Volcano Chaiten Erupts

After a 9,000 year rest, early May's eruption of Volcano Chaiten in Chile has all eyes on Patagonia.

The big question for PowderQuest is how will this affect the South American ski season starting in mid June. Unfortunately, for now, it is an impossible question to answer. No one knows for sure what will happen. It could spew ash for months, or it could return to a dormant state tomorrow.

It is important to note that Volcano Chaiten is located 110 kms from Esquel and 230 kms from Bariloche, the hub for many of our tour. There is no risk of lava touching these towns, and currently the only effect on these two towns is falling ash due to the prevailing east winds. It has been very minimal to date in Bariloche, while Esquel has recently been hit with several inches of ash in town. They are currently cleaning up the ash in Esquel from the streets.

The government of Argentina is calling this ash "non-toxic", but regardless if it is or not, it is not exactly something you really want to be breathing.

PowderQuest is keeping a close eye on the situation, but currently are not canceling our ski and snowboard tours in Patagonia. We are still 45-90 days away from most trips, and currently the only possible change we see would be to replace our planned days skiing La Hoya Ski Resort in Esquel, with Chapelco ski resort in San Martin de Los Andes, located 3 hours north of Bariloche.
This would only affect our Patagonia Powder Tour.

However we will be watching closely as flights to Bariloche, San Martin, Esquel, and other small local airports in Patagonia have recently been canceled on and off, due to fears that ash at 25,000 feet could damage airplane engines.

As we continue to monitor the situation in Patagonia we will make updates here. Other trips potentially affected if the situation worsens are:

Ski Patagonia
Ski Argentina
Snowboarding Argentina With The Pros
Cimarra Sur
Freerider
Hut to Hut

We have several back up plans should the situation get worse, (ash accumulation in Bariloche or continued flight cancellations). Contact info@powderquest.com for more details.

If you are considering one of our ski trips in Patagonia, please let us know if you have any questions. Should you not want to take the risk of your trip itinerary changing, we suggest booking one of the following great powder trips located in central Chile:

Ski Chile
Summer Ski Escape
Cimarra Norte
Termas de Chillan
Frontier-Las Lenas