I think the general consensus is still the Gulf Stream is doing most of the work - although this thread is now seriously off topic
Right lol, I do agree Chile may be a 50/50 gamble this year. But I still want to go.. Badly..I think the general consensus is still the Gulf Stream is doing most of the work - although this thread is now seriously off topic
Having given this some thought today, I realise that I still left some options open, although both were egg shaped. Replace South with North and you should nail itWrong sport.
You could hit @Dan Egan for one of his trips.I am sorry that you can't leave the UK. I hear things are terrible in UK, FR, and GER. Would love to have someone join me.
No-where's really got travel rules and vaccine certificates sorted out yetDoesn't look like Chile is accepting tourists at this time and there is a 9 pm curfew. Sort of dumb to ban a vaccinated person from travel.
No-where's really got travel rules and vaccine certificates sorted out yet
For the love of all that is skiing, please don't.Not to start another covid thread here -
Swung by to get beta on Chile and, not what I was hoping for exactly, here in we get what we need. Buddy and I just picked up Ikon base and wanted to get away for a summer week.Right lol, I do agree Chile may be a 50/50 gamble this year. But I still want to go.. Badly..
I'm up for Mt. Hood....Chile will have to be another year....lets some of us meetup up there!I think traveling outside the country is going to be a challenge this summer. With that in mind anyone up for skiing Mt Hood We know that is a safe bet!
Swung by to get beta on Chile and, not what I was hoping for exactly, here in we get what we need. Buddy and I just picked up Ikon base and wanted to get away for a summer week.
Looks like the call is to watch and wait. I can of course buy a room and plane ticket now, they're glad to take our money. So, @Master-Blaster IF this thing can happen 2 dudes from Charlotte might be down for some Southern Hemisphere.
thanks Matt! Your website has fantastic info, looks amazing down there! Our plan was to absolutely book refundable/no change fee airfare, it's about 1300 round trip on Delta right now! For us South Easterners we're in peak season Colorado cost territory, nuts! On the other hand the hotels at Valle Nevado look pretty "full" - not too many peak season options showing up online (1st 2 weeks of August). No clue about their policies so we're def holding off, for now. Here's hoping!Agreed, wait and see what happens, there's still plenty of time and it's an evolving situation. There's a strong chance Chile will be accessible to you. If you find cheap airfares, then I'd be hesitant to book unless you have a generous cancellation/exchange policy, same with the accommodation.....
thanks Matt! Your website has fantastic info, looks amazing down there! Our plan was to absolutely book refundable/no change fee airfare, it's about 1300 round trip on Delta right now! For us South Easterners we're in peak season Colorado cost territory, nuts! On the other hand the hotels at Valle Nevado look pretty "full" - not too many peak season options showing up online (1st 2 weeks of August). No clue about their policies so we're def holding off, for now. Here's hoping!
Me too I am goingThanks for the mention Tricia, it is greatly appreciated. I can give my thoughts on Chile and what the current situation is. I'm hoping to run a couple of sessions in Nevados de Chillan in August/September (https://www.theadventureproject.net/chile-overview) but I don't think anyone can tell you at the moment if there will be skiing for foreigners in Chile this summer. Things were looking good; the international borders were open and foreigners had been allowed in. Then in March, a huge uptick in infections and hospitalizations hit...... I wrote a summary to my clients posted in our Chile Facebook group. I'll save some time and copy and paste it here. I think it covers most things.
"Hopefully most of you were aware that Chile had re-opened their international borders (with restrictions) to foreign travelers back on November 23rd. Condition of entry were further updated on January 7th. By this stage you had to have negative PCR tests taken no more than 72 hours before departure and then undertake a few other formalities to enter Chile.
Nevados de Chillan was able to open up again for their summer season and the chairlifts were spinning for mountain biking. There were restrictions of course, as well as reduced capacity for the local hotels and restaurants. At least they were open as opposed to the non-event of their 2020 winter when the resort stayed closed for the whole season. Things were looking a lot more positive finally.
