Update on the progress of our operational recovery efforts following the severe storm system that affected the area surrounding our facilities in Chile between July 16 and 21.

This week, we continued working to restore the access road to the mountains while also clearing the route to the summit of Cerro Pachón, where our team has encountered snow drifts up to 3 meters (10 feet) deep, as well as extensive mud. At cerro Tololo, our team has established its operations base. We still do not have commercial electrical power or water service on the mountain, and we are working to restore both. However, this will require a considerable—and still uncertain—amount of time, as the access roads to these utility systems were destroyed.

Efforts have focused on restoring access to the summit of Cerro Pachón, where the road remains in very poor condition. Nevertheless, the team has successfully reached the hotel area. At the same time, we are coordinating with civil engineering firms to develop proposals to reinforce, wherever possible, the sections of the road damaged by the storm, as winter is not yet over. They will also prepare longer-term plans to rebuild the road infrastructure, restore its full functionality, and ensure safe access. Current road conditions do not allow the safe passage of heavy vehicles, making it difficult to transport the large quantities of water and fuel needed to supply the generators. We are actively working to resolve these logistical challenges, as without these essential services we cannot resume normal operations.

For this reason, only a limited number of essential personnel who have been trained to work under extreme conditions have been authorized to access the mountain. Until we can ensure safe conditions for our staff, access will remain restricted to essential personnel only.

We have no record of experiencing a storm system of this magnitude in our mountains that caused such extensive damage, particularly to the road infrastructure. Today, another storm system is affecting the area, forcing us to suspend all work on the mountain to protect the safety of our personnel. We will resume recovery activities as soon as conditions allow. We are aiming to reach the telescopes at Pachón, towards the end of next week, to allow for inspections and inventory of any damage. Based on this each telescope will be able to do more reliable projections when operations can be resumed.

However, at this time we are still unable to determine when normal operations will be fully restored. Nevertheless, our team will continue working tirelessly under extremely challenging conditions to achieve that goal. This is an exceptional situation, and we appreciate your understanding that our highest priority is to restore our telescopes to operational status.

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