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TISA. And remember, Chile is the more competently governed country of the South American ski scene.

Considering what we have seen over the past 15 years, people should really make their way to Santiago or Las Lenas this season.

Not entirely true. James pulls the plug when he knows it’s bad. He did this for the Pyrenees where we spent the last 3 days.

This extended discussion only reinforces my view that Telluride is a mediocre at best destination for visiting advanced/low expert skiers. The best terrain requires either: 1) A lung busting hike approaching 13,000 feet, which most visiting flatlanders can't handle, even those with excellent...

https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/threads/unprecedented-april-snowstorm.15329/post-96645 :bow:

Typical wind hammered snow like Mt. Bachelor backside, another isolated volcanic peak. Best skied in spring corn.

While the snowpack was deep in January 2018, the most recent storm had rained to 2,000 meters, so like ChrisC we needed to traverse out to the pistes by that elevation.

It’s all modeling; little relevance if it’s windy during storms, which is normal. Portillo and Las Lenas both fall into the category of: “you’re there for the terrain not the powder.” It’s futile to chase powder from the opposite hemisphere. What you hope to get is smooth windbuff or corn...

That Rote Nase tram was reserved for guides and ran once per hour when we were there last March.

I was not meaning to sell the Look bindings. When you order direct from DPS they offer to sell you those bindings if you want them and don’t charge for installation.

Las Lenas is 23 hours from anywhere. Nonetheless a skier of snowbirdsurfer’s caliber needs to make it happen in a good snow year. Adam says it’s on a completely different level from anywhere else in the southern hemisphere, and he has skied all 4 areas out of Santiago plus Southern Lakes areas...

snowbirdsurfer should absolutely look at Las Lenas. You get sterp sustained fall lines rare in lift served North America and more like the Alps. The big caveat is that 3/4 of the terrain requires Marte open, an old double chair that is open about 40% of the time. Wind is the usual culprit but...

I have Marker Barons on the old Black Diamond Verdicts that went to Antarctica. That trip does require AT boots. My DPS skis came equipped with Look plate bindings if you want them. You are right about ski racing in SoCal. Adam placed 8th of 30 for UCSD in his first college race in the...

I have had only 3 trips to Telluride. None had any fresh snow upon arrival, though the first two got about 6 inches while we were there and Adam had his first fluid powder runs there as an advanced skier at age 7. I would have the same questions as takeahike46er about Bear Creek. I’m sure it’s...

I think James and I both tend to use booking.com for Euro lodging. ChrisC is an excellent source about Euro guides. We tend to think about guides once we have locked in lodging. So a couple of times (Arlberg 2013 and Val d’Isere 2018) that has been far in advance, but Monterosa and Engelberg...

Adjusting for both latitude and altitude (1 degree latitude = 275 feet) how much higher or lower is the named area vs. Mt.Baldy.

Read that reference from the 170 Project. NZ skiing has an extremely retro ambience, would appeal a lot to James and Patrick. Coronet Peak is the only place with major league snowmaking. Grooming is not as intensive as North America or the Alps. So I think it’s common to open lifts in low...

Storm cycle totals are 129 inches Vallée Nevado and 213 inches Portillo. The third party Las Lenas site is reporting similar base depths as July 19 so not very credible.

Stuart has the same perspective as JimK from growing up in the Midwest and now living in NYC. It’s all about snowmaking improvements. I have to remind these people that large western ski areas rarely have more that a quarter of acreage under snowmaking and minimal advanced/expert terrain. I...

@jimk: How does your son compare Pipeline to Main Chute and Little Chute? I’ve never contemplated Pipeline for the reason stated by ChrisC: that hike looks way too long.