would be enough to stop traffic. Though one switchback had a noticeable section of guardrail missing, so guardrails do get at least one use!
Camino Con Hielo - no, it doesn't mean the road to hell...well, maybe it does, but the literal translation is road with ice or ice road. If you've seen that show on Discovery about the the truckers driving the road in Bolivia and called it the worlds deadliest...apparently they don't ski.
There is a sign before each switchback and the little square sign below it tells what curve it is. It is a long way to sesenta!
As you can see by the lift ticket, we did make it TO the resort. Interesting that they print Vive Nieve and Vive Valle Cruz...the living snow and the live cross valley. You cross yourself and say many Hail Marys at least 60 times on the way there even if you aren't catholic.
This is the view from the gondola looking at the base station. First thought is that it is above tree line. There really aren't any trees...it is above cactus line - literally. The snow was plentiful - similar to Northern Michigan. The mountain views were spectacular - the pictures don't do justice.
The peak in the center of the picture is roughly 16,000 feet. I am taking the picture at about 11,000. We are not that far from Aconcagua, which at 22,837 feet (6961 meters) is the hight mountain in the Western and Southern Hemispheres. You can see it on the road to one of the other ski resorts. I'll take a pass.
This picture is about 90 degrees from the previous shot. More or less looking east.
This picture proves we made it to the mountain. We are about 11,000 feet in this shot.
This shot is from the parking lot looking toward the pass we came through on our way here. Yes, we drove through that!
Jeep advertising seems to be everywhere. Apparently that is the only mode of transportation that should be considered short of a helicopter.
This shot is a pair of hamburguesas con queso. Sounds better than two cheeseburgers for $25 USD, but there really isn't a good cheeseburger to be had in Chile - even for 25 bills.
Overall, the skiing was fantastic. It was warm and sunny. Erin skied in a sweatshirt and I wore just a squall jacket. The sun was intense and gafas de sol (sun glasses) are absolutely necessary. We decided that the drive up was worth it. The jury is still out if the drive out and back is worth it though. Even with El Diablo passing cars and driving like a loco it still took 80 minutes to negotiate down the switchbacks. We passed two cows and a donkey right about the snow line. Who'd a thunk? As I told Erin, this is a story she'll be telling for the rest of her life. You choose Chile Extremo for your outfitter and what do you expect? It's next to the zoo!
¡Viva la Vida!
End of post
Looks like it would be fun to bicycle up, or perhaps down, on a weekday when traffic is light and El Diablo is working at his day job as a fight pilot for the Chilean Air Force?
ReplyDeleteMissing you here in Big Rapids, but loving your blog.
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