France-Quebec game at 2800m of altitude
We take our last bus trip between Chilian and Santiago, and check in at the Casa Roja hostel, same place where we went 40 days ago after landing at the airport. We had liked it for its international atmosphere… but now, after all the things we experienced on the road during the last few weeks, it’s a choc. There are no mountains to look at through the windows, not Chilenos or Argentinos to talk to with our clumpsy spanish… Only a group of international backpackers lying in the coach, watching TV in the middle of the afternoon, drinking beers after beers…. One look between Morgan and I and the decision is taken : we are not going to stay in Santiago for our last 2 days.
Flying together, it's even better!
Without hesitation, and right on the next morning, we’re renting a car and leave for the mountains. With a bit of luck, we hope to find Etienne and Adrien who still live in La Parva, a ski resort a couple of hours away from the capital. But we don’t know where they live excactly… neither how to reach them.
As soon as we get onto the tiny road up the hills, we feel SO MUCH better! Furthermore, condors are here, flying up in the hot spring air, like if they were willing to say goodbye.
Morgan going for the curve
Once in La Parva, we find ourselves in a ghost town… Lifts are closed, as well as the shops… hum… We keep going further until we hear the sound of the well known Ragaton (Bolivean teckno music kid of thing..) which leads us to a HUGE party on the roof of the ski school, where all the people left in the resort are celebrating the end of the season. The equivalent of 2 cows are cooking on huges BBQs, beer and pisco are pouring down… and in the middle of it, dancing on the latino bit, Etienne and Adrien. How easy was this ! 
We join the party, but a bit late obviously since it’s been going on for almost 3 days non stop… Anyway, we’re much better here than in Santiago ! Beside, the sunset over the dirty and smoky city of the capital is amazing.
Seb is enjoying the canyon
The next day, we’re heading for Valle Nevado with our Speeds. We were there on our 2nd day in Chile, so now our round trip is properly closed. We’re going straight to the canyon where we where last time. But this time Adrien and Etienne are here to catch some images for us. So in return, we’re introducing them to the fun of Speedflying, and it doesn’t take much for them to get to LOVE it ! Of course, this thing is addictive!
This last day was a perfect. So now we can drive back to Santiago, which stayed all day in the fog and rain, while we were having fun over the clouds. We go for a tasty 500g steack, along with a nice bottle of red Camenere. After that, we’re ready to leave this continent which gave us so much fun, and experiences, in so many ways!
Gracias a todos, vamos a volver, seguro!
Chile i Argentina, que Buena Onda!
Termas de Chilian and its volcanoes
Termas de Chilian is our last stop on our way back to Santiago. It’s another ski resort, built on another volcano (Yes, they like it here, and so do we!) Actually, there are several volcanoes, as we can see on a photo taken from a plane, which shows at least 12 of them, more or less active. As by its name, its a thermal resort as well as a ski resort, which attracks many tourists from the city nearby: Chilian, Concepcion, and of course Santiago.
Our cute little cabaña... easy going..
We find a cute cabaña to rent, only 15mn from the volcano. Small living room with a fire, coach, 3 bedrooms… obviously we’re taking care of ourselves at the end of this trip But it does not cost much, so why not enjoying it ? On another hand, the ski pass is a lot more expensive : 33€ per day for a tiny ski field not even fully open, and mostly spring snow which starts to be missing in a few spots… And it’s even more expensive for us since we only need to get 3 lifts to reach the volcano. No… we’re not ready to pay that easily. So we decide to go around the mountain and try to find another way up, a bit more in the “spirit” of our trip. A rough dirt road goes into the forest until it reaches a big chunck of petrified lava. We start from there, skis on the back, hoping to reach an open zone with enough snow, where we will be able to start kiting toward the volcano. Because the wind is blowing in the good direction !
This way will not do...
An hour later, we’re still hiking in some snow up to our knees, climbing lava block higher than us… We have to accept it: it won’t work! So we’re turning back, heading to the resort to get the lifts… Of course, we could skin up, but it’s getting late and we REALLY want to kite!
Another big, big... very big kite spot
After 45mn on those awfull slow lifts, we finaly get to the spot. Thinking back to the photo we looked at yesterday, we have a rough idea about where we are. In many places, smokes gets out from the ground. The wind is blowing hard on the tops, but here it’s totally acceptable. One more time, what is amazing, is the spot: massive, with lots of small hills to play around, a large pass between the 2 biggest volcanoes, black lava sticking out from the white snow… and just the two of us to enjoy the place with our kites.
