Chilean Patagonia Report: A D3 Avalanche Ate Our Couloir, So We Skied Pow-Corn Instead

Report from August 29, 2026

We got back out there on this sunny Saturday looking for love after one glorious day off to get organized in our new southern home

Or at least looking for some soft snow.

Ski day #2 here.

We know nothing here, so we got up early and were on snow at about 8:15 am, just before sunrise.

The initial climb was straight up, taxing, and slick as snot.

Ski crampons from the get-go.

We kept them on until we finished the big traverse and hit the creek.

Our plan was to ski the big, deep, obvious couloir, but a D3 avalanche (could destroy small wood-framed buildings) had pulled off the rocks — about 10 feet deep in spots — and obliterated the entire chute.

Lesson learned.

Tone down your objectives, boys.

So we did.

We cruised up a happy drainage to some gleeful terrain with splendiferous views of the big castle mountains.

We took it all in for a while before dropping in.

3 hours and 19 mins to the top
2,945 vertical feet

I went first and the snow was ok and improved as we descended.

After a quick lunch at the bottom we found ourselves stomping back up the mountain in soft, almost corny snow that had previously been rock-hard crust.

Our second run was even better than the first with the help of a barrage of photons delivered directly from space to our splintering snow underfoot.