Volcán Villarica

That moment when you realise that the ski area you were going to ski at next week is closed due to the volcano erupting. The obvious next question is, of course, if I was packing skins.

Yes.

Like so many outdoorsy things, our Chilean excursion was greatly affected by the nature's whims. The volcano. The ski areas that were closed because of the snow storm of the decade. But of course, this should be seen as an opportunity for adventure rather than a problem. Visiting other ski areas, exploring other things, or climbing up.

As we landed in Temuco - 700 kilometres south of Santiago - the horizon was full of conical mountains. This is a typical volcano shape, and some of them were smoking.

We didn't really have time to head to the open ski areas during the day, they were a bit further out. So we had reserved the day to explore the area around Villarica. I really wanted to see the volcano, the town of Pucón, and the beautiful lake Villarica next to them. But I also wanted to see how far up the mountain we could drive on the ski area road. Perhaps we could see something.

It turned out that a few other cars were also on the same road, setting up snow chains and planning to go up. We run into two local snowboarding hitchhikers, who explained that while the mountain is still under a Yellow alert, the road is actually passable, and a handful of skiers are enjoying skinning up the ski area.

After some trouble setting up our chains (one of them was of wrong size), we managed to drive up, and started to set up skins on our skis. We could go as high as the lower base of the ski area by car, and then had to skin up about 200 meters through moderately sloping forests. The upper base area, an open and still relatively flat area opened around us.

For the first time, we were able to clearly see the erupting volcano close ahead of us. The volcano was definitely not sleeping, as the top was emitting a large plume of smoke. Yet the most active period of the eruption had ceased, and there were no lava flows, explosions, or visible ash. Sadly, no red stuff! The upper flanks of the volcano were slightly coloured by falling ash, however.

By now we were within the closed-for-the-public 3km range from the crater, but stayed on top of the ridges. Glacier volcanoes can quickly generate deadly lahars, flows mixing volcanic material, mud, and water. And those flows will run on the couloirs and valleys.

We kept climbing, as the ground started to rise more steeply. Weather became very variable. One moment we could barely see our skis, the next moment it was clear skies. After climbing 400 meters and reaching slightly beyond one of the chairlift lines, we decided to turn back. But only because I needed to be on a work conference call in half an hour, and by now we had run out of phone coverage. Otherwise we would have continued to see the crater :-)

We skied down, on mostly icy or otherwise difficult snow. We had skied at Ski Pucón, even if the lifts were not operating. And seen an amazing view of the imposing volcano smoking ahead of us. Worth the climb and the sweat, even if this was yet another one ski run day.

And had the ski area been operating, it would have been a nice place, a mixture of steeper and less steep slopes in an amazing setting.

Photos and videos (c) 2015 by DailyMail (Reuters) for the first picture, the rest Jari Arkko and Tero Kivinen. Tämä blogi löytyy myös suomeksi. There is also a TGR version of this article.

Riders of the Lost Arenales

There are references to it in the Internet. And a sole road sign point to it. But it is nowhere to be found.

Tero and I had spent the previous day at Corralco, a commercially operated ski area in the volcanic Araucania region of Chile. But this morning we felt like taking a different turn on the road. So we took the road. And found nothing, after an hour of driving. Took another road. Searched the Internet again. Asked people in the village of Lonquimay for advice.

After some hours, with a handwaving for a general direction, waiting for the closed road to be cleared, putting on chains, we finally found it. Los Arenales is no longer. The ski area has ceased operations in 2007. But the mountains are still there, the sun is shining on fresh new snow, and the ski lift towers are still standing.

And we are not alone. The Chilean military is also here, using these hills as their alpine practice ground. We put on skins and start heading up through the pretty Aracaurias forest.

Our goal is to reach the top of the highest lift. On the way we stop for a drink and a snack, and meet two two local kids from Lonquimay. They are walking up with their snowboards. Happy, energetic, and travelling light, they are headed towards the peak further up. We do not speak the same language, but all of us clearly enjoy the same mountain spirit.

We end up following the kids and finally reach the top about 400 meters higher than the base. By now enough time has passed that we need to head down before it gets dark. In the meantime, the energetic kids have of course done two rounds :-)

The peak is steep, but the slopes on the expired ski area are more mellow. The snow quality changes from ice and hard packed snow to soft powder - momentarily - and then to slush.


On the way back we also stopped at Quebrada Honda ski school. A rope tow, made out of bicycle parts! I slid down on an inflated tire. One more ski area visited!

Here is our search for Los Arenales around Lonquimay:

Photos and videos (c) 2015 by Jari Arkko and Tero Kivinen. Tämä blogi löytyy myös suomeksi. There is also a TGR version of this article.

Pulling the ABS Handle

It is a hot summer. Perfect time to test avalanche gear?