Skiing down the volcano in the sunset.. again
We have time to enjoy the area for more than 3 hours before we start climbing up one of the big volcanoes. The wind isn’t ideally orientated, but nevertheless I manage to use the kite until 200m below the summit. It’s the first time in the whole trip that the kite takes me almost all the way, and I’m quite happy about that. We keep going on foot, but at the top, the wind is strong and cold. The light is slowly decreasing, and the snow is perfect for a great descent, so we decide to stop there before reaching the summit. Of course, it’s a bit frustrating, but we’re here to enjoy ourselves, and that’s is exactly what we’re about to do by skiing down this big slope.
The next day, it’s rainning. It makes us realise how lucky we have been with the weather through out this whole trip. In close to 35 days, we had less that 10 days of bad weather. Not surprising that we start to feel wuite tired… going on with this crazy rythme since we left Santiago. But we stil have a small week left, and we’re here to enjoy it right to the end!
Between earth and sky
A day later, we’re going back to the volcano, exploring some other part of this gigantic spot. The wind is not as strong this time, which allows us to use the bigger kites, and launch a few jumps. It’s always so good to fly ! Clouds are starting to feel up the valley below us, and sometime it’s hard to tell where the sky from the ground. We kite once more until sunset…. and our legs can barely take us back to the car when we reach the parking lot.
Small freestyle session
We end up our trip in Termas de Chilian with a good asado, along with a few Chilenos & Chilenas who came skiing for the WE. The last 15 days in Chile have gone soo fast… and it’s already time to pack and go up to Santiago, goind back to France in 4 days.
Time does fly when you have so much fun !
The "camionetta" in Malalcahuello
Once the Villarica done… and well done, we hit the road again towards our next stop: the Lonquimay volcano. In Temuco, a city 3h north of Pucon, we rent a “camionetta”, in order to load all our gears as well as Adrien and Etienn who decided to join us a bit longer along the trip. So far we managed to use the public transports, but now that we’re going away from the main roads, it’s getting hard to find regular bus connexions.
A bit more than 100km East from Temuco, we stop in Malacahuello, a tiny village where at first glance, time must have stopped. Morgan takes us to Pepe Cordoba’s house, the director of the local school, where he stayed last year. We are welcomed by the horse who runs freely around the house, as well as Mr Turquey and his 4 ladies, protecting them very jealously. Pepe looks quite tired… In fact, this WE was the National day of Chile, and the many empty wine bottles pilled up behind the house tell a bit about the big fiesta which just finished here… as well as in all the families around Chile!
Kiting up the Lonquimay
10km further, along a dirt road, we reach the foot of the volcano, once again in the middle of a beautiful araucarias forest. A ski “resort” has been built here: 1 ski-lift, and 1 drag lift, that’s it. And the pists are almost invisible, lost in the middle of a massive area, with hills and slopes. It’s crazy… everytime I think I have found THE paradise of kite, we get to another amaizing place. This country will never stop surprising us!
But right now, we have a slight problem : there’s no wind. Or should I say only a light brise, but not sufficiant. Though, we have learned that days without wind in Los Andes are extremely RARE… so we decide to start with a few runs with the ski lifts, in order to get our Speeds out of the bags, and warm up while waiting for more wind.
Do you need more room ?!
In the beginning of the afternoon, a well known feeling catches me and runs softly along my ears… The wind is picking up! We pack the Speeds and get the Kites out, heading towards the volcano. We pass the first hill, and behind it, the spot appears to us, massive… again. It’s so much fun to enjoy each bump, hill, etc.. that we spend a few hours exploring, leaving the volcano to another day.
Adrien starts his first kiting session
Later, we catch up with Adrien and Etienne who have been looking at us, wishing they could go along with us… OK, ok.. it’s also good to share passions.. So we lend them our kites and I improvise a course in what is probably one of the nicest place on earth to learn snowkiting ! Being both ski/snowboarding instructors, they catch up quickly how it works, enough to go along with the wind, and come back with a large smile on their faces… That’s it guys, now that you’ve tried it, you’re hooked !
Skinning up the Lonquimay
The next day is sunny again. How lucky are we?! And at the bottom of the resort, the wind is already there. The objectif of today is to reach the top of the volcano, at 2890m, which leaves us with 1300m to hike. We start with the kites, even though the wind is going down the slopes… but with a bit a technical stearing, we manage to go up faster than is we were on foot. Once on the plateau, the wind picks up even more. Soon, the slope will be steep, so we decide to pack before it gets dangerous in this gusty wind.
