Richard & Pete’s Round the world Ski Trip – Part 1 (South America)

I’m not certain how it started, but I think I mentioned to Peter Dennett that one of my old school friend’s was working out in New Zealand and that I was thinking of going out to visit him and do some skiing whilst I was out there.

Before I knew what had happened Pete had invited himself of the trip and had also suggested that we get a ‘round-the-world’ ticket and go skiing in South America as well as visiting Sydney & Hong Kong along the way– ah well there is nothing like going the full hog!!

As Pete had recently skied Asia and Africa – I think he was keen to ‘Knock-off’ South America & Australasia as well – believing that he will have then ‘Skied the World’ (having already done Europe & North America as part of his regular skiing holidays).

As I am always interested in skiing – it didn’t take much to convince me that a ‘round-the-world’ ski trip was a good idea.

This is therefore a record of the trip …

Thursday 18th August

With our first flight, to South America, leaving late in the evening I had arranged leave work early and for Ian Bruce to give me a lift up to Heathrow.

Arriving at Heathrow we all, Ian, Natalie (his girlfriend) and I sat down for a Hot Chocolate and waited for Pete to arrive. With the British Airways - Gate Gourmet dispute still unresolved our main topic of conversation was what, if anything, I was going to get to eat on the flight. Mind you things could have been worse – if we had flown the previous week our whole itinerary could have been thrown into chaos due to all the cancelled BA flights.

Eventually Pete & I are checked in and we say our goodbyes to Ian & Natalie before searching out the departure lounge.

Before long we are ensconced in our seats enjoying the movies on offer and eating the ‘emergency cold rations’ that British Airways had provided. Eventually we dose off (Well as much as you can dose in airline seats!)

Friday 19th August

As there are no direct flights to Santiago from London our itinerary requires our plane to touch down in São Paulo (To refuel and drop of passenger) before continuing onto to Buenos Aires in Argentina. We then have 2 hour stopover in Argentina so we take the opportunity to visit Duty Free and drink a couple of beers once we arrive.

Whilst drinking the beer, we decide it would be a good idea to remind a few ski club members where we are and what we are doing, by sending a few ‘provocative text messages’ (ie ‘We are drinking beer in Argentina – and will be skiing in Chile tomorrow – what are you doing?’) – in fact these text messages were destined to become one of standard ‘beer drinking’ supplementary activities during the course of the whole trip.

With our connection working perfectly we are soon on the local ‘LAN Chile’ flight to Santiago. Whilst the flight to Santiago is not long, it does offer the opportunity for some spectacular view of the Andes – and before long both Pete and I are craning our necks to take pictures and get a good view of the mountains laid out below us. Unfortunately despite some intensive searching we are unable to spot any ski resorts – as the main ski resorts are directly east of Santiago we had felt we might get a glimpse of them – but no such luck.

I don’t know what it is about queues – especially these at airport customs – but even if I choose the shortest I always end up being the last through. Chilean customs proved no better despite choosing a queue with just 3 people in it I was practically the last person through from out flight!

Once through customs our next job was to try and locate our hire car, Pete ever the diligent cost saver had previously used the Internet to identify the cheapest local hire car firm. He told be there would be a man waiting with a sign upon our exit from the arrivals gate – I have to admit I had my doubts that anyone would be there to meet us – but we were however greeted by a nice friendly Chilean who had the keys to our Fiat Uno.

On our way to the carpark in the hustle and bustle of the airport I managed to drop my ski tube, before I knew it another Chilean chap had managed to pick the tube up and was carrying it for me. I Initially think he is with the car hire chap, but by the time he has taken the tube to the car and helped us pack it has dawned on us he isn’t with the hire car guy and that he is after a tip for his ‘work’. I end up tipping him, but due to my unfamiliarity with the Chilean Peso exchange rate I end up giving him more that his 15 minutes work deserved.

