Chile
1 / 6Corralco on the Lonquimay volcano in the Malalcahuello reserve: skiing among araucaria trees, a single base hotel and a snowpark of its own.
Trail information
Corralco sits on the flank of the active Lonquimay volcano inside the Malalcahuello national reserve. The lower part of the area runs through open stands of araucaria, trees that grow only here and on neighbouring Andean slopes, and no other ski resort in the world offers that view.
All the skiing gathers around a single hotel at the base, so the place feels self-contained and quiet, with no village and no bustle. Lifts run from nine in the morning until four, and there is no evening skiing. Freestylers get a snowpark of their own beside the first lift, and there is a separate children's snow area.
Maps
Video
Contacts and opening hours
Accommodation
Curacautin
What visitors say about the resort
Snow and space are what visitors praise. The slopes face south to southeast, so the surface stays dry for a long time, and the season is the longest in South America, usually early June to late October. Reviews agree that the wide bowls of Lonquimay volcano stay almost empty and that untracked lines can be found for days after a storm. A huge backcountry zone surrounds the area, and at the base stand araucaria forest and a single hotel facing the volcano.
The lift infrastructure is the main target. Apart from the newer quad the lifts are old and slow, and the top is reached by a T-bar that in quiet weeks may not run. The volcano is exposed and bad weather regularly shuts the upper mountain. Cost and logistics follow: the one hotel on the hill is expensive by Chilean standards, rental gear is poor, cheaper beds are down the valley where a car is needed, and nightlife is non-existent.
An editorial summary of public reviews on specialist sites. This is not a visitor review: we retell what is written about the resort most often, both praise and criticism.
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