The llaima and Villarica from the top of Lonquimay
The higher we get, the more we understand, seeing it with our own eyes, what Pepe Cordoba told us last evening : 20 years ago, the top of the crater exploded, letting out an enormous quantity of lava which ran slowly down the side of the volcano, then in the valley along several kilometers. Luckily, the lava did not flow in the direction of the village, living the habitants and their homes. Today, this mass of petrified lava turned into an amazing landscape, and a great place to be enjoyed by snowkiters as we are!
Under the summit, the wind is still very strong, so the last meters uphill on the icy snow, on a steep slope, require a good dose of balance from our tired legs. But once on the top, it turns into a strong brise, so we can enjoy the 360° panorama. Looking South, the volcanos Llaima and Villarica are almost in ligne with the Lonquimay. Under our feet, the open crater is filled up with snow. With a bit more time and energy, we could have gone into it and kite… But the sun is already quite low, so it’s time to go back. Especially because the first 500m of the South face are very icy, and we have to make sure not to fall over…
Tired but sooo happy!
Finaly, after a difficult start, the snow gets soft enough to get some speed and enjoy the 1000m of open slope which opens up in front of our skis, in a pinkish sunset ligth. One more time, this is pure pleasure given to us.. And in order to conclude the day perfectly, we take our kites back out and slide downwind for a couple of kilometers, until the trees stop us.
16th to 19th of September : Pucon and the Villarica volcano
Our last night in San Martin is really cool. A good asado with Mike, Yannick, Alaura, Adrien et Etienne,… in order to end nicely ou stay at the Puma Hostel. And only a short 3 hours of sleep later, we jump in a bus to Chile.
The road quickly turns into gravel as it runs up the mountain, in the middle of the araucaria trees. We drice a few hundred meters from the foot of the Lanin volcano. It’s a pretty impressive mountain, and it woulds have been nice to climb it… Next time ! The border toll is right here, next tot he volcano, lost in the middle of nowhere. And the policemen working here are so bored that they take all the time in the world to check our passeport, open our luggages, and check again ang again… 2h to go 50m! It’s during those moments that we realise how great it is now in Europe to go freely between countries.
Hot springs in Los Posones
70km further into Chile, we arrive in Pucon, a tiny touristic town lying next to a big lake and another volcano called Villarica. It does look a bit like San Martin, with its layed back atmosphere and its many “outdoor” shops. Chileans like coming down to Pucon in summer time to enjoy the many national parks of the area. Anyway, in winter the weather is often terrible, as in all the south of the country.
Although it’s now springtime and the weather is supposed to get better, we wake up under a heavy rain the next morning. Luckily, Morgan knows some natural hot springs 30km from the town, where we will spend most of our day. With a newly married french couple from Toulouse met in our hospedaje, as well as Adrien and Etienne who we ran into in the supermarket, we rent a car and leave with our “empanadas” picnic in the bag.
Volcano Villarica
The hot springs are right next to a river, looking like natural swimming pools, but with some wood huts to leave our stuff. There are several pools, from the coldest at 25 degrees, to the hottest at 45. How nice is it to rest in the warm water, while it’s rainning over our heads! A few bags of potatoe chips, a couple of beers and our baby guitar… what else do we need to enjoy this afternoon ? At the end of the day, the sky is clearing up, so we can take a look at the volcano in the soft sunset light. It’s beautiful, and we hope to get up there tomorrow.
But once more, we cannot plan on the weather… The sky is blue, but a stormy wind blows over the town, shaking the walls of our bedroom. What shall we do then ?… After a quick talk with Carmen, our host, we decide to go hiking in one of the National Parks, called Huerquehue, since we should be protected by the high Araucaria trees there.
Huerquehue N.P.
After 1h drive along a gravel road, we reach the entrance of the park where a local “ranger” explains us that there is still a lot a snow, so only one track is accessible on foot : “Los tres lagos”. No worries then, we pay the entrance fee and go for it. We might get wet feet, but we should’nt get blown away by the strom!
Apres 1H de route sur des pistes bien defoncees au milieu de la montagne, nous arrivons a la porte du parc national. La, un “ranger” local nous accueille pour nous presenter tres succintement les differentes options de ballades que nous avons, et s’acquitter du droit d’entree. Il y a visiblement pas mal de neige dans le parc, et seul le sentier des “Tres lagos” est accessible. Mais mieux vaut avoir les pieds mouilles que se faire emporter par la tempete!