Two years ago, I was in an avalanche, and failed to pull the ABS handle to fill my backpack. I had maybe a second to react, and in the panic chose only to ski a bit forward. The skiing was probably a good idea, because it got me away from the bottom of a couloir. Avalanches are violent, destructive events and the backpack is not a way to save you in all circumstances. Still, pulling the backpack would also have been a good idea.

But I've never found the handle convenient. I've had it drop by itself a couple of times, presumably due to iced up connection. And I've been scared of touching the handle since I had no good idea of how sensitive it is. The handle contains 200 milligrams of explosives which are used to cause the bottle to open, and the bottle then fills up the airbags through tubes.

Part of the problem is that I've never had an opportunity to pull the handle and test the backpack. But now an opportunity presented itself.

On my recent trip to Chile, the clueless airline - never fly TAM Airlines! - confiscated my ABS bottle, despite their website and service centre claiming to respect the IATA rules. (The IATA rules specify ABS backpacks as dangerous goods that can be transported in cabin or hold luggage when disarmed. I realise that my backpack transport problems are a minor first world annoyance, but on the other hand you probably want to fly airlines that follow dangerous goods transport guidelines accurately. If they can make a mistake to not transport an allowable item, will they also be making mistakes to transport non-allowable items? And don't get me started on North America where safety equipment like the backpacks are not allowed, yet guns can be transported as luggage.)

But back to my backpack. The incident caused me to have to go to my ABS supplier, Camu, and get a new bottle. But I also decided to ask for another bottle to be used in a test.

So I ended up testing the backpack launch in hot sunshine. The handle felt good in the launch, it was easy to initiate and yet not too easy so that one would accidentally launch the backpack by a mere touch.

The airbags became surprisingly full and rigid. They also retained the air for quite some time. Overall the system appeared to be sturdy and reliable.

Testing and practice is recommended! If you do launch your backpack, I found these instructions helpful for the re-packing part. The bottle and the handle are destroyed, and need to be returned to the shop for replacement and refilling.

I feel more confident about the system now, having tested it. In any case, do not get into an avalanche - they are very bad for you, backpack or not.

Here is how you recognised used items: there is a hole in the bottle, and there is several millimetres of red plastic between the handle the metal pin:

Photos and videos (c) 2015 by Jari Arkko and Olli Arkko. Tämä blogi löytyy myös suomeksi. Another version of the article is also at the TGR site.

Chile Trip Done!

Our ski trip to Chile with Tero Kivinen​ is now complete. Tomorrow we'll return via Malalcahuello, Temuco, Santiago, Sao Paolo, Milano and Helsinki, a 15 000 km trip.

In nine days we did nine ski areas, skied on four volcanoes, climbed closed ski areas, hitched rides on snow cats, skied through Araucarias forests, drove a bit too much and had too many work conference calls on the road, but saw many wonderful things and met many interesting people. And one way or the other we seemed to find fresh snow every day.

Chile is great, and worth visiting by more people. Back at work on Tuesday.

Photo credits: Great Circle Mapper.

The UN Skis

Hi! I am from the United Nations. I have a tank, but it is small, white and not scary at all. Honest! I also have skis, beautiful light blue skis.

Seriously though, the UN peacekeeping forces do incredibly important work. I was a bit surprised though that they would have their own special skis, but they do. Cross-country skis, courtesy of the Finnish army's participation in the peacekeeping forces in Macedonia. I acquired a copy and did some testing.

Turns out that they do not slide very well in the heat of the summer. Something about sticky grass. Water helps, but liquid soap helps even more!

Photos and videos (c) 2015 by Jari Arkko. There is also a TGR version of this article. Tämä blogi löytyy myös suomeksi.

Darn Volcanoes!

That moment when you realise that the ski area you wanted to visit next week is closed due to volcanic eruption taking out the road.

The Villarica ski area is closed this season, due to the March 2015 eruption on Villarica. Maybe it is best to not try to ski there, given that the eruption is still going on this month.

Darn. Well, fortunately there are some other ski areas, as well as ski areas on volcanoes in Chile. I am trying to book a trip to Chile for some summer skiing, having so far mostly worked all through the summer. My biggest meetings are now over for a while, so hoping that I can find some snow with my friend Tero. And still find some flight tickets.

Photo credits DailyMail (Reuters) and Powderquest.

Bunker Bouldering

A blown-up bunker. Debris. Darkness. Bats. Concrete rising to the heights. Walls hanging where they should not be. An ideal climbing place, if it wasn't for the grim past of this place and the morbid pictures of soldiers.

I am in Berlin, at the Humboldthain Flaktürme, in the remains of an enormous World War II anti-aircraft tower and bunker. It is a popular climbing site in this otherwise flat city. And the climbing is good.

But the history of the place is troubling. It is almost unbearable to think about the incredible loss of life caused by the war here and elsewhere. Or the systematic killing of millions of people. But it is even scarier to realise that World War II happened relatively recently, only 70 years ago. That is not too distant past. And real people built the weapons, fought the wars, and planned the atrocities. Maybe it is inevitable that there are some people with evil intentions. But why did the rest of the people go along with it? Could something like that happen again?

