Southern Andes Backcountry, July through September
Picture yourself on the upper flanks of the Tronador, an extinct volcano in the border region between Chile and Argentina. Below you, a landscape of lake, forest, and river. You’ve skinned up more than 3,000 feet from Pampa Linda after driving roughly two hours from Bariloche. You are exhilarated. You’re doing this. Your expert mountain guide exudes a mix of well-deserved confidence and easygoing Argentine affability. It’s time to remove the skins and prepare for your descent. This is what you came for. This is living. This is ski touring in Patagonia: the mountains to yourself, the snow uncut, the solitude complete.
Ski touring (aka backcountry skiing or ski mountaineering) means ascending under your own power, on skis with climbing skins, and skiing down. Yes, heliskiing in Patagonia is also possible, and LANDED arranges it for our travelers. In Patagonia, you ski on volcanoes, high passes, glaciated peaks. The Andean snow can be light and fine—among the best powder in the Southern Hemisphere.
I remember our first ski touring day in Patagonia. We skinned up an active volcano for a vertical gain of about 5,000 feet. We needed gas masks at the summit to keep out the caldera’s fumes. The views were worth every hour of effort—mountains beyond mountains. The descent was pure joy; we couldn’t help laughing and shouting as we carved the untracked snow. Nearing the volcano’s base, our guide surprised us with a helicopter pickup. A short flight later, and we were soaking in our private villa’s hot tub. An unforgettable day that was nothing like the aspen and pine forest backcountry skiing we do in northern Utah.
Where to Go
The primary touring destinations in Patagonia are in the Argentine and Chilean Lake Districts, centering on the Bariloche region and Pucon. Volcán Tronador is a dormant stratovolcano straddling the Argentine-Chilean border. Tronador is the most frequently toured objective in the region, a two-day approach with hut accommodation and descents on its three glaciers. Day trips from comfortable lodges and high-end villas are also available. The Nevado de Longaví in the Biobío region offers more technical terrain for experienced ski mountaineers.
In Chile, the Villarrica Volcano is one of the best locations for ski mountaineering. Further south, the Cerro Castillo and Lago General Carrera area of the Chilean Carretera Austral has seen increasing interest from ski tourers in recent seasons. The access is more remote, the infrastructure less developed, the rewards proportionally greater.
Season
The ski touring season runs July through September, with August generally offering the best snow conditions and most stable weather windows. July can bring significant storms that reset the snowpack; September brings longer days and warming temperatures that, in the lower elevations, create variable snow. The Patagonian shoulder of the Andes receives heavy precipitation in winter—snow is abundant but clear days are scarce.
Guided Programs
Ski touring in Patagonia is not an activity to attempt without a guide who knows the local terrain. Avalanche risk in the Andes requires calibrated local knowledge; approach routes to the major objectives are complex; and the weather changes with surprising speed.
LANDED works with a small number of guiding outfits that combine technical competence with the logistical quality our clients expect. Day trips are available, as are multi-day programs that ascent several locations. Day trips are more approachable for first-time backcountry skiers. Multi-day trips are geared toward experienced ski mountaineers who are comfortable in avalanche terrain with proper training.
Combined with a Broader Patagonia Trip
Ski touring in Patagonia is most naturally combined with time in a Lake District base town such as Bariloche or Pucon. LANDED designs custom-tailored winter Patagonia programs that integrate ski touring with lodge or estancia stays and other winter activities for non-skiing partners.
“Skiing in Patagonia is worth the journey. If you’ve searched online, you may have come away with the idea that beyond the major resorts vacation options are limited. But the Lake District towns of northern Patagonia have so much to offer in Austral Winter. Even some of the lodges in Torres del Paine are open year-round. It’s a great time to visit Santiago, Buenos Aires, and the northern regions of both Chile and Argentina—like Atacama, Jujuy, and Iguazu Falls.” – John Montgomery, Co-Founder of LANDED
“To my mind there is nothing in life so delightful as that feeling of relief, of escape, and absolute freedom which one experiences in a vast solitude, where man has perhaps never been, and has, at any rate, left no trace of his existence.”—W.H. Hudson
Experiencing Patagonia was like seeing the primordial earth—raw, newly formed, majestic, powerful, virtually uninhabited. From the windswept glacial moraines to the jagged mountain peaks to the awe-inspiring fjords and the vibrantly colored lakes. The vastness and remoteness of the completely undeveloped space both scared and energized me; where I could commune with self, Mother Nature, and the divine in a unique and unfiltered way. – J. Gull, LANDED Traveler
PRICING NOTE
GUIDED SKI TOURING PROGRAMS IN PATAGONIA RUN $800–$1500 PER PERSON PER DAY, INCLUDING GUIDING, LODGING, AND MEALS. EQUIPMENT RENTAL IS AVAILABLE IN BARILOCHE AND PUCON. DAY TRIPS ARE AVAILBLE. MULTI-DAY PROGRAMS TYPICALLY RUN FIVE TO SEVEN DAYS. LANDED DESIGNS ORIGINAL WINTER PATAGONIA PROGRAMS AROUND OUR TRAVELERS’ DESIRES AND REQUIREMENTS.
Ski touring in Patagonia is not for casual winter travelers. It is intended for skiers who look beyond what the resorts and lift lines—those who seek the freedom to move through awe-inspiring landscapes unhindered. LANDED creates tailor-made journeys throughout Patagonia.
Request a private consultation with a LANDED travel designer to plan a winter ski touring program in Patagonia.