We are however soon on our way to hotel with Pete opting to drive. I have heard on many occasions how visitors to a country have gone native, and become more local than the locals. I don’t however think I have ever heard of it happening as quickly as Pete managed it. One our drive to the hotel his driving style went completely native – the Accelerator/Brake were Stop/Go Pedals and he began to take the extreme offence if anyone dared to get in his way – and Red traffic lights were best described as an affront to his civil liberties!

Somehow, and I’m quite certain how, we do safely reach our Hotel, (After a slightly mix-up with it’s slightly posher sister hotel on the same road). The hotel itself is situated in a residential street to the east of city center but just a few blocks south of Los Leons (An area of the City with lots of Restaurants, Bars & Night Clubs – I have to admit Pete had done his research when he booked).

Once we had located our room and after a quick shower we went in search of a method to pass away the hours whilst we tried to acclimatise (ie get over our Jet-lag). We quickly located a local sports bar where we passed away the evening drinking beer and texting various Ski Club members to tell them that we were in Santiago and already drinking beer!!

Saturday 20th August

Jet-lag kicks in and both Pete and myself wake up a lot earlier than we would like, eventually the morning arrives and we breakfast and pack the car with the days skiing gear before heading up to the mountains. Well I say mountains, we assume they are to the east somewhere, but the smog haze over Santiago prevents us actually seeing the 18,000foot mountain range a few miles to our east.

Prior to our trip Pete had thoughtfully printed, from the Internet, of various maps of Santiago and the surrounding area. Whilst the maps for the center of Santiago and the area around our Hotel were very detailed showing most of the local roads, the maps to the east were ‘lacking detail’. However noticing that the main road to the ski resorts was labelled ‘Avenue Apoquindo’ and that this name matched the main road going through the Los Leons area – I thought all we would have to do was follow that road to our destination.

I should have known it would not be that easy, within 30 minutes Avenue Apoquindo has come to a dead end and we are very lost!! We don’t have a detailed map to check our location on and we are even having trouble figuring out which direction is east as we can’t see the mountains or the sun!! We end up driving around the eastern suburbs of Santiago for over an hour before Pete spots a sign post to ‘Los Condes’ which is a town on the way to the Ski resorts.

The final road upto the ski resort is a mostly a switchback unfenced road with a severe drops to oblivion on the ‘dangerous’ side. At the weekends, because of the sheer volume of traffic that goes up to the resorts, the road is restricted to ‘up’ traffic in the morning and ‘down’ traffic in the afternoon. We end up being stuck in the unending stream of traffic going up the hill, to entertain us we count of the labelled hairpins (Ie those that are severe enough to justify a number) and wonder how many there are (There were 40 by the way).

We have choice of 3 base areas in which to ski out of for the day : Valle Nevado, El Colorado and La Parva – we choose to go to La Parva. The three ski areas were historically, initially all separate, but as they have expanded they have become interconnected (though these interconnections are perhaps not as easy or as weather sure as they would be in Europe). We opt to purchase ski passes that will allow us to ski all three ski areas.

With the purchase of the ski pass we walk upto some steps to the slope, put on our skis and head towards the first ski lift, the first lift proves to be a short poma that will allow us access to the main La Parva chair lifts.

I get on the Poma first and Pete follows me, I can’t have been dragged more than 40 meters up the slope when the Poma breaks!! – by break I mean the button (and associated metal bar) has come away from the cord that goes up steel cable- Momentarily I stare at the detached button in my hand wandering what has happened (I know I have put on a few pounds but this is ridiculous!!).

Eventually re-acting - I drop the button and ski to the side of the drag and stop, at this point I realise that dropping the button was a mistake as it is now beginning to tumble down the slope and is probably going to hit the skiers (Including Pete) still on the Poma. In order to prevent this I quickly ski down the slope with the idea of intercepting the errant piece of metal by skiing across it and deflecting away from the skiers on the Poma with my boots. This I manage to do - though I get knocked over in the process.

Eventually picking myself, and the button, up I ski back down to the base station to hand the broken piece of lift to the attendant. My troubles aren’t over however as I gormlessly stand in the way of the returning pomas and promptly get whacked in the back of the head – Ouch!! – was it really worth coming all the way to South America for this!!

