Corralco, Chile, Report: El Sidecountry Magnífico

Conditions Report from Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Corralco makes its signature “Corralco sour” pisco sour drink with local piñion extract — the nuts from the giant araucaría dinosaur trees that have reptilian-like scales on their bark and razor sharp leaves that twist upwards in perfect fibonacci spirals.

There’s nothing better than a Corralco sour after a long, cold, 10 kilometer day in the resort’s magnificent sidecountry.

We indulged:

In good drink.

Perfect weather.

Dreamy tubes.

Soft snow in said tubes.

Weird trees.

Fine company.

Views of a few volcanoes.

French fries.

And memories worth more than all the pesos in the world.

• Related: Araucanía, Chile, Backcountry Report: The Condor

The day started blistering cold, brown-gray gravel streaks on the icy chunks in the parking lot at the 1600 base area. We took Volcán Express to the top, sun shining, light wind blowing on the chair but gusting at the top of the volcano from the northwest, breaking on the summit like a rough wave smashing against a jetty. Traversing skier’s left of the mountain, we found a far saddle between two points on the ridge that would be our starting point. After a short 20 minute skin, we were on the backside of the resort, looking down at the most glorious of backcountry zones.

Spines, couloirs, gulleys, ramps, cliffs — high-class terrain of various shapes and sizes that terminated at treeline about 600 meters below. It’s a buffet back there. We chose another dreamy tube adjacent to the beautiful one we skied the other day, deduced its entrance via photos and maps, and then went for a ride.

The top part was solid ice that scratched loudly as we skied it cautiously, little ice shavings flying off our ski edges into the cold wind. But once Cyrus and I were in the tube, the snow turned for the best.

We coordinated and dropped into the serpent’s stomach one at at time, me going first, flowing on the walls of the natural half pipe at speed, moving my hips up and down like I was dancing on a Friday night. Cyrus went next, dropping knees on his telemark setup and spraying snow to the sky.

It was all over way too quickly. But we were elated amongst the trees at the bottom. A quick river crossing (that I almost fell into) and a brief lunch and we were up on a long, cruiser sub-ridge that joined the main ridge up high. Just before cresting, we stopped, dug around in the snow on a northeast aspect for practice and conducted an extended column test. We found stable snow.

The frontside back to the resort skied variably, with decent shots of soft, wind-blown snow. But the view of volcano Lonquimay in front of us was the real prize of the run. Big, prominent, beautiful, and forever-inspiring as we rode into its throne room. This land has a powerful energy that becomes more noticeable the longer you spend here.

We passed a couple of stoked snowkiters on the traverse back to the 1600 base area and then took a couple of fast and firm resort laps followed by après. Then came the daily drive dodging and ducking deep dark downright dangerous potholes on the road down, which is strangely entertaining. It’s always an adventure in Araucanía.

Later, the Milky Way shined bright as I’ve ever seen it under clear night skies, the smell of burnt wood rising from the hearth directly into the crisp air of the cosmos. I watched for a while as Lonquimay and the surrounding volcanoes slept peacefully under a cozy blanket of snow.

Photos