3h later, after climbing through the forest, we reach the lakes. They are still partly frozen, and beautiful araucarias are looking over the water, where the nearby mountains reflect their white summits. We’re almost alone, as always. Finaly, it was a good idea to come here and walk without our skis and heavy bags for once…
Morgan leaving it's own tracks on the mountain
It’s only after 3 days that the weather seems to grant us with a good opportunity. The wind is still blowing hard, but it seems possible to climb the volcano. Though, we would like to take images in the soft late afternoon light, so we take our time and leave Pucon just before lunch time. Not a very usual time to go hiking in the mountains… Once we get to the ski resort at the foot the volcano, it’s packed with people, and there is at least 1h queue to get the tickets and reach the lift. But it’s not a problem for us, since we can start from here with our skis and skins. It will then be a 1800m high hike… and we can only rely on our legs now, since the wind has dropped and there is no more wind to kite up the hills…
Full speed, with the Llaima and Lonquimay volcanoes in the bakground
It quickly becomes really warm (strange… around lunch time, eh?) so we’re hiking in tshirts, wishing we could turn our ski pants into shorts as well.. Though, we pass some groups of tourists led by local guides, who are dressed as if they were at 6000m… Poor guys, it must be close to being in a sauna!
Hiking 1800m takes time… especially when using normal ski shoes. So when we reach the top, our feet are on fire. Same thing with our throat, because of the nasty fumes which get out of the crater. It’s such an horrible feeling to breathe this thing, and we quickly feel dizzy, with a strong headache. So we decide to leave the place as soon as possible, and start skiing down the gigantic slope, in a perfect soft spring snow, looking into the sunset. Just as planned ! It’s a festival of images until night falls, so we get back to Pucon totally exausted, be extremely happy!
Petrified lava waves
Lake Lacar in San Martin de Los Andes
10th to 15th of September : a taste of Patagonia
San Martin de Los Andes is a sweet little town, located at the bottom of a valley, next by the Lacar lake. At first it looks quiet, but once you cruise the streets, you quickly realise that the “Outdoor” spirit is everywhere : hiking, MTBiking, kayacking, fishing, paragliding, scuba diving… and of course skiing at Cerro Chapelco.
After a day trip from Caviahue and San Martin, we’re going straight up to the ski resort with Yannick, who was waiting for us at the Puma Hostel. The slopes are only 10km from the center, and an handy bus shuttle takes us up there for a few pesos. Finally, we wouldn’t have needed a car in Argentina, since the bus system works really well, and costs almost nothing!
Morgan drops a nice wind lip
On the way to the resort, we can see the area from above. San Martin is at the far end, north of Patagonia, and the landscape is quite different from what we have seen so far. Lots of trees, lakes more or less linked to one another, and of course, beautiful snowy mountains surrounding it all. A few kilometers north, the volcano Lanin sticks out, higher than the other pics, with its 3750m. It’s beautiful, and at first we were planning to climb it. But we realised that we won`t have enough time, especially if the weather isn’t great as it takes almost 2 days to reach the summit.
Yannick enjoys
It has’nt snowed here for about 10 days. And even if it was a very big drop, the wind as blown most of the powder and the pists are very hard. Beside, there is the first stage of the Border Cross World Cup going on this week, so lots of people are on the resort. But we’re here, and well motivated to find some good stuff to do! At the top of the resort, we’re giving a look at the south faces, where the snow lasts longer and stay cold, since we are in the Southern Hemisphere.. of course! And that’s a good call, as we find some untouched powder snow. The only problem is that there are no lifts to come back up… and our hiking gears stayed at the hostel. Nevermind, it`s too nice to be wasted so we jump in and shoot lots of cool images.
The strange people living in the woods of Chapelco
Finaly, we spend the next 3 days exploring the skiing area of Chapelco, which is not quite big, but offers so many fun places to play in. We especially enjoy the woods in the lower part of the resort. Trees, are covered with some yellowish plants, giving us some more ideas…
The top part is more open, with large coombs where only a few people go. With powder snow, this place must be an amazing spot!
Flying .. at last !
We then take the oportunity to shoot some images of SpeedFlying, even if the area is now really suited for it. A bit short… Beside, we have tried several times to get an authorisation from the snowpatrols which made us wiat for ever without giving any answer… so as soon as we have the images, we leave the resort and go back down to San Martin to enjoy the warmth of a sunny spring day.
Morgan in charge of the Asado frances
Initially, we thought about staying 2 or 3 days here, but it ends up being the double. We really liked this small town : BBQ beside the lake, cool parties, cosy diner and the Puma Hostel with the Argentinians with who we shared our culture, music and food… But time is flying and it’s time for us to move on, back to Chile where the volcano Villarica is waiting for us in Pucon.
Big thanks to Argentina and its lovely and welcoming people. One sure thing, we’ll come back! Hasta luego amigos!
