2023-07-11 09:29:17
The trip is made in an adapted van with tracks. Pipo, the fox that inhabits these borderlands, looks curious. Photo: Caviahue Adventure
When Adrián and Fernanda decided to stop being ski instructors on Cerro Caviahue and bet on their own tourism project, they had Copahue in their sights. There, west of Neuquén, north of Patagonia, at the foot of a volcano and around the thermal village that is buried by snow in the colder months, there was an opportunity to organize andexcursions and off-piste hikes in those mountains where you have to be careful not to cross into Chile so close to the border. For that, They rented the El Montañés refuge in 2021, they repeated last year and in 2023 they continued with their commitment, increasingly armed. They could not have done better: there are few free places left in the coming departures and it is also full of residents and tourists who arrive in snowmobiles, adapted 4×4, cross-country skis or in groups with other providers who announce that they will go with their clients in the only place where you can have a drink or eat something in this paradise of the Andes mountains that amazes visitors some 370 km from the provincial capital.
This is how Copahue is these days. Photo: Nico Canter. The El Montañés refuge. Last Sunday they found it covered by snow, so they shoveled to get inside. The shelter inside. A little coffee in the snow between an active volcano and the thermal lagoons. Photo: Caviahue Adventure.
Nico, the only civilian inhabitant of Copahue these days, works with them and comes by early to start up the heating and circulate the water so that everything is ready when they arrive. There are dishes of the day, coffee, chocolate, pizzas, steaks, and beers to enjoy at the outdoor tables when the temperature and sunshine allow it, facing the steam from the lagoons that bustle due to their high temperature and do not let the snow in. hide. On Sunday, when they arrived, they found it covered by snow.. There was nothing left but to shovel to clear access in front and release the gas from the tubes behind.
How to get to Copahue
To enjoy this world, the first thing is to get to Caviahue, the mountain village where you have to go at least once in your life. is to 360 km from Neuquen Capitalall for asphalt and already the last stretch of the road announces that something different awaits you when you go in winter for route 26 that crosses the Cajón de Hualcupen, with the snow accumulated on the sides when the machine passes after the snowfall and the stalls of the breeders emerge in the white blanket.
In winter, the Army and Air Force conduct training exercises near Lake Caviahue for missions to Antarctica. This is the mountain village these days. Photo: Valentina Sepulveda.
After those 17 km, already close to the mountain village, there is a straight line leading to a lake deep blue, on the left you can see the first line of cabins and inns facing the water that mirrors the snowy peaks when the wind does not blow, the innumerable that accommodates the snow as it wants and that the pioneers avoid invoking. And behind, a white mass that has a lagoon in the crater and a fumarole that stands out against the blue and pure sky of the Patagonia when it is clear and who remembers that life there takes place at the foot of a active volcano, the Copahue.
The lagoons of the Copahue themes, wrapped in steam and surrounded by snow. Photo: Caviahue Adventure.
First stop: you can park facing the lake and enjoy that panoramic view. In the slopes of the