SKI TOURING IN CHILE

[Arctos Guides]

We went ski touring in Chile ?for the third year in a row over the past ten days. True to our style we went with a small group of clients (four) and one guide. Over the years, we’ve found a mall groups provide the best client experience.

Standing on the summit of LonquimayAfter meeting the group at the Araucaniá airport (ZCO), we headed to Malalcahuello on the 25th of September. Mid-September-mid October generally provides the best conditions for skiing volcanoes; the weather is more stable and the snowpack has had time to settle out. Treeline at this latitude is relatively low~1700-1800m, thus storm skiing is challenging on the volcanoes with reduced visibility.
The weather looked good for our first couple of days in Malalcahuello, so we headed for the summit of Lonquimay on day one. Moderate temperatures and moderate ridge top winds made for a great summit day and ski descent down the east face.
Lonquimay ski descentThe group was keen to harvest some of the fabled Chilean corn, so the next day we headed into the Reserva Bíosfera Araucarias to chase some sheltered corn runs. We filled our boots with 600-700m corn cruisers while soaking in leisurely transitions amidst araucaria groves.
A significant low was bearing down on us so we skied two big days at the start of the trip. The third day we headed east to an old ski area that is now run by local Mapuche people (the largest indigenous nation in Chile) as a backcountry ski area. We made the most of challenging conditions and the approaching low and got a some skiing in before the weather deteriorated too much. The highlight of the day was hanging with Pedro (a local guy who runs the ski area) in the “ruka” (Mapuche for house) by a fire.
With two days of precipitation ahead of us, we made a break for Pucón the following day and visited a hot spring along the way. The riverside thermal pools made for an incredible soak on a rainy day.
After the soak, we stopped into a local feria for a steaming hot bowl of cazuela de carne.
The skies cleared for the second half of the trip and provided optimal conditions for skiing the volcanoes around Pucón. Some companies choose to jump from one volcano to another, which is an awesome, but unsettled trip format.
Personally, I prefer to auger into a couple of different zones and explore them more extensively. IMO, it makes for a more relaxed pace and the chance to get to know a couple of zones better than skimming through numerous zones in a short period of time. Thus we settled into our accommodations on an estancia outside of Pucón and skied four days on Quetrupillán and Rukapillán.
The low exited Pucón cold making for a breezy and glazed day on Rukapillán. The low pressure had come with significant winds, thus we had to seek out sheltered east and northeast aspects to find soft and smooth snow. Unfortunately, the summit was closed due to recent volcanic activity this year and we had to stop our ascents at 2600m. That still left 1400m to ski, so there was no shortage of fall line.
[IMG]file:///private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/76AE4C8F-2DC0-4E4F-AEE0-320BABABD270/tmp/org.automattic.MediaImageServiceSymlinks/thumbnail-bbc3ddaf-bcfa-48a4-84f1-d09bcfc7599a-1365x1024.jpeg[/IMG]Lomo vetado for the winQuetrupillán is one of my favourite tours in the area as it’s an incredibly varied adventure. The sinuous dirt road up the valley is just the beginning. It’s not a short day, but the juice is worth the squeeze as a hike through old growth coihue trees leads up to expansive views, summit and incredible ski descent.
We spent the last two days of our trip exploring the expansive flanks of Rukapillán. The massive volcano offers 360 degrees of skiing, some glaciated and all of it is outstanding. The classic approach is great, but busy. If you’re willing to go off the beaten path, there are plenty of fresh and engaging lines to explore.

[Arctos Guides]

Throughout the Pucón area, Rukapillán stands out. Downtown Pucón offers an exceptional view of the volcano —perfect for scoping potential descents. There are also countless restaurants and bars to enjoy a meal on a sunny terrace. I like to squeeze as much skiing in as possible on these trips, so I get everyone to schedule their flights for the evening of our final day. This allows for a half day on the skis before we head back to the airport.We woke up to another spectacular spring day with the clouds sitting over the lake.The windy dirt road led us up to the boarder of the national park. The snow line was a short walk above the parking lot. Once again the approach brought us through a grove of ancient coihue and araucaria trees (some of which are over 1000 years old).[IMG]file:///private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/76AE4C8F-2DC0-4E4F-AEE0-320BABABD270/tmp/org.automattic.MediaImageServiceSymlinks/thumbnail-cabb1543-7f3c-4426-b0b0-6f9820405ff0-1024x1365.jpeg[/IMG]I’ve settled on 4wd extended cab pickup trucks for these trips. The roads are often rough and a high clearance 4wd vehicle is best suited for the approaches. However it requires strategic and diligent packing. Packing light is highly encouraged. Feel free to reach out for a packing list, mine is quite honed at this point. We’ll be offering a variety of South American trips in 2025 including hut to hut traverses, powder skiing and volcanoes, drop a line if you’re interested.