8th to 10th of September : Caviahue, snowkite paradise
Waiting for the bus..
After our crazy night in San Raphaël, we’re leaving for the mountains again. This time, it’s Caviahue, a tiny village which Manu Gaidet (back in La Rosiere) told us about because of its kiting potential.
Another destination in Argentina means some more hours in a bus, because distances here have nothing in common with Europe. It takes us 14h, but the lanscape is nice so we’re enjoying the ride. The dry Pampa goes for hundreds of kilometers, before dropping into green valleys where trees grows next to a tiny river. Slowly, we’re reaching the mountains again, and we notice immediately that there are wide flat areas between them, with plenty of snow : just perfect for Snowkiting indeed!
Caviahue and its araucaria trees
Caviahue is a tiny village at the foot of a volcano where ski lifts have been built. But what really catch our eyes when we get there, is the lake, in the shape of a “croissant”. Behind the houses, some hills with lots of Araucaria trees, a very typical tree from the area. For sure, the place is beautiful!
On Manu’s advice, we’re going to stay at “El Refugio de Caniche”, which been there for 15 years. It’s the “french riders” headquarter on the town. On the walls, we can read lots of messages and photos left by Manu of course, but Serge Vitelli as well as the Cornillat brothers. The biggest business of the house is to bring all those riders out in the mountains behind snowmobiles, in order for them to ride some beautiful steep slopes which have not much to envy Alaska (for some of them at least) But we are not here to burn gasoline, so we hope for some wind on the next day.
Kite Paradisio
We’re leaving the refugio around 9am, skinning up through the Araucaria forest. From a closer look, those trees are really exceptionnel. It feels like if we were walking through a set on the Jurassic Park movie. And it would almost be natural to run into a dinosaure behind the corner of a waterfall, grasing along the riverside.
Once out of the forest, a mega wide flat area opens in frotn of us, between the Pyramid (name of big mountain) and the volcano. Until then, we could’nt feel any wind… but now, a light brise is coming down the hill. For the first time of the trip, I’m going to be able to enjoy the ESKIMO 11.5 which was given to us by GIN KITES. It’s a perfect kite for thes light conditions, since it pulls hard, but still offers good manoeuvrability. Within a few minutes only, I’m several hundred meters away, and I realise there is thousand more to go!! The place is HUGE… it’s going to be awsome!
Biiiiiiiiiiiig !
We’re going upwind for a few kilometers, heading for the Chilean border. The terrain is full of small hills, bumps, rocks to play around, and the view over the lake down in the valley is just splendid. I don’t remember having had the chance to be in an area where snowkiting seems possible everywhere, without boundaries. We could go for days and days…
But the more we’re going up, the stronger the wind gets. Beside, some bad weather is coming in as well. For safety matter, we pack the big kites and switch to some smaller sizes, as we know now by experience that in Los Andes, the wind can increase very quickly and dramatically…
Relaxing at Caniche's
And it’s exactly what happens : within 30mn, we’re surrounded by a storm, with snow blowing several meters above our heads. Luckily, the place is totally clear from big obstacles, and the snow is actually very hard and impressively flat. So before packing up, we’re enjoying this “extra power” offered by the wind to go ful speed on long long … straight lines. I’ve been snowkiting for 8 years, but I don’t remember ever going so fast on skis with a kite… It’s thrilling! But we are far from everything here, and having a big crash would not be a good thing: no helicopters, no ski patrols, no way to call for help… so we finally pack up the kites and start skiing down back to the forest.
La Pampa
After this big day out, we can barely walk anymore. It seems like if every single muscle of our body was sore. But anyway, we hope for another perfect day kiting tomorrow. After a long and quiet night at Caniche’s, we should be ready for it!
But in the morning, we wake up under a sky of clouds, and snowflakes are dropping. We then decide to jump in the next bus to keep our journey down south, since we don’t have many days left.. and we still have lots of places to visit back in Chile. Beside, Yannick is waiting for us in San Martin de Los Andes where we’re planning to go skiing together in Chapelco resort, and why not enjoying another good night out in the town..
- 7am: Arriving in Los Molles
It’s 7.30am when the bus drops us on the side of the road in Los Molles. We left Mendoza a 2.30am, after a big assado (BBQ) and a few drinks. Last night has been quite short and uncomfortable… but the landscape that welcomes us here makes us easily forget that we’re tired: a large valley, with no much snow, but surrounded by beautiful mountains in the sunrising light.
One thing though : there is not much around here. Two old looking hotels and a few cabanias. So we go on an accomodation quest. After a few minutes walking along a dirt road, we find this little “Refugio” which welcomes us with its large and warm cheminee. People are nice, and dinner + breakfast are included for 20€… sounds pretty good!
