Getting high in the Andes, until it got complicated

[Seat0B]

The trick with altitude is slow ascent and acclimatisation, and Diamox.

I had been to Breckenridge 10 years earlier when I was MUCH less fit and had no issues.

On the 2019 trip I acclimatised in Denver for 4 nights before going up the mountain but it made no difference. This was not just altitude sickness, it was full on HAPE requiring treatment in hospital for a day and then oxygen therapy and diamox tablets in the hotel for another 6 days once they were happy it was behaving and I did not need to go down lower. It was an absolutely horrible experience that I never want to repeat. That’s why I’ve taken so heavily to skiing in Japan where the mountains are well below 2500m!
The bill was almost USD 8,000 so thank goodness for travel insurance.

 

[Scarlett]

Just realised.

Have a look down below at how common it is to start a trip report title with the word ‘Getting…’. Never noticed that before.

Sorry for the intrusion @offshore171; don’t mind me.

 

[offshore171]

The next few days we take to the mountains and get some skiing done.

Sunny days, little wind, but fairly early in the season, so the snow was ok, but nowhere near what was to come...

 

[offshore171]

Into a nice routine at this point.

• Ski the mornings
• Come in for lunch
• On the deck in the early afternoon
• Drinks in the bar in the late arvo
• Dinner

 

[offshore171]

Just lovely days in the Andes, but then a plot twist. This is where things suddenly got very interesting.

I was aware there was some snow due, initially a "manageable" couple of feet over a few days, but the forecast rapidly and repeatedly escalated. It was now revised all the way up to 200cm+.

Two metres!

So I was talking to the transport guy in the reception area, and he mentions that they are considering an evacuation on the Wednesday.

Guests will be asked if they are able to either

• Commit to staying for another 15 days with no chance of departure by road or helicopter
• Depart on the Wednesday (instead of Saturday.

The snow storm was due to start on Wednesday, early afternoon.

A couple of hours later, the forecast has again been revised to FOUR METRES!

This would become an historic snowstorm. It is fuelled by the strong El Nino, and is being described in the news as an "atmospheric river"

 

[offshore171]

So we make the most of it, ski the Tuesday, enjoy a bit more of the wonderful hospitality and arrange for a Wednesday departure.

The authorities advising at this point that the Liberatores Pass is closing 3 pm Wednesday on the Chile side and 4 pm for the Argentina side. After that, you're here indefinitely.

 

[SYD]

Worse places to be stuck I guess but not great for onward travel plans!

 

[offshore171]

Evacuation day looms and they are now bringing forward the shuttles to 8am Wednesday morning, instead of 10am.

Some guests, take no chances and decamp Tuesday evening. A small group of guests decide they will stay for the duration (as I write this a week later, there is still no access in or out)

We have dinner, pack bags and plan to get up at 6:30am.

Up early the next day, and that snow that wasn't supposed to arrive until the afternoon has already started. I go through the check out process, and they arrange a prorata refund for unused days.



The road pass is marked as "Immediate Danger of Closing" as at 7am


The scene on evacuation day. They do a great job of allocating guests to shuttles. Most people heading back to either Santiago or Mendoza (Argentina)


Snow picking up outside.



Friday is looking like a particularly big one

 

[offshore171]

So how big was this snow event? While El Nino's traditionally bring big snowfall to the Andes, this was possibly a one in 20 or 30 year event.

It was, or more correctly IS historic. It's still going now, and is forecast to continue for a further 8 days, until about the 30th of July.

The Thursday after we left they got 70cm. Friday was even bigger

123cm is an astounding 24hour total.

Much much more was to come. This was the pool area by the Saturday.


A row of 2meter tall signposts was completely covered


An even bigger 24h total on Sunday - 165cm


And by Tuesday, an absolutely preposterous 4.6 metres of new snow had fallen.

 

[offshore171]

The pool sits on an elevated deck and has a high fence, maybe 1.8m tall.

Also note the tall posts with the round signs - these are for the ski school to line up in their groups.

Completely buried






The pass is of course closed in both directions

As of right now, snow is forecast for another 8 days

 

[offshore171]

Just before 830am, we are on the road, descending down the pass into the valley



The pass closed a couple of hours later, and remains closed now.

 

[SYD]

If it reopens by November , I’m tempted to drive up and check it out. Looks amazing.

 

[drron]

What an incredible snowstorm with amazing pictures.
I wonder if after that quick descent you felt better.. Less fuzzy thinking or more energy.. If so may have been the warning of altitude sickness.

 

[offshore171]

What an incredible snowstorm with amazing pictures.
I wonder if after that quick descent you felt better.. Less fuzzy thinking or more energy.. If so may have been the warning of altitude sickness.

First day up at 2800m we certainly felt it.

But after the first couple of days up at elevation we felt pretty good. Definitely a benefit of staying up there for an extended period, sleeping, eating, exercising etc, continuously at elevation. Body starts adapting, printing out more red blood cells!

As compared to say riding up a cablecar in Switzerland with no acclimatisation, and then heading back down again - you can feel it a lot worse.

 

[offshore171]

If it reopens by November , I’m tempted to drive up and check it out. Looks amazing.

You know you have to do this. They will be kayaking on the lake by then.

 

[offshore171]

With our plans now radically altered by the snowstorm, I book an unplanned night back at the AC Hotel in Santiago, same place we stayed at the start.

After we have descended below the snow line, the drive back to Santiago is quite uneventful and traffic free. It's raining in Santiago when we arrive around 11am.

Due to the early evacuation, we haven't had breakfast, so we dump the luggage at the hotel and find a nice little Latin American breakfast cafe.

They offer a mexican breakfast sandwich, which is rather good and some decent coffee.


I had planned to pick up a couple of nice bottles of Chilean wine to bring home, so we find a wine shop and grab 2 bottles of Carmenere from the Los Andes province.

We then watch the Poms vs Argentina in the lounge at the hotel. There are a surprising number of people out and about, in bars etc wearing Argentina supporters gear. Must be a lot of cross pollination and tourism between Chile and Argentina.




After the game, the adjacent tower illuminates in Argentina colours.

 

[offshore171]

Here's the forecast right now, unrelenting snowfall for at least another 9 days.

If that plays out, it will have snowed heavily for 18 days straight.

I wonder how much of a food stockpile the hotel has on hand for the staff and the guests that elected to stay and ride it out. This snowstorm continues to defy all expectations.

 

[offshore171]

For the flight home, I had put in for a points upgrade to J.

Didn't think it was likely, given it was the tail end of AU school holidays, but you never know your luck.

Then in the Qantas app, a message:

Upgrade Status: Successful

Nice!

Next day, we uber to the airport. It's really raining heavily. The same system dumping snow on the Andes is bring immense rainfall to the coast and lower lying areas.

We pop into the Latam lounge, which is what Qantas uses here. Nice setup. Aside from the lounge, the airside part of the terminal has an excellent range of eateries and restaurants. Far better than SYD to be fair.





So a few notes from this trip:

• Chile is wonderful. Will return and explore further afield. Argentina and Uruguay also on the agenda.
• Pesos not required! We didn't need local cash once. Card acceptance is pretty much the default. Might be different at a rural street market, but otherwise electronic payments seem to be the prevailing choice.
• Food and produce is of a very high standard. We didn't have a bad meal.
• There is such a thing as too much snow!