After re-queuing I get on the poma and eventually meet up with Pete who was patiently waiting at the top. Now able to survey the La Parva ski area proper. La Parva has 14 Lifts (Including 4 chairs lift) with a base height of 2650m going up to 3630m – we ski past some of the European style chalets that occupy the base area down to one of the main 4 man chairlifts.

After a couple a couple of warm up runs in La Parva, we decide to make best use of our lift pass and head over to the Valle Nevado area. It is whilst sitting on the lift that we notice some thing about Chilean skiers, whilst skiing in Europe & North America we have noticed (and grumbled about) people skiing beyond their abilities especially when the slope is crowded (I am sure you have all seen ‘gung ho’ skiers fly down crowded slopes in an uncontrolled racing schuss without the skiing ability to stop or take avoiding action if required). Looking around the Chilean slopes we notice that practically everyone all the slopes is in control and giving due respect to other slopes users. In fact the generally standard of the skiing is pretty good and we have trouble spotting any ‘gung ho’ types.

We spend most of the rest of the day skiing the Valle Nevado part of the three Valleys. Valle Nevado has 11 lifts (Including 5 Chair Lifts) with a resort height range from 2860m upto 3660m. Its base area, unlike La Parva, is smaller with hotels rather than residential chalets.

Eventually, as our first day of skiing in South America comes to a close, we make our way back over to La Parva and drive back down the hill to Santiago. The journey back was to prove just as eventful and as difficult as the mornings.

Thinking we had obviously made a wrong turn when we left Santiago in the morning (on my low resolution internet map the road from the ski resorts obviously goes straight though Los Leons near where out hotels is) I figure all we have to do is follow the road back to the centre of Santiago – after all we should not be able to miss the centre of Santiago!!

How wrong I was!! – we end up on a motorway, which I initially take to be a road that will turn into Avenue Apoquindo – no such luck as before we know it we are in subterranean tunnel and practically at the airport on the western side of the city! Obviously thinking we had missing a turn we reverse direction back along the motorway – this doesn’t work out either as the motorway abruptly terminates and we are now driving around residential Santiago. It is now dark and we are very lost again!!

Luckily the residential area we are in is on a hill and I can see the city commercial area away to the south west, doubling back again we rejoin the motorway before taking what looks like a likely exit and head south west. Probably more by luck than judgement we eventually end up on roads that we recognise that are very close to our hotel. I suggest to Pete that it might be a good idea to get a proper road map of the Santiago area.

For our evening meal we located and excellent Italian restaurant which served some particularly excellent cheesecake for dessert. Once we had completed our meal (And the associated two bottles of wine) we wondered back to the Sports bar we had been drinking at the previous evening – only to find it was shut. Further investigation of the Los Leons area however provided us an alternative in the form a regulation ‘Irish bar’ called Branigans. We past away the remains of the evening with a couple of beers before wandering back to the hotel for some sleep.

Sunday 21st August

I had not been able to find a road map of Santiago and the surrounding are when I had briefly visited the local shops the evening before (Though I did manage to find a map of Marakesh - where Pete had been skiing earlier in the Year!!) – so once we had completed breakfast we were again still navigating by guesswork to get to the ski slopes.

However we Initially decide to follow Avenue Apoquindo again, but this time we spot a fork in the road, but rather than following Avenue Apoquido to the right we take the left hand road. Pretty soon we are stuck in some huge road works, but after we have cleared the road works we discover we are on the correct road (All the road side ski shops pretty well give it away).

We decide to ski out of Valle Nevado today rather than La Parva or El Colorado, as Valle Nevado base area is higher than La Parva it requires a longer drive, the last part requiring us to negotiate some 20 additional hairpin bends in some particularly icy conditions.