The sun is shining, so even though we had a short night, we stick up the skins to our skis, set up the kites on the backpacks, and of we go to walk in the Pampa, toward the snowy slopes. At first it’s not easy because of the little snow, especially when we decide to get the kites out with small trees and even cactus!
Hiking with the dogs
El Condor
There seem to be lots of rabbits around, as well as weird birds. But it’s only when looking up at our kites that we realise that some other “locals” are watching us: a group of 3 condors flying over our heads, looking quite interested to our wings. For sur they must not see that often!
Back to the hut, we meet our room mates. Mostly argentinians coming to ski in Las Leñas and looking for cheap accomodation. Nico and Pedro, and also Fredrico from Columbia, and Mike the fluent Spanish speaking Irish guy who looks like he’s been living here for ever. They quickly welcome us, with a bit of curiosity of course when they hear about snowkiting and speedflying.
Asado in the cheminey
Their conclusion : “Los francéses son locos!”… Yes, probably, we are a bit crazy, but we have so much fun! In order to celebrate ou arrival to the Refugio, they organise a big Assado (BBQ again…) in the cheminey. (Argentinians must eat at least 1kg of meat per day…)
The next morning the sun is shining again, and the wind seems to blow hard on top of the mountains, so we go again. La Negra, the dog of the hut, decides to come along… not without barking to call up her friends. So here we go, with our skis and 5 crazy dogs running around us, chasing rabbits and birds. Today won’t be as quiet as yesterday. After 2h of hiking, we reach the top of a coomb where the wind blows so hard that we can hardly stand.
Los perros i Antartico
In order to protect ourselves while eating a quick lunch, we have to dig a deep hole in the snow. The dogs don’t seem too worried about the situation. They just roll themselves up into a ball of fur, close to each others, leaving the snow covering them. It looks like a group of dogs leading an expedition in Antartica !
The wind does not seem to decrease, but I really want to give a try with a kite. A 6m should be enough… and yes, this is quickly confirmed! I’m getting pulled like a piece of tissue, and dragged over rough snow with 50cm bumps and holes. But it gets even more complicated when the dogs realise that something is flying above ther heads. They totally freak out and start running after me, barking like hell. The moment is magical… but I forget that I’m still surviving the wind gusts, until a big one gets me down as well as the kite.
Morgan and his free ski lift
Within a blink of an eye, two dogs jump of the kite like if they were attacking a prey… there will be some fixing to be done tonight.
Skiing back down is very nice, along wide coombs, with the dogs still chasing us. One of them is crazy enough to jump of a 3m lip, just behind Morgan.
It was a very good thing to enjoy those 2 first days as we did, because the next 3 ones are spent waiting mostly inside. A big snow storm is hitting the area. It’s nice of course to watch the flakes dropping, but we fell like locked into a cage. There is one thing we can do though, is enjoying the natural warm water from the thermals in Los Molles. It’s smells sulfur, but it’s a nice feeling to put your ass in 40+ degrees water…
Las Leñas ski resort
On friday morning : wake up at 6am. We need to catch the bus to Las Leñas resort, 20km away. Over there, 50cm of fresh snow lay on the streets. It’s a place well known by the international riders who come here to enjoy the southern hemisphere winter. But the owner of the resort know it too, so the prices are prohibitive.. it costs as much as skiing in Switzerland! We’re happy we spent most of our time down in Los Molles…
80cm of fresh... Happy faces!
We are first at the skipass counter, and we know why: 80 cm of fresh powder is awaiting for us at the top of the lifts, and the sky is great blue. We run into Yannick, from the AMPLID brand, who comes here every summer since 8 years. Good, we’re going to have a guide! 
It’s the beginning of a crazy day. We start with opening a totally untouched coomb. Then after a few ski runs, I decide to get the Speed out along a long canyon, while Yannick is chasing me on his snowboard ans Morgan records it on tape. MAGICAL!
Morgan enjoys the powder in Las Leñas
From the top of the resort at 3450m, the view is breathtaking. Massive mountains as far as we can see in the distance. There are serious coridors where high level skiers are going down. Behind a curve, we run into Seb Michaud and Phil Meier who are shooting images with their team which will be used next winter (our one) in DVD and magazines. That’s a fact: Las Leñas is one of the nicest freeriding area of the southern hemisphere… when the summit of the resort is opened of course, which happens 50% of the season maximum, because here, when the wind blows, it’s not joke… Well, it was probably one of the nicest day of the season so far down here, and we enjoyed as far as our legs could hold us.
