When we were planning our skiing adventure to Argentina and Chile we found it difficult at times to find the information we needed online. Our searches would return tourism operators for ski tours and the occasional blog but it was slow sorting so here are my learnings and what I would recommend for skiing and ski touring in Chile. Chile has it all, from northern deserts to the soaring andean peaks, rainforests to special araucaria trees, rivers to the Patagonian ice fields and don't forget the countless volcanos in between. We made our way down Chile skiing volcanos and other incredible areas. North of Santiago and just west of the city you have massive mountains and knarly terrain. Places like Portillo with the Super C couloir nearby (just google it), Cajon del Maipo, solely for ski touring with a refugio (hut) at the bottom, some 4000m+ mountains and incredible couloirs also. Las Lenas ski resort, just on the Argentinian side, again has great terrain accessed from the top of the lifts by touring and walking. Note that Las Lenas terrain can only be accessed while the resort is open as they do not allow access otherwise due to previous accidents in the area. Incredible terrain but the catch is they struggle for snow being that much further north and have a shorter season as it heats up quickly. I missed out on skiing there this season as they had no snow when I was in the area and then we were too busy skiing in the south (and the distances in these countries are so big you cant move around very quickly). As you make your way south you have better snow and more of it, lower elevations and a lot of volcanoes. This is where we did the most of our skiing and I would definitely recommend it. My ski buddy Tim bought a van which we lived in and made accessing all these areas far easier. We had some hilarious (in hindsight) "real van life experiences", a few things going wrong but super fun, I would recommend it! Our northern most point was Nevados de Chillan ski field and we started here with an incredible dump of snow (the most in 5 years, or 10 years depending on who you talked to). Here we were able to ski trees, interesting terrain, to hot springs and also volcanos! The area is not known for its quantity of snow but definitely for having interesting terrain. I would recommend staying a couple of nights in the Refugio Garganta del Diablo (throat of the devil hut, its a bit older but free and a good time) and from there skiing one of the volcanos nearby ie Nevados de Chillan and then another day touring up to the main ridge and then down the other side to the Termas (hot springs, follow the steam). As you continue south the next compulsory stop should be Volcan Lonquimay. The township of Malalcahuello is the closest and the Randonee bar in the town has a folder of ski tours in the area, very helpful! As well as ascending the volcan you can also experience skiing in Araucaria forests (these trees look similar to monkey puzzle trees but are different and are only found in this part of Chile). The best place to ski these trees is actually near an old ski resort called Arenales, you need to drive to the actual township of Lonquimay or you can ski tour from Corralco ski resort. This area is known for the amount of snow it gets! We had incredible snow when we were there which definitely made up for the heaters in the van not working. Our time was nicely divided between attempting to get them going and skiing sweet snow. Also in this area are the volcans Llaima and Sierra Nevada (although Sierra Nevada is not referred to as a volcan as it is extinct). Access for Sierra Nevada is best from the town of Malalcahuello, it is a long access but the skiing is far more featured than your standard volcano cone. We accessed Sierra Nevada from the Conguello national park side (a beautiful park with old lava flows standing out) and you can also access Llaima from here. Our access was difficult due to the amount of snow that had fallen and we tried many different roads before we found one that was open. Llaima can also be approached from the side of the Los Paraguas ski field and this way is definitely faster and more direct. South again and you have the township of Pucon which is an incredible place to meet other outdoor adventurers, the town is so touristy it almost feels out of place in Chile. Volcan Villarica is the obvious option around here and is extremely popular due to its active crater, you can see the lava on a good day. I would recommend it but be aware that you will be following a highway of other people up, tourists with snowshoes on group tours. There is also Quetrupillan volcan which is similar to Sierra Nevada in that the access is longer, it is not as high but has more features about it. Then you have Lanin. This is a must do. It is the highest in the area at 3725m and for a challenge I would suggest doing it in a day. I thought I had picked a good day to do Lanin with the wind forecast low however as we neared the summit it was raging, definitely the windiest conditions I have experienced. It is a good experience knowing how much wind you can cope with but if this isn't something you are interested in I would suggest picking a day that actually has 0 wind in the forecast. These days are easier to find in September, August seems to be the stormy month and from the middle of September things clear up and the wind typically calms down abit. We set out at 5 am for Lanin, its a good 10 hour day, and had some spectacular views as the sun rose. There can be a few transitions on the way up from skins to crampons, the standard faff, its a good place to practice skinning on very solid snow at a reasonably steep angle. If you get a warm day you will have a good 2500m of awesome descent. If its colder then its a knee jarring slide for the first 1500m before the snow gets a chance to soften and this second part is fun (trust me). South of Pucon you have even more volcans, Osorno, Puyehue, Casablanca. The list of volcanos really does go on. They are great but unless you get a good snow season and no wind they are definitely more about the ascent than the ski down so I would suggest picking 4 or 5 and then moving on. Continuing south of Osorno you really get into Patagonia, we didn't make it south on the Chillean side but I have heard that driving to Coyhaique will be worth your while, here you can probably meet some locals who will be able to tell you more as everyone around here is into their skiing or ice climbing. Following Ruta 7 south of Coyhaique you will start to see mountains to access off the side of the road and Cerro Catillo is supposed to be awesome. Continuing from here into Patagonia you will need to cross into Argentina and then can access the insanity surrounding El Chalten, I will write about this is another episode (:
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AuthorMarian Krogh Archives
August 2019
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