Once we have arrived at the Valle Nevado we once again purchase a combined area pass and head out onto the slopes. It is little hotter today so we make an effort to avoid the lower lift as it is becoming a little bit slushy. Our best intentions fail us a couple of times however – as our navigational skills let us down and we end up skiing in slushy snow back to the bottom lift.

A Strange thing begins to dawn on Pete and myself about skiing in South America, whilst we had expected to hear a lot of Chilean(ie Spanish) and a few American voices on the slopes, we hadn’t really expected to hear many Europeans speakers. During the course of the day we hear French, German, English and Scottish accents/languages being used. I don’t know why but I had expected Pete & myself to be the ‘only’ Europeans on the slope.

The fact that Chile is popular ski destination with Americans is unfortunately also noticeable by the on-slope food on offer. Burgers & Hotdogs are the order of the day. I have never been very happy with the across the board prevalence of Burger & Hotdogs in the North American resorts I have skied at, can’t they provide anything else? Why do the Chileans have to replicate this type of food in their own country? I can eat Tyroler Grostl in Austria and Croque Monsieur in France, wouldn’t it be nice to have some local Chilean specialities when skiing in Chile?

After the regulation burger for our lunch Pete and I decide it would be nice to ski over to the El Colorado part of the ski area, unfortunately after patiently queuing for the connecting lift we are told by the lift attendant that our lift passes aren’t valid for that part of the ski area, this comes as a bit of a surprise as we thought we had purchased passes for the whole Trés Valleés (we had even been up the same lift the previous day – though not all the way to El Colorado).

Being told that we could not go up the lift however causes us what looks like a major problem – we seem to be at the end of a ski run with no exit slope back to the Valle Nevado area proper – and we really don’t want to walk back up the hill!! After ‘complaining’ to the lift attendant he indicates that we can traverse around the ridge to the left back to Valle Nevado. This doesn’t fill me with much joy as, though I cannot see the full route, I have a distinct feeling we are cannot afford to lose and height whilst traversing as we are already quite low down. Having no alternative however we set off.

Traversing around the ridge in deep snow I eventually get to the crest, and my fears are realised as the ridge drops away quite steeply before reaching a large powder filled plateaux which is between us and the piste proper. Unfortunately attempting to get as much speed off the crest to get across the plateaux I wipe out - Much to Pete’s amusement!! It takes us a little while to get to the piste proper, but after some exertion we do eventually reach it.

We spend the rest of the afternoon skiing as much of the Valle Nevado area as we can.

The return journey to Santiago proves to be a revelation, firstly Pete in his ‘I’m driving like a native’ mind set discovers he can make the tires ‘Squeal’ around the hairpins and we spot the turning we missed the previous day ‘hidden’ in the road works we came through in the morning. As a consequence the journey back to the hotel takes considerably less time.

For our evening meal we dine at a nearby Italian restaurant Pete had found recommended on Internet, though the food though good isn’t actually as good as the restaurant the night before (Though the head waiter did recommend an excellent local dessert and provide some Grappa). Once we had completed the meal we retired to Branigans for a night cap.

Monday 22nd August

Whilst the Trés Valleés resorts just to the east of Santiago are the easiest ski areas for us to reach, we didn’t want to come all the way to South America and just restrict our skiing to these resorts. We therefore decided to have an early breakfast and drive up to Portillo for a days skiing.

Portillo is perhaps the most well known south American ski resort and is a 2 hour drive north and slightly east of Santiago. The journey requires us to drive up the motorway to the north of Santiago before driving up the main Chile-Argentina pass on which the Portillo ski resort is situated.

First we have to get out of Santiago and onto the northbound motorway. Naturally with our south American navigation skills nothing proves to so straight forward, we end up getting stuck in the Monday morning Santiago rush hour before following some bizarre directions for the motorway that actually require us to drive through a supermarket car park at one point!!

Despite this we do eventually find the correct north bound motorway, and as I was driving (I think Pete had got fed up with my comments of his ‘native’ driving skills) I make an effort to make up as much time as possible by seeing how fast our Fiat Uno would go!!. Once out of Santiago the motorway was fast and well maintained and we made go progress, In fact as we got closer Portillo was even sign posted.

