Chile Forum

Yea winds are west to east here because of the ocean, mountains, and lake effect winds (these are big lakes here). If the wind ever starts blowing the otherway for more than a few hours, we have bigger problems than this little old volcano acting up.

In Bariloche, thee are a lot of stone (slate) roofs. They are very dramatic and beautiful but I've always wondered if the structure underneath was designed for the extra weight of rock and now ash and snow.

patagoniax wrote:Kel, here is result of wind vector modeling for ash transport in near term]

Thanks PX! That helps.

a reminder of kinder, gentler times...
on a lovely oct. day - not so long ago (2009)...
as we were biking up & over paso samore

Llast November we drove up to Rupameica Alta east of Llifen(Copec Map) It was an eerie drive from Rininahue through Los Venados (all on the warning list) crossing the Rio Huishue (from the lake of the same name but incorrectly marked lago Ranco on google maps and earth) The new road (which has to be closed now) was built or improved after the 1960 eruptions and cut from lava cliffs and ash layers that were very prominent. We were looking for some falls that are supposed to be beautiful up there , but had bad info so did not find them. The people up there are poor, indigenous Huiliches and either farm or log. There high school aged children go to school in Futrono and they have to make there way down the mountain by the road to a small port on lago Maihue (we could not traverse that road and we had a SUV) and take a ferry down to Puerto lloles where they get a school bus that takes them another 30-40 kms to Futrono daily. (this community lost a whole generation some years back when the ferry over loaded with school children overturned in windy conditions)
We stopped to offer aid to a group of local men who had a flat tire on their pickup and ended up taking one of them down the other side to a village. During the ride we discussed the 1960 eruption and he told me he was just a child but it was terrible,they were evacuated but they lost all their animals because they could not be evacuated. I wonder about them now and if the new ferry would take their Oxen and cows Horses and their dogs, and if so where would they go.

Hang on guys, I got the first photos from Frutillar. The clouds cleared a little while ago.

My blackberry is not letting me get my photos off of it, but hopefully I will have them shortly and can post the rest.

taken a few mins ago.

More photos, shot from the ridge overlooking frutillar bajo across the lake.

Sunset

I just took some of the best photos of my life, and can post them because my battery is dying.

.
No rest in the volcano zone. Radio report:

The shelter at Riñinahue (Región de Los Ríos) is being evacuated for concerns over possible lava flow from the Cordón Caulle eruption.

It is believed that a lava flow could come down the Nilahue river course.

The report also says that people at all the shelters are wearing masks "due to the strong smell of sulphur." But the masks I see them using appear to be particulate masks with almost no effective utility for reducing the sulphur dioxide and other gases from the volcano. Wondering if this is more chamullo.

Anyway the people from this shelter are being relocated by the Chilean military to a new site at a school in Futrono.