Unfortunately COVID cases start to rise sharply again in March and worryingly hospitals started to reach occupancy. 80% of Chile had to go into lockdown for almost a month, including the Pinto region where Nevados de Chillan is located. The international borders were closed again for 1 month, on April 5th.
This was somewhat of a surprise as Chile had been doing really well with their COVID vaccination program. They moved early to secure their doses (mostly Pfizer and Sinovax Coronavax from China, both 2-shot regimes) and had one of the highest vaccination rates (per 100 people) in the world. Over 40% of all people had received at least 1 does of the vaccine by April.
So what went wrong? Why have infection rates increased again? Well, testing has shown that the Sinovax vaccine has not performed well at all, compared to the Pfizer vaccine. With only 1 dose, the Sinovax vaccine only has a 16% efficacy rate at preventing infection and a 36% success rate at keeping people out of hospital. The infection rate has greatly increased in younger people (below 60) who have lessened the use of masks, social distancing etc with news of the impending vaccination programs. The spread of the more contagious Brazilian variant has added to the increase in infection rates and hospitalizations as well. I think this article describes in more detail what has been happening - https://www.reuters.com/.../chiles-covid-19-vaccine.../.
The good news is that the infection rate has started to come down in the last few days. Today it was announced (thank you for the update Francisco) that the Pinto region where Nevados de Chillan is located, will come out of lockdown on Monday, as will other regions where the infection rates are lower (haven't heard about Santiago yet). The international border was closed on April 5th for one month and is scheduled to re-open on May 5th.
So, overall, good news. The Chilean government is prioritizing people who took the Sinovax vaccine to get their second dose (the Pfizer vaccine has proven to be 80% effective against the virus after only 1 shot) and secure a more diverse range of vaccines. The government is aiming to have 80% of the population (19.5m people total population) fully vaccinated by June, thus allegedly achieving herd immunity. That would be great news for our programs starting in August."
Since I wrote this report on the 22nd April, then a few things have happened. Firstly, the Pinto region came out of lockdown (Pinto is the region that Nevados de Chillan is located in). My partner's hotel has re-opened and so have local restaurants etc. That's good news. The Chilean border closed on April 5th and that is supposed to be for one month. Re-opening would therefore be on the 5th May. Chile's infection rate is thankfully in decline. It has been announced that the EU is re-opening for US travelers who are fully vaccinated. That seems to be a trend that I personally hope to see continue. The Republic of Georgia and Iceland are two noteable countries (notable for me at least) that had already re-opened their borders to fully-vaccinated travelers are while ago (there are several others but they aren't ski destinations). I see this as a trend that will grow and when they have figured out some kind of official "vaccine passport" (whatever you want to call it); I hope Chile can jump aboard this program too, sooner rather than later. I have until August before I'm due to head off, so there's time......
That's my 2.5 cents. Hope to be skiing in Chile in 3.5 months time. Fingers crossed......
- Matt
Swung by to get beta on Chile and, not what I was hoping for exactly, here in we get what we need. Buddy and I just picked up Ikon base and wanted to get away for a summer week.
Looks like the call is to watch and wait. I can of course buy a room and plane ticket now, they're glad to take our money. So, @Master-Blaster IF this thing can happen 2 dudes from Charlotte might be down for some Southern Hemisphere.
OK I just saw this, so I can ski in Chili on the Ikon? as far as South Carolina skiers go (we can include Charlotte cause we know your a wanna be SCalinior )So maybe two more Lake Wylie people should start thinking on this oneI am down. The icon pass just makes it too difficult to pass up.
Valle Nevado... 5 days on the base, or 7 days on the full pass. (And that's in Chile. If you want to ski in Chili, you're going to need an enormous bowl of it. )OK I just saw this, so I can ski in Chili on the Ikon?