CASA Tours Switchboard

The Super C

Posted on March 17th, 2007 by abearc.
Categories: Best Lines in South America.

This article written by CASA guide Mike Taylor was featured on Big Lines. props to them for publishing it.

I’ve skied the Super C once before, two years ago, led by a couple of Portillo locals. Since that day I’ve referred to it as the most spectacular couloir I’ve ever skied. It’s a solid 1000 m vert., on a slope of 35-47 degrees, and 15-30m wide. The granite walls are 20m and higher on both sides; very aesthetic indeed.

Sept. 6/06 started with a 6 am alarm, a couple stiff espresso’s off the gas stove in CASA Tours’ apt. downtown Santiago, and Mike Mariash and I drove north of the city just ahead of the morning rush-hour chaos. An hour and a half later we picked up Gary Newman from San Esteban, who works as a guide at Valle El Arpa cat skiing, and we continued up the pass to Portillo. We were the fourth vehicle in the parking lot, one being a military Mercedes Unimog with a dozen teenage soldiers in full camo, gearing up for their day of alpine carnage/training, always a treat to watch.

At 10:40 we dismounted the Roca Jack lift and started the 3 hour boot-pack with a light snowfall that was forecast to accumulate to 1 cm. Variable surface conditions made for a relatively quick climb up to the crux, which is a 50 m traverse on a 45 degree slope, from which losing your purchase is definitely not an option. It was at this point where the 1cm had accumulated to 5 or 6. Loose snow sloughs from the rocky bluffs overhead were becoming more frequent, and group positioning more relevant…

The last 100 vertical m was completely out of overhead hazard, but the powder was preserved at this elevation from the previous storm, making for crotch deep trail-breaking for the last hour.

One of the big attractions of this run for me is that the descent is only visible from the access road well below the resort. Cresting the break-over at 4000m, and looking down beyond the first roll-over of this couloir is breathtaking. With limited vis, continuing steady snowfall, and wet to the bone, we hopped in as soon as we could free up our frozen buckles to crank them down.

The snow in the chute was preserved, dry, and between boot top to waist deep. The steady rumbling sound of loose snow sluffing down on us was unnerving, and added a real ingredient to the adrenaline mix. We spent an hour skiing from the top of the couloir out to the base of the resort. We were in complete whiteout conditions for the last 500 vertical m out of the couloir, with a minefield of frozen avi debris hidden under the powdery surface.

Funny, no matter how cold and soaking wet you are, a good cerveza always tastes great. Five days later I guided a couple guests of CASA Tours (along with another Arpa guide) into the couloir, and we were awarded with a sunny day, although the snow conditions were a mixed bag of wind crust, breakable only at times. We enjoyed a decadent soak in the outdoor jacuzzi afterwards at the Hotel Puerta del Sol.

The Super C remains my favorite.

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