The next morning, we spend our last day around the Refugio in Los Molles. Anyway, it’s saturday so the resort will be crowded, beside the fact that 99% of the runs have been tracked out. No regret. It will be our last randonnee in the Pampa, with our friends the doggies. I also take the opportunity of a light wind day to introduce our local friends to kiting. According to the smile on their faces, I think they will remember us for a while…. as we will.
Last hike in Los Molles
In the bus which brings us back to San Raphael, Yannick is waiting for us. We have decided to spend 24h there to enjoy the city. Good one, he loves partying, and he knows the place well. After dropping our luggage at La Esperanza hotel, we start our night marathon, following the rules of a “spanish like” evening : apero at 11pm, then diner in a local “cantina” around midnight. First bar at 1am, then second at 2. Around 4am, we meet some locals who take us to a nightclub. The music is taking us to the dance floor where we give all the energy we have left… It’s then hard to beleive that a few hours ago, we were still hiking the Pampa and watching wild goses…
When we open the door of our hotel room, it’s 8am and the sun is rising. What a fun night! But we will “pay the bill” in a few hours… Anyway, without moments like that, it wouldn’t be a trip in South America!
25th to 29th of August : Mendoza and Los Penitentes (Argentina)
Mendoza, with 1M people, is a town “on the move”! And that is something obvious as soon as we get out of the bus terminal. Another thing you cannot miss here are the girls : Chicas are beautifuls! A few persons had told us.. but we had to check it with our own eyes
Los Penitentes ski resort
It takes us a day to organize our trip back to Los Penitentes, but this time we’ll have a car, in order to access the different sites we wish to ski. It’s a 2h journey from Mendoza, first through a gigantest flat landscape covered with wineyards, then along canyons and dry valleys, below massive cliffs of red rocks. For sure, the terrain is vast!
Actually, Los Penitentes, at an altitude of 2500m, was named after the cliffs which overlook the resort, contrasting with the white snowy mountains all around.
Kiting up the hill up to 4000m
First day: beautiful weather, but the wind is blowing hard on the top of the mountains. It s not possible to get out our Speed out in those conditions. The last snow fall is quite old so the slopes are tracked out. We then decide to go higher, looking for the untouched snow, in the direction of a pass which seems kiteable, at least on the 1/100 000 map we saw at the hotel.
1000m of hiking later, we reach the bottom of a large coomb where the wind seems to start blowing towards the top. We then try to get the kites out and continue our way up… but it might get tricky! The wind changes from 0 to 180 degrees, sometimes blowing really hard, sometime totally dead. It·s a good oportunity to try the new prototypes from NORTH KITES, the Solid 09 in 6 and 9m.
It takes a few minutes to adapt to the new gears and conditions, before we start going up hill into the coomb, which opens into another one, and a third… all the way up to 4000m. It’s massive, and the landscape all around is purely amazing with summits higher than 5000m. But the higher we climb, the stronger the wind gets. So in order to stay safe, we pack the kites and start skiing down into some nice powder snow. Soooo good!
We·ve been out in the mountain for close to 10 hours when we finally reach the bottom of the valley. A big day out which will leave some beautiful images in our head for a long time…
Wind storm over Los Penitentes
The next morning, the wind is still as strong, and the clouds are getting in from the Pacific coast. We decide to drive up the road toward the Chilian border where we have noticed a large and untouched valley going up toward the bottom of the Aconcagua. The wind is blowing in the right direction, even if sometimes really hard, so we manage to ski up the valley with our smallest kites along 3km. But the bad weatheris coming in very fast, and in just a few minutes we·re surrounded by fog and snow. We have to quickly turn back and head for the car as long as we can see as far as our kites.
We hope for some fresh powder for the next morning. But during the night, le wind gets even stronger, blowing into a storm, shaking the walls of our room. In the morning, the sky is blue, but the snow is blown so hard and high into the streets of the resort. It·s freezing cold…. and our car is frozen too. But nevermind, while it slowly warms up in the sun, we put the skis on our backpacks and start walking, looking for a spot to kite.
The spot, going for several kilometers... Los Penitentes
The valley is really wide, so we set up our gears next to the road. At first, it seems we·re going to be blown off.. It·s scary! But hopefully, the wind starts to get kiteable so we spend the rest of the day skiing up the valley and racing with the cars along the road! How fun!
Meanwhile, our car has warmed up so we·re driving back down to Mendoza to enjoy some Tapas and good wine, after 3 days around Los Penitentes.
