The Lucky Few in El Colorado, Chile

Our trip to El Colorado, Chile got off to a rough start with absolutely bullet proof refrozen snow and poor visibility. Looking up at it's predictable cone-like shape and multiple chairs leading to the same place, we started to wonder what we'd gotten into. Wasn't this place known for awesome snow and killer terrain? Is our mountain sense that bad that we can't even find the goods on our own?

And then BAAAAAM! 15cm's of snow fell and the skies cleared from horizon to horizon, yielding one of the best days of skiing anyone could ask for. Seriously.

Mark from SouthAmericaSki.com rolled up with Patricio the shuttle driver, and local shredders started coming out of the woodworks to claim a spot in the van.

Why the van? The best poor-man's catskiing money can buy, that's why.

We headed up El Colorado's chairlifts and t-bars, then seconds of traversing later yielded this... St Theresa.

If you have any imagination at all, that photo should sum up our day right there, but it kept getting better. With more terrain than we knew what to do with, and only a handful of other skiers and riders to compete with for lines, we took our sweet time skiing lap after lap of completely untracked pow.

And we're not talking about turn farming down little featureless bowls. Oh no.

More like big FAT glory turns down bowls, gullies, banked walls, couloirs, and a few dead end airs.

Does it get any sweeter than that? Well apparently it's about to, only we're not going to be there to taste it. It's been snowing HARD for 2 days now, set to clear on Monday morning for a 2-foot deep and sunny powder day. The catch? We can't get there.

Returning to Santiago to wait out the storm, we didn't see this one coming... the heavy rain and snow caused a large mudslide on the lower flanks of the access road, blocking access for at least 24 hours.

The media might make it sound like hundreds of people are stranded at the ski resort trying to get home, but any skiers know the truth. Everyone with their priorities straight in El Colorado is having a very pleasant night's sleep, maybe even grinning while sleeping, knowing they are among the select few lucky people who will be skiing on El Colorado tomorrow. Deep powder, bluebird skis, epic terrain (if they know where to find it), and as I said, very few people to compete with for lines... not even us.

Oh the bitter sweet irony. We'd finally tasted what El Colorado had to offer, built up 2 days of anticipation daydreaming about Monday's conditions, and now we'll have to live it vicariously through others. Kinda like you're doing right now if you're reading this.

Resort Details

• El Colorado is one of the '3 Valleys' ski resorts just East of Santiago, Chile
• Check the snow forecast
• Ask SouthAmericaSki.com and Santiago Adventures for help with travel
• Hit up Newen Kara Hostel in Santiago for a good place to start your trip

Thanks

Big props to Tito & Sol at El Colorado & Mark Lasseter at SouthAmericaSki.com

Credits

Photo & video content by Vincente Fernandez, Mark Lasseter, Vince Boelema, Andre Charland, and Jamie Bond.

Milking every last drop. Photo: Vincente Fernandez