Uh, It's Raining

Having been in Chile nearing 2 months now I've had my fair share of epic powder days to say that this trip is worth it. To some new arrivals though they are seeking that "worth it" parameter for a trip that takes them a few thousand miles south of the equator and a few thousand dollars to get here.

Greg, John, and Brennan are the new arrivals into our house. Greg and John, friends of Mark, and Brennan, who Mark met on a bus from Chillan and invited to stay at our place, have been here for about 4 days stoked and ready to ride/hike for something. Unfortunately in typical Chilean fashion the rain has been heavy and constant. The sun hasn't been out and the snow pack is slowly dwindling down to nothing making this entire scene tough to talk about with new foreigners. It shocks me to see where the snow level is now after seeing what it was. It's depressing knowing that the season is coming to an end here but that's another story.

It's been like this the past 2 weeks or so here. Rainy, cloudy, and low light. P: @stevewweiss

John was aching to get out on a mission - sunshine, rain or heavy wind - didn't matter to him. The night before I said I would go out, but in my mind thought I'd assess what it looked like on the mountain from below and decide then.

Waking up and peering out the window I saw that the peaks were cloud covered with obvious rain falling on them in the lower elevations as it was also raining at our house. I still had some motivation to go, but to Valle Hermoso, higher up on the mountain so at least we would be getting snowed on. That morning there was a plan to hike to the mountain just behind us in the Shangri La Valle that sits around a 6000 ft elevation instead of 9000ft+. As I wasn't part of the discussion I just said, "Okay let's do it."

Walking to the trailhead, and getting drenched in the rain.

Gearing up with rain still falling I contemplated why I was going. I was perfectly happy with my trip already but it had been 3 days since I was on my board so maybe that's why I went. I still don't understand exactly why I went.

Hiking for about 45 minutes in a steady but fortunately not a torrential down pour left us all soaked to the bone. We ended up taking a wrong turn and ended up at a river bed that was uncrossable where if we weren't in snow gear you would think was a rainforest. Our snowboard mission though, was slowly turning into a hiking mission.

It's winter here...right?

P: @JPLsplit

Finally reaching where the snow starts after another 20 minutes of walking on dry land with our boards strapped to our backs, we switched over to skinning with a destination in mind. On the way to the zone that I had been before the guys eyed up a couloir, a steep narrow gully on a mountainside, directly left of the road - it's base maybe 200 yards away. From afar, getting to it didn't seem tough as you could see and take a volcanic rock ridge that leads you right to the base of the couloir. Then maybe a river crossing and you would be right into it.

Destination: couloir on the right side.

Once hitting the rock ridge we found that it was going to take longer than expected as the rock was wet, sometimes icy, chossy - or fragile and easily breakable - and forced you to think where you were putting your feet as boulders could be dropped instantly with just a heavy touch.

The chossy, wet, and sometimes icy rock band. P: @JPLsplit

After what felt like an hour plus we reach a river that was a little too wide to jump. We opted to take our boots and socks off to save our feet from being soaked with the boot pack up the couloir, the run down the couloir and the hike out still left to do.

John was the first to go, "F---! F---! F---!" He sharply exclaimed as one of his boots floated down the river because he accidentally knocked it in soaking it and defeating the purpose of taking our boots off.

John stoked that he at least, still has his boot.

With the rest of us taking our time so the same wouldn't happen, we make it to the base of the couloir with semi-dry feet. The river current was stronger than expected but not that cold when I think about the mountain water that I have felt on my feet in Canada or Alaska that instantly feels like needles. Already wet from the rain too, I barely minded it.


Finally at the base looking up, the couloir is wide near the bottom but starts to narrow as you get up in it. From below it looks incredible: huge rock walls carved by volcanic activity and a tight space to snowboard down adding that danger factor to it. The terrain that I had been riding before this was steep but wide open. I had been pressing to find a tight chute or couloir of some kind to ride here just to feed the need. This couloir would be perfect for just that.

Couloir from below P: @stevewweiss

Trailing John up the couloir I could feel that the snow was spring soft. There was concern moving up through the tighter sections that there could be a weak area that may or may not collapse, not as an avalanche but more like just a hole/crevasse. John punched through with his pole in one section of the snow where the couloir becomes tightest revealing a hole below us I estimated to be 7 ft deep. Not deadly by any means but still sketchy. The team moved quickly through that section and got to the top.

From above. P: @JPLsplit

The snow at the top was not good, and was being heated from the ground up creating a weak facet layer and forcing us to drop quicker than we wanted to a safer zone. Below that section of bad snow, we went one at a time down the couloir, top to bottom, and it wasn't what I had in mind on this day at all. It started with rain, soaked, scrambling up and down chossy rock and crossing a river, on what I would describe as a true "adventure" day. The couloir completely turned the day around. The snow held up perfect, spring soft and no threat of avalanche. There was some wet sluff, surface slides that typically are the least dangerous type of slide, that you had to be mindful about but other than that, you could rip it down the couloir from top to bottom. Great run on such a crappy day!




"That was f---ing awesome" and high fives going around, we hike out to find a much better exit crossing the river. Going down stream maybe 5 minutes we see a log crossing the river that John fell in to. Hiking another 5 minutes, there is another river running with wood planks as bridges taking you to an island where we had to pole vault across the final river.

P: @JPLsplit

Taking an existing ski track back, we make it back on dry, solid ground and later to home, jackets and pants soaked with smiles on our faces and the stoke at an all time high. Looking back on the day, I had no plans of doing something like that, but glad I said "screw it, I'll go" instead of sitting at home. Makes you think about all of the times that you opted to stay at home because of bad weather instead of just saying yes. Maybe we should all have a mindset that we are in a foreign country for a limited amount of time, that took us countless hours, countless miles, and an unjustifiable amount of cash to get to.

P: @stevewweiss

Greg, Brennan, John, and myself, soaked and stoked on the day.

Other Photos to Note: (courtesy of Brennan Metzler)










Photo Credit:
*(unless noted)
Brennan Metzler - splitboarder, photographer and Director of Peaks for Peace, a nonprofit to help burn-injured children get past their scars by getting them outdoors. If interested in reaching Brennan about the nonprofit or about purchasing photos, contact him via email at Brennan.Metzler@gmail.com.