Nevados de Chillan is a small ski areaย on a big volcano in southern Chile. ย It’s the Mt. Baker of the Southern Hemisphere. ย It snows a lot here, always. ย This year was a low snow year most places in South America, but Chillan still got theirs.
Ingrid Backstrom, Julian Carr, and Todd Ligare were at Chillan this year and they have nothing but good things to say.
We ranked Chillan in our Top 5 Ski Resorts in South America and our friend Gomez (in the video) absolutely loves this mountainย and Gomez can sniff out a place with soul just about anywhere.
NEVADOS DE CHILLAN INFO:
Number of Lifts:ย 9
Proximity to Nearest Major City:ย 82 km to Chillan
Vert:ย 870m (2,854 feet)
Skiable Terrain:ย 24,700 acres
Terrain Park:ย Yes
Country:ย Chile
Details:ย ย If skiing powder is your forte, head on over to Chillan. ย Chillan consitantly gets more snow than any other ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere. ย This is the Mt. Baker of the southern hemisphere and there is no one here.ย ย When it snows, it comes in huge amounts. ย ย They also can get a famously violent wind, named the Puelche, after a big storms that hammers the snow hard. ย It can getย a bit warm here between storms.
Bountiful lift accessed backcountryย will keep you skiing pow long after the storm and some sweet skiing readily accessible off the Chillan Volcanoย (there is a cat service to the top if your willing to shell out, or you skin/boot).ย ย And you can do more than just ski with snowmobile operations and a thermal hot spring. ย Deep powder tree skiing is not to be missed here.
Nevados de Chillan sits at 37ยบS, putting it at a similar latitude to Lake Tahoe, CA (39ยบN).ย ย This turns out to be a very good latitude for copious amounts of snow.
That’s a really good point Miles. I’ve never really thought of snowfall in terms of inches per month open. I’d be interested in seeing some data on that. I’m willing to bet Japan would be tops on that list…
Hey SB and Miles. Nevados de Chillan is an incredible place, but I wouldn’t call it the Mount Baker of the the southern hemisphere. They get an average of about 10 meters of snow every season, which is 400 inches. It’s considerable for South America, but doesn’t really come close to the 640 inch average at Baker. A couple of sites for reference: http://www.powderhounds.com/SouthAmerica/Chile/Termas-de-Chillan.aspx
http://www.powderquest.com/ski-resorts/chile/nevados-de-chillan/
Grant, thanks for this, we hear ya. But, who gets more snow than Chillan down here? Considering their season is only 2 or 3 months long, 400 inches is still pretty incredible.