Will we manage to keep this pace?… we´ll see. For sure, so far we have had amazing experiences and images in our heads as well as on our DV tapes!
Despues, vamos a Las Leñas !
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21st to 24th of August : Santiago de Chili to Valle Nevado resort
Lyon-Paris-Sao Paulo-Santiago de Chile….. a few hours in the plane, but we get there on time, with all our luggage (most important) The transfer in Sao Paulo confirmed us the fact that in South America, things happen slowwwwly… but they happen in the end
Flying over Los Andes in a clear blue sky, just above the Aconcagua and its 6960m, this is what makes us realise that we are HERE.. and it looks like we’re going to have fun !
We have lots of toys... but need to carry it too!
As soon as we get to the lively capital of Chili, we’re starting with enjoying a massive steak and a beautiful local wine. the meat is purely incredible.. no doubt, we are in the right place.
The next day, we are going straight up to Valle Nevado resort, a few km from the town, but wayyy higher: the bottom of the pists is at 3000m. It’s actually quite fascinating to see cactus on the side of the road, until 2000m where we found the first patches of snow. Talking to the bus driver (well talking is a big word… but we manage to understand each other..) we hear that a big snow storm has fallen on Valle Nevado about 2 weeks ago. And according to the huge avalanches which have cut off the road to the resort, it must have been a massive drop of snow in a very short time.
There is still a lot of snow, but not much powder left to enjoy on our skis since the wind has messed it up a bit. But no problem for us! We’re then going to fly! Our SpeedFlying wings and as excited as us to get out there… After a quick check with the Snow Patrols (who have obviously never heard or seen a SpeedFlyer around here…) we found this great canyon to ski down. This is almost like being into a Super Mario Bros game… flying behind or over the few skiers who are there. They look at us like if they were seeing UFOs, and stop to take pictures while we keep going up and down… just like real kids!
After this great introduction, we’re jumping on a bus to Mendoza, in Argentina. It’s a 7h+ journey in a real comfortable bus driving through the mountains. We’re passing by the resort of Portillo which seems to be a great place for Freeriding, with its enormous steep slopes. Then the Aconcagua appears to the left. It’s even more impressive to see it from the bottom… Finaly, we’re driving through the resort of Los Penitentes, at the bottom of a huge valley which calls us to come back with hundreds of runs available.. Perfect, because that’s our plan !
- Morgan Sauerwald
Morgan SAUERWALD and Sébastien NESTOLAT take of to Santiago de Chile on the 20th of August in order to realise the project they have been preparing for a year and which they have called « Passionnément Volcans ».
Of course, their goal is to go there and enjoy the southern hemisphere winter.. but not only that. In fact they re bringing with them snowkites in order to climb up the slopes of volcanoes in Chile and Argentina.
Once the summit reached thanks to the power of the wind (or a bit of walking, if necessary) they will enjoy their way down on the snow…
Sébastien Nestolat
And that is all about it : the way down ! Skiing the virgin slopes, or using a SpeedFlying wing to take of over the cliffs: high sensation guaranteed!
Thanks to an helmet camera, as well as other static ones, they will try their best to record those special moments in order to share their passion and communicate on the respect of the environnement.
Until then, they will try to update this blog as often as possible, while getting further into Los Andes.
To be continued…
Well sone on your trip.. i Love your photos and video and write ups on your site for that matter. You guys are the first to ever find good snowkiting terrain in S America.
Are you planning on going back this September by chance? if you were going to go for 2 two weeks can you recommend a few spots for me. I enjoy big mountain terrain like the volcanoe at termas de chillian.
Thanks for your help and hope to meet you on the snow some day.
Aaron
Hi Aaron,
You can also skin up to reach different spots.
thanks for your post, and sorry for the late answer….
Sadly, we will probably not be able to go back this year. But if you only have 2 weeks to spend there, I’d say you go to Chili : Thermas de Chillian, and Chapelco. Thermas is good for skiing if you feel like paying a ski lift. You need to skin up at least 2h to reach the kiting area, or just pay for a ticket and get to the top of the skiing area…. Chapelco is a few hour north from Thermas. The mountain is not exceptionnal for skiing, but the kiting area is huge, and accessible straight from the parking lot
Ah.. I wish we could go back there this year !!!
Enjoy!!
Vraiement extraordianire votre expérience. Ça va me peremtrre de rêver que j’ai encore beaucoup d’aventures à entreprendre….
Merci de l’inspiration.
Catherine
Je quitte pour le Chili dans 10 jours avec mes skis et peut être un kite….
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Merci !
Et n’oublie pas ton kite !!!!!!!!!
Suerte
Sebastien