Chile Ski: Team Climbs and Skis Llaima
Llaima is a big mountain, deceivingly big - from beneath it looks like a reasonable couple hours of climbing...not so. I learned this my first time on Llaima four years ago.
Yesterday we had an adventurous day on Llaima. Sun, clouds, heat, cold, calm, wind, visibility, low vis...sticky snow, icy snow, sastrugi, soft snow, corn... some horrible skiing, and a lot of amazing skiing. We walked, we skinned, we climbed. There is an old pocket glacier that's usually well covered in snow, but this year there were exposed crevasses, which added to the route finding challenge. At 15:30, standing on a rough, icy slope in strong wind, we decided to call it - about an hour from the summit. This was not safe snow for skiing so we down-climbed about 1,000' before putting on our skis. The rest of the descent was super fun, and went quickly. We didn't get to stand on top, but the group consensus was that this was an even more awesome day than summiting Lonquimay.
Today we had a nice drive to the town of Pucon, with perfectly clear skies. We were able to see all four of our volcanoes - Lonquimay, Llaima, Villarica, and Lanin. We stopped in the town of Villarica for a nice lunch and to take some photos of the mountain (Villarica) towering above the lake.
Another great couple of days in Araucania.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid & the Chile Ski Team
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