The history makes this a spooky place, and climbing here feels odd. The climbing is on the north side of The Bunker - as the local climbing community calls it - in the shades of the forest now growing on the rubble mountain surrounding the tower. The bunker was blown up as part of the demilitarisation of Germany after the war. Half of the bunker is completely destroyed, and the other half badly damaged. A mountain of rubble from the bunker and city buildings covers the site. Originally, the 70 meters by 70 meters and 42 meters high bunker is now barely visible, just half of one side standing above the ground. Yet, you can reach the lowest levels deep under ground when walking inside.

The climbing is along the cracks, bomb holes, and finger-size bullet dents in the walls. The routes run up to 19 meters high and are generally bolted. The crack routes were very interesting, but most of the other routes seemed hard. I did not have a rope or a partner so I went for some bouldering along the wall.

The climbing route descriptions can be found here. The tower ruins are easy to find in the Humboldthain park, near the Gesundbrunnen subway station.

The insides of the ruins are not open for public, but Berliner Unterwelten E.V. organises tours in the bunker from April to October. During winter the bats hibernate in the bunker and the tours cease to not disturb them.

Tickets are 11 € for the tour, well worth the money. The tickets cannot be bought on the net, you have to buy them from the office next to the subway station on the day of the tour. The tours in English run daily at 11am. To get the tickets you probably need to be at the office before it opens. I was there 45 minutes before the opening which on weekdays is at 10am. I was the first, but the line after me filled up fast.

The flak tower bunker tour is tour #2. There are also other interesting tours. I can recommend tour #1 for learning about civilian air raid shelters under the subway station, and the life of civilians during the war.

And if you get bored on climbing outside, check out the nearby Magic Mountain climbing centre. I visited their cafeteria for some vegetarian snacks, and bought new climbing shoes to replace my worn out ones.

Photos and videos (c) 2015 by Jari Arkko. A version of this blog also appeared at Teton Gravity Research. Tämä blogi löytyy myös suomeksi.

Skiing Africa... by Mule

Avalanche pack, check. Skis, check. Mule, check. I am sitting on a mule, on my way to the ski slopes in Oukaïmeden in the Atlas mountains of Morocco.

We are here, because Europe had a bad snow year. And I have to say, there is too much skiing in Africa. I was hoping that after Oukaïmeden, Lesotho, and South Africa, I'd be able to cross of the continent as fully skied. But no. There is another ski area in the far-away other end of Morocco, there are two ski areas in Algeria, there is snow on Kilimanjaro, and there is dune skiing in Namibia. Sigh, plenty to cover still.

Oukaïmeden is about two hours away from the city of Marrakesh and easily accessible. It is a busy snow town with tons of tourists and cars on the road. But most of the tourists have come for a day trip to experience the snow, a rarity for the locals. We only saw foreign tourists once. That is a loss, coming here was an amazing experience for us.

The village is fairly basic, with our hotel, the Chez Juju, being a rare exception in providing western-class accommodation. Most other buildings are bare stone huts. The rooms in Chez Juju are basic, but there's wireless that works if you ask the bartender to reset the router :-) And the food is magnifique! The French kitchen delivers amazing dinners, yet in local style. Much recommended.

But lets get back to the main topic: skiing. The Atlas mountains are some serious mountains, ranging all the way to the 4,167 meter Toubkal, visible from the ski area. We skied nearby, in the ski area's backcountry, offering easily accessible untouched snow. We run into a guy at the parking lot who offered to guide us, so for 20 $ we got a guide for the day. The exploration was still a bit unnerving, given that there were clearly some places where avalanches were a possibility. We skied one at a time and passed these points quickly. Exploring the highest peaks far beyond Oukaïmeden would be a far bigger effort, and will likely require you to bring your own guides and be completely self-sufficient.

The most interesting terrain was to the skier's right from the main lift. A set of couloirs and valleys visible from the lift offers a lot of skiable snow. Further to the right a steep couloir leads onto untouched snow fields. It can only be accessed by traversing steep to the right from from the very top of the lift.

Another interesting area is the ridge to the skier's left. This area leads back to the village, and the remains of ski lifts and structures show that it used to belong to the official slopes.

But even the official slopes under the current main lift are decent: 600 meters of difficult, steep, black run straight down.

But the most wonderful thing for me were the views. We were skiing on white snow, while the red mountains and hills falling below us were all red, with traditional Berberian villages often visible under us.

Oh, and why the mules? The village is next to the beginner lifts, but the main lift is about 2 kilometres away. The most convenient way to reach that lift was by mule. And I wanted to get a ride a on a camel, but unfortunately the camels were only available on lower altitudes.

 

 

 

 

Photos and videos (c) 2015 by Jari Arkko and Jarmo Ruuth. This blog is also available at Teton Gravity Research. Tämä blogi löytyy myös suomeksi. There's also a longer video about this trip from Jarmo.