Well Portillo was signposted so long as we were following the motorway and didn’t actually have to make a decision as to which direction we were going, the moment the road ends in a T-junction there is absolutely no indication as to which direction we should go!! Good grief even the signposts in Belgium are better than this!!

Using a bit of deduction we turn right at the Junction, which luckily turns out to be the correct choice as it puts on the main road to the Chile/Argentina border. The main customs post on the Chilean side of the border is actually at the bottom of the mountain pass, and we queue behind the line of trucks waiting to go over the pass for 20 minutes before we realise we aren’t going to Argentina and can go up the hill to Portillo without the customs checks (Well after proving to the military that we have chains).

The road over the Andes to Argentina is quite a substantial construction, but it still involves a lot of hair pins and more than a few anti avalanche sheds to protect the road from un-foreseen rock and snow slides. The size of the potholes was also testament as how much the road gets used. We slowly climb higher and eventually we drive past the lower Portillo runs and lift (Which basically run back down the valley the road comes up). Snow and slush on the road mean that we begin to wonder whether it might be necessary to put on the chains, luckily the road is mostly clear and we don’t get stuck.

As we arrive at the Portillo base area, the short access road to the car park is so covered in snow that car in front gets stuck. This does not deter me however as I come of the clear mountain pass road with as much speed as I can and fly up the access road – only to be confronted with some Chilean military personnel as I breast the brow of the access road – I may be about to cause a major international incident by running them over but there is now way I am slowing down as I not certain I will be able to get going again if I stop!! With the Chilean army jumping to the left and right I make it into the car park!!

Portillo ski resort consists of 12 lifts (5 Chairs) with a vertical from 2850m to 3310m. Practically all the skiers stay at the on site hotel (plus some ‘low’ cost chalets) which provides all the après ski activities you should need (Well so they say). It was also noticeable that compared to the Trés Valleés practically all the skiers were American (Or the Canadian ski team who were there training) and there were no Chilean skiers to be seen.

The weather is a little over caste but we are have soon purchased our lift passes and are ready to go skiing. At this point disaster strikes, I break my pole, one of my bargain £6.02 poles I got from Snow & Rock at the end of the European ski season. Attempting to clear the snow of my boot so I can put my ski on I hit my boot with the pole, only for it to bend at right angles around the bottom of my boot!! My attempts to straighten it only result in it breaking fully in half.

Taking the broken pole to the on-site ski rental shop, and looking very forlorn, results some good old fashioned Chilean hospitality when the ski shop man lets me have some poles for the day for free.

As a way of warming up we ski the blues runs that we had passed by on our way up to the resort, visibility isn’t perfect but the runs are enjoyable. With this out of the way we begin to look for something more challenging, access to most of the Portillo black runs is via some bizarre 5 man drag lifts. Essentially skiers stand 5 abreast with a poma between their legs holding onto a bar (From which the poma hangs) whilst they are dragged at high speed up the hill. The whole experience both felt quite unnerving and unstable.

Whilst getting onto the contraption happens on the flat, unloading occurs on what felt like a 40˚ slope (This is a black run remember). Getting of the lift is where my problems started, thinking that I could just ski off backwards I let go of the bar and attempted to turn across the slope. Unfortunately my weight gets forward in my skis as I attempted to push them around and my downhill ski pops off.

Before I could react I was on my back, my other ski had been pulled off, and I was sliding head first down the hill!! The slope was very steep and I knew that if I got to much momentum I will probably fall all the way to the bottom. Desperate to protect my dignity I manage to get myself boots first down the hill and face into the hill, in this position I am able to get the toes of my boots to bite into the snow stop the slide before it becomes uncontrollable.

Once my skis have been retrieved (Thanks to the Americans who where on the lift with us) we ski down the black run I had almost fallen down. Whilst there is some powder, it is quite carved up and the snow consistency is heavy, making it quite hard work getting down the hill. As I resolutely refuse to go back up the drag lift again we spend the rest of the day on the blues, until we spot some interesting ‘Gullies’ that can be accessed from one of the other chair lifts.

