Bonsai Run, Santa Teracita, Chilean Andes

  El Colorado/ Valle Nevado, Chile
Tuesday, May 8, 2007

by Sarah Weinberg - CASA TOURS North America Manager and Lead Guide

On top of the Santa Teracita Ridgeline

It is hard to choose a favorite in Chile, as there are so many classic lines around. I suppose one of my great favorites is what's called the Santa Teresita. 'ita' put onto the end of a word in Spanish means something like, 'little one'. That is the great sarcastic humor kicking in with the Teresita as it's anything but little! I remember the first time I found my way out there with some local friends I couldn't believe what was in front of me. I felt like I had just been dropped off at a heli LZ and was staring at some of the vastest terrain I had ever skied. I was no spring chicken, even at that time, but the immense possibility of line variation that lay before my eyes send a twitter in my stomach and a hunger in my soul for Chile.

Santa Teracita Chutes

I head for the lifts at the little known resort of El Colorado. This is a family mountain squished in-between the more visited resorts of Valle Nevado and La Parva. As I head up first the poma and then a t-bar I am amazed at the shape of this place. A classic volcanic sputter cone nestled amongst huge peaks. I can see a 20,000 Ft. peak just above the ski area that looks like you could take a little stroll over there in a couple of hours, in reality the peak of El Plomo is at least two days away and another upon return.
I ski down the un-descript blue groomer towards a little brown shack. It's an outhouse really and I love to refer to the adjacent line as shitter chute. I duct under the ropes and ignore the out-of-bounds signs, the avalanche danger signs and the cliff markings. As a diligent backcountry skier I have already drooled at these lines from the Valle Nevado access road and chosen my land marks to look for.

Santa Teracita Terrain

I check my beacon and that of my partner. All good. We edge towards the ridgeline, peeking over the other side and what appears before my eyes is a whole new world. It's a world of wide-open spaces, untracked powder, cliffs, funnels and benches. I look directly below the outhouse at shitter chute and even though I can't see how it goes through to the road, I know it does from previous experience. There is so much to choose from though we decide to glide down the ridge a little and see what else there is available. We pass the sharks' fin, a knife-edge fin of rock that rises from the smooth treeless slope and offers some gnarly and rocky goat pickings through into the lower powder fields. I want to keep going though as I have a little something in mind.
We drop onto the far side of the sharks' fin and ski side hill a little ways down. The snow is fantastic and I have my eyes narrowed, looking for a little something of local legend. There I see it, a small bonsai tree. It is the only tree within a 2000' vertical decent and many miles around. An anomaly that marks the entrance to, what the locals call, bonsai run. I am so excited as I had heard of this place, this tree for a few seasons but hadn't had the chance to come and seek it out.
I have a look and make a plan. The chute is narrow in the choke but still wide enough to make turns, it dog legs around a corner so that I cannot fully see to the bottom, adding just a little angst in my throat. I see the left flank looks loaded with snow and drains steeply into the choke. I decide on a risky ski cut up the left flank and then a shot for the main guts. As I gather speed and try to glide lightly across the loaded slope I look for my escape route just in case. All my luck though as nothing moves and the snow feels good underfoot. I snap in a couple of turns, shoot into the guts, carve a big one through the narrows and out into the lower fan I go. Once into the lower open fan I drop into a rhythm of glee and dance out some powder turns to leave my glorious mark all the way to the road.

Skier Sandwiched between Snow and Clouds

Of course its over way too fast and as I look back up the lower half of the chute I am happy to have skied another challenging line and feel the glory of the ride. I look up and down the ridge line and sense endless possibility with this 'little one'.
The best part comes as we hop down onto the road, have our CASA driver shuttle us up the hill and lap some Santa Terasita freshies over and over again.