Posts
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Hiking at the End of Cajon de Maipo
A crowd of us spent part of the long holiday weekend hiking in the Andes. The weather was perfect for some time in the mountains, with warm temperatures and sunny skies. All told, twelve of us joined, with seven people hiking Saturday and the other five hiking Saturday and Sunday. The hiking was fun, though the weekend was not without its unexpected “adventures”…
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Cerro La Campana
After many weeks of traveling and a few weeks of being consumed by the proposal deadline for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, we were itching to get back into the mountains and away from the city. Not feeling up to committing to a full weekend, we opted for a day trip to the coastal mountain range between Santiago and the Pacific Ocean, on Cerro La Campana. I had never been to the coastal range, other than passing over/through it on the way to and from Valparaiso, so I was excited about the opportunity to try something new. The chance of being able to see the Pacific Ocean and the Andes from the same place was also very appealing.
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Censo 2017
Today was the national census in Chile. Generally taken every 10 years, the 2017 census was a special one, following only five years after the previous one (2012). I heard that, during the 2012 census, a new technique was attempted for reaching the population. This was apparently spread over a month and resulted in significantly lower response rates from the population. I was told a cover-up ensued, and the published response rates were significantly higher than the actual response rates. So, in order to obtain a better census, the old style was reinstated and the census was repeated.
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Morning Hike up Cerro Manquehue
Scheduling mountain trips has been tough lately. All the usual suspects (myself included) have had non-overlapping schedules making it difficult to find a group for a full weekend out. To make a long story short, a few of us discussed a short hike up Cerro Manquehue, just outside of Santiago. The weekend weather looked a bit iffy, with a possibility of rain in town – great for finally clearing the smoke out of Santiago but not as much fun to hike in.
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Cerro Pintor and Cerro La Parva
After a nice vacation in snowy Idaho, I was anxious to get back into the high Andes and work on ticking off some peaks I’d had in mind. This first trip of 2017 involved taking a crack at Cerro Pintor (4180m), just above the La Parva ski resort. I had been past (and camped below) Pintor before, during the attempt on Cerro Leonera about a year ago. Having not been to the top, I was keen to give Pintor a try and I thought it would make a nice training / test outing.