The gully we choose to ski has various signs warning about it being for expert skiers only, however apart from the necessity for some side slipping at the top to get in, the snow is in good condition and we quickly get through the short mogul field into the more gently sloping field of powder at the bottom, where we practice our powder skiing. At this point I begin to make my way to the left so as to get back onto the piste for easier access back to the chairlift ( Basically I had previously spotted that if you went over the ridge to the right that there was a drop into small powder bowl – but that it would probably require a tiring walk up hill in powder to get back to the lift station).

As I skied onto the piste I looked around to see where Pete was, however I couldn’t spot him, I kept looking to the right as I skied slowly down the piste. As I round the ridge, I spot him, he had obviously decided to ski the drop into the bowl I had previously decided against – and it had gone rather spectacularly wrong!! He had plainly impaled himself in the snow coming over the drop leaving his skies 5 meters and 10 meters respectively above him!!

After I had stopped laughing, I realised (rather annoyingly) that I was going to have traverse along the drop into the bowl to pick his skis up and in the process was going to have to walk uphill in heavy powder to get back to the lift station – thanks Pete!!

Once we have slogged our way back to lift we have one more run before heading in for lunch of regulation American style burgers again.

After lunch we keep to the blue runs, but after less than an hour visibility begins to go and the skiing becomes less enjoyable. Once it begins to snow we decide it might be sensible to bid our farewells to Portillo as we didn’t want the hassle of having to put the snow chains on for the return journey.

The Pass is slushy but still drivable without chains as we return to Santiago. Discussing Portillo we both come to the view that the skiing is actually quite limiting (Blue run skiers would be restricted to variations on 3-4 main runs, whilst more advanced skiers have option to ski some very steep terrain it is really not that extensive compare to North American & European resorts we have been to). I am certain I would not want to stay a full week there in the one available hotel – basically The Trés Valleés and Santiago offer more options for both skiing and après ski.

I know we should be used to it by now, but when we get back to Santiago we get lost again. Pete attempts to navigate back to the Hotel via a different route to the one when came out on, tempting fate I know, but we end up lost in some of the less salubrious back streets of Santiago after the diversion we were following around some road works abruptly disappears!!

For our evening entertainment we scour the Los Leons nightclub/bar area for interesting looks bars, despite enticing offers from the various club ‘hawks’ who attempt to attract you into their establishments with offers of Food, Alcohol and Women somehow we end up back at Branigans for the evening sampling the food and alcohol they have on offer.

Tuesday 23rd August

We wake up to discover it has been raining in Santiago, which we hope can mean only one thing, it will be a powder day in the mountains!!

We also finally however we do manage to get out of Santiago with out getting lost – It our last day skiing in South America so it is nice to know we can find our way around!!

As Pete has decided to snowboard today we stop at one of the rentals shops that line the road out of Santiago to rent him a snowboard and me some poles (to replace the ones I broke in Portillo). When we reach the bottom on the ski resort access road, the Police are checking that everyone has chains – so we rattle our box at him and continue on our way up the mountain.

Because it is now a weekday the road up to the resort is less busy than it had been at the weekend, as a consequence it is running both directions, however we soon making quick progress up the mountain. We are a little und certain as to how much snow has fallen at altitude the night before - but neither of us really want to go through the hassle of putting the chains on as it can be dirty and difficult job crawling around under the car.

The road begins to get more than a bit of slush on it and a few of the cars we are following up the hill stop to put chains on, we however are made of sterner stuff and persevere - actually it is probably the fact the we are in a light front wheel drive car the doesn’t sink into the snow/slush – plus the fact that Pete keeps the car moving at all times (Stopping could be fatal).

At one point we go by lay-bys full of workers putting chains on cars. Obviously touting for business, they point and shout at us to stop and take up their services – looking at the road ahead, it is now mostly covered in snow, but we still have traction so we continue on our way. Realising we would be pushing our luck in trying to get up to Valle Nevado we decide to drive to the Lower resort of La Parva.

