Skimo on Volcán Osorno

November 2022 — Puerto Varas, Chile

I grew up in Mauritius, hiking and running muddy and rooty ridgelines with zero snow ever in sight. Yet somehow, ski mountaineering, has always been a dream of mine. I only learned to ski after moving to New Zealand, then eased into touring one small step at a time. I had never heard about Osorno, but as soon as I arrived in Puerto Varas, this clean cone at the end of Lake Llanquihue grabbed all of my attention, and I had to to go check it out.

We couldn’t find any information online around how to climb this mountain. So we went for a stroll in Puerto Varas and had a chat with the owners of mountaineering shops. That’s when we heard of José ‘Teta’ Bustos.”

We got in touch, and Teta swung by our Airbnb to introduce himself. He asked us about our skiing and mountaineering experience, and looked in his collection of old boots and skis to find out if there’d be anything that would fit us. We couldn’t quite find the right sizes, but we were content with what he had, the guy was a legend and we got along easily.

Sadly that same night we had the terrible idea to drink tap water at the Airbnb. That was on the night of Nov 25–26 (my 28th birthday) and I ended up in the hospital. Not the ideal timing! We pushed the climb a couple of days further ahead.

The alarm was at 3–4 a.m. We left the city in the dark, and as we sun slowly rose the first lights brushed the white summit of the volcano, an elegant unveil of our destination. We geared up at the base and started bootpacking up the moonlike volcanic slopes.

About three hours later we hit the glacier. We attached our crampons to our ski boots, had a bite, and marched on amongst the beautiful seracs and crevasses.

The plan was simple: tag the summit and ski the north face so we’d get softer snow. We took our time to soak in the surrounding landscape. There was the Villarica, near Pucon, where we had been a few days before. It was easily noticeable because of the smoke and fumes coming out of it’s enormous crater. On the other side, the gigantesque Cerro Tronador at the Argentinian border, standing out as the “big boy” of the area.

After a quick lunch on top, we were ready to start the descent and enjoy those turns we came over for. So we dropped in with huge smiles, but after only a few hundred meters, we ran into a huge ice wall.

The only way down was rappelling.. We built anchors out of a few ice-screws and ice-axes and rappelled down. This added another 90 minutes to two hours to the mission and we hadn’t anticipate it. Some weather drifted in and it got really cold – We felt vulnerable for the first time on this adventure and once again the mountain reminded me how quickly its playground can become hostile.

We made it down, and it was finally time to rip it down in this idyllic landscape. At the bottom of the wall, the face we were on was steep. No doubt it was the steepest Theo and I had skied. Skiing in boots too big for us wasn’t great for our confidence but oh well, there was no plan B so this thought disappeared as quickly as it came through.

The first turns or two were careful, and it clicked rapidly. One solid edge set after another, the whole experience shifted from survival to the sickest time again. I couldn’t stop smiling. With the lakes and crater rims below, seracs around us and smokey volcanoes in background. Chile put on a hell of a show.

We slid off the glacier onto ash and pumice, legs cooked and hearts full. At the truck, Teta handed us some cold craft beers and we bounced back down to Puerto Varas, reminiscing on the day that went by, telling stories, and bonding through our shared visions of life.

Core memories were made.

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Notes & thanks: Big thanks to Teta for his guiding and solid vibes, and to my friend Theo for sharing this adventure with me and documenting it with his beautiful photographs.