[byates1]

Sick. Great photos. Nice!

[Mike Pow]

Top notch

[shera]

cool

[rudy]

Very cool. Thanks for the pics

[el hefe]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing

[kamtron]

Nice looking trip, great weather.

Did something happen to the nice-ish lodge at the base of Arenales? Or is the ruka more for ambiance?

[RTsucks]

I need that grilled beer recipe

[tang]

Great stuff Conor!

[Arctos Guides]

Nice looking trip, great weather.

Did something happen to the nice-ish lodge at the base of Arenales? Or is the ruka more for ambiance?

So far as I can tell, the lodge burned down. The Mapuche folks who have taken over the ski area built the ruka last March and are now running it as a backcountry ski area—it costs 10000CLP to ski there. If you call ahead, it’s possible to set up a a post ski assado.

[kamtron]

Ah that's too bad. In October 2019 I had a nice lunch in the lodge, which they were renovating for skiers to be able to stay in.

[Ted26]

Recently completed a ski trip to the Chilean volcanoes as well and will toss my pictures here rather than start a new trip report. It was my first time visiting Chile but my sister has spent extensive time in the country. My main takeaways are below for anyone considering doing the trip:

(TLDR: If nobody in your group has ever been to Chile or doesn’t speak fluent Spanish strongly consider going with some sort of a guide. Early to mid October is best odds of skiing primo corn, late September has higher certainty of being able to ski something if you’re going no matter what and late October is probably pushing it on snow coverage and hot temperatures)

1. Strongly recommend traveling with someone who knows the country and speaks fluent Spanish if possible. Navigating Chilean bureaucracy and regulations is often confusing and not clearly articulated anywhere online. Most of the volcanoes have fees and regulations that are not always easy to find. The summit of Villarica was closed during our trip (for reasons unknown. Asked the park ranger why and he basically shrugged, said because government said so. Welcome to Chile). Saw two skiers ski off the summit who clearly started early and were probably unaware of this and were supposedly apprehended at the base by rangers and fined heavily.

2. Most people will tell you the best time is late September/ early October. I was a bit skeptical of this timing (just doing straight northern hemisphere comparison) but would generally agree now. Seems that there is often a pretty fast transition from winter to early summer conditions during the month of October. I would agree that late October is probably pushing it for volcanoes, especially on a poor snow year. If you’re committed to booking in advance and going no matter what then late September probably guarantees having snow to ski at least. I think early to mid October is probably the best period to target for primo corn snow, with earlier probably being too wintery up high for corn and later in October risking too hot and no refreezes.

3. The skiing is phenomenal.

[Ted26]

Some more iPhone shots.

[Norseman]

Great pics man. Thanks for sharing

[Arctos Guides]

1. Strongly recommend traveling with someone who knows the country and speaks fluent Spanish if possible. Navigating Chilean bureaucracy and regulations is often confusing and not clearly articulated anywhere online. Most of the volcanoes have fees and regulations that are not always easy to find. The summit of Villarica was closed during our trip (for reasons unknown. Asked the park ranger why and he basically shrugged, said because government said so. Welcome to Chile). Saw two skiers ski off the summit who clearly started early and were probably unaware of this and were supposedly apprehended at the base by rangers and fined heavily.

Nice TR, looks like you nailed the weather! The Villarica summit closure went into effect last year when it erupted...which put a bit of a curveball in my trip plans. Since then a law was passed that states you can't go within 1km of the summit, roughly 2600m ASL. Local guiding agencies are pretty choked at this due to lowered recent volcanic activity. Local recreationists don't seem to pay much attention to the law and head to the summit; however, there are stiff fines if you get caught.

[kamtron]

Fanstastic corn score!