The snow is now getting quite deep and ruts pull the car in any direction but that which we want it to go, whenever it looks like we might slide into a ditch Pete changes down a gear and powers away from disaster. By now we can see the La Parva base area, we are almost there. Unfortunately the last bit of road up to the car park is the steepest we have yet encountered, plus a hairpin before the steep bit means we can’t get ‘a run at it’ and use momentum to get up the hill. Pete almost slides into a ditch on the hairpin, snow can be heard grazing on the underside of the car, but he gives it some gas going up the last hill. With wheels spinning however we make it into the car park.

Our arrival in the car park is greeted with incredulous amusement by the Chileans that park next to us, they keep pointing at the front wheels and saying in Spanish ‘You don’t have any chains!!’ (Well I assume that is what they were saying).

We shrug our shoulders in a rather nonchalant ‘It was nothing’ sort of way and wonder of towards the ticket office.

On arrival at the ticket office we find out that the link over to Valle Nevado is shut because of the weather, so we opt to purchase a lift pass only for the La Parva area. Today it is Pete’s turn to have trouble with the Poma lift, as he is on his snowboard, he falls over multiple times attempting to get on the lift, he does eventually manage to get up to the top however. I’m it is all good practice though.

It must be the combination of the fact that it is a weekday and the snow covered access road, but La Parva is mostly empty. This is good for us as there is nearly a foot of powder covering most of the resort. Pete and I soon get stuck in leaving fresh tracks on any un-skied powder we can find.

It really is the ideal opportunity to find a gentle and not to steep powder covered slopes and practice my powder skiing technique. The biggest problem I have with skiing powder is having the confidence to point the skis down the hill and knowing how much the snow is going to keep me speed under control. Perversely sometimes it is easier to ski deep powder as the depth more naturally keeps you speed under control when you are in steeper terrain and you only have to minimal turns and can keep your skis under the snow. Skiing not so deep powder in steep (or even moderate slopes) I find to be harder work as I have to work harder to un-weight my skis (ie get them out of the snow) to enable me to do more aggressive turns and therefore keep my speed under control. Hell maybe I should just Schuss it and not bother with the turns!!

The depth and consistency of the Powder at Larva allows me to practice the minimal technique on the moderate slopes and the more aggressive technique on the steeper bits. Ideal practice terrain, and I do feel myself becoming more confident as the day progresses.

As Pete has chosen to snowboard today he doesn’t get the opportunity to practice his powder skiing, Whilst boarding in powder in theory is easier than skiing, there are some disadvantages, mainly related to actually getting going once you stop (or falls??). I do seem to end up giving him quite a few tows are various points during the day.

Sitting outside the bar at the bottom of the slope at the end of the day, we both agree it has been our best day’s skiing in Chile. Can New Zealand be as good we wonder?

By the time the time we come to leave La Parva for the last time the access roads has been pretty well cleared so we don’t have to put the chains on (For safety reasons even we were think it might be advisable for the return trip). We also manage to complete our return journey to the hotel without getting lost – I think we are finally beginning to get the hang of navigating around Santiago.

As we have mostly spent our evenings eating and drinking around the Los Leons area, and because it is our last night in Santiago we decide to try some where different. Pete’s investigation via the internet and my Rough Guide to Chile book both recommend the night life in the Bella Vista area. Bella Vista basically less glitzy than the Los Leons and contains lots of restaurants, bars and clubs – and is basically the area the locals tend go for their night time entertainment.

Getting the subway into town we walk across the river into Bella Vista, to some tourists the more run down ambiance might be slightly intimidating, but we are happy to see that there are large number of bars and restaurant available. Examining the restaurant menu we also notice, for the first time since we arrived in Chile, that they are obviously offering local specialities. Deciding which restaurant to try proves problematic, as despite the various enticements by the ever prevalent street hawks to go in ‘their’ restaurant it takes a while to decide. Eventually we decide to give one of the first restaurants we walked by a try.

Taking a table outside by the street we are able to eat and watch the world go by. For food we both get adventurous and decide to give the Conger Eel a try. I have mine with white wine sauce and mashed potatoes. The food is very palatable, though my mashed potato seemed large enough to have been made with all of Chile’ past years potato crop. We order quite a few bottles of wine with the meal and spend some time polishing these of whilst watching the world go by from our street side vantage point.

It is getting quite late by the time we finish at the restaurant so we get a taxi back to Branigans in Los Leons for a nightcap. The nightcap becomes rather extended and when Branigans closes we migrate to the ‘Mississippi bar’ across the road. We eventually get back to the hotel around 4am in the morning.

Wednesday 24th August

Despite our rather late night, we do surprisingly manage to make is down for breakfast. As this is our last day in Chile we had already decided to spend our last day in Chile seeing the sights of Santiago. So once we have checked out, we do some shopping at the local arcades around Los Leons before heading into the centre of Santiago.

Getting the underground into the centre, we arrive at the ‘Plaza de Armas’ the main square. The square has lots of trees to provide shelter from the sun, fountains to provide some coolness and an over abundance of Pigeons (are there any city squares that don’t??). Whilst exploring the surrounds, we realise that we have actually been here before, on our directionless meandering through the city on the way back from Portillo on Tuesday we had actually driven past plaza!!

With a plenty of time to spare we spend a relaxing hour just sitting in the ‘Plaza de Armas’ people watching. Reading my Rough Guide to Chile I find out that the square was the first thing laid out by Pedro de la Valdivia when he founded Santiago in 1542.

Sufficiently relaxed we eventually investigate the main cathedral (Practically the next thing Pedro de la Valdivia did after laying out the square was start work on the Cathedral) which occupies one side of the ‘Plaza de Armas’. There is something quite calming about the tranquillity of Cathedrals, you can go from the hustle, bustle and noise of a major city, but once you go through the entrance all of that becomes more remote. Entering you takes you from one world into am altogether more peaceful place.

Once we exit the Cathedral we decide to investigate the nearby shopping streets, and in my case search for a luggage strap for my bag, as it hadn’t faired to well on the trip from England and was beginning to split apart. Central Santiago is quite a cosmopolitan place and there seem to be no end of shops selling all the goods capitalism decrees you must have – Electronics, Designer Goods, DVDs and a seemingly unending supply of shoe shops - sometimes this does feel at odds with the relative poverty of the working class Chileans. Maybe that is why since the return on democracy in 1990 the Chileans have voted in left of centre governments.

We spend most of the rest of the day investigating the sites of Santiago – The National Congress building and a church which was apparently the oldest building in the city (It had apparently survived multiple earthquakes – it had the cracks to prove it - unlike the cathedral which he been rebuilt a few times). Eventually we end up at the ‘Cerro Santa Lucia’.

The ‘Cerro Santa Lucia’ is hill near centre of Santiago, for a long time as the capital expanded it was ignored, however in the early part of the 20th century it was landscaped as a civic project by some of the local prison population. It consists of a landscaped park with multiple steep and swirling paths ascending to both real and mock fortifications at the summit. Climbing to the summit also gets you into clean air and above the ever present pollution of the city.

When Pete and I reach the top, for the first time since getting to Santiago, we can see the Andes from the city itself. The white topped mountains to the east make stunning vista, so me both pose for ‘Ive skied those’ pictures with the mountains in the background.

Once we come down we head for a late lunch of pancakes and locally brewed beer at a nearby restaurant before heading back to Los Leons. Still having some time to spare before we have to check in at the airport we make a quick visit to the Sport Bar we visited on our first evening in Chile (As it had a kind of symmetry to it we took the opportunity to send a few more text messages).

By mid evening we have arrived at the Airport, handed the car back to the local hire car people, and are waiting to board the flight to Auckland in New Zealand …

To be continued in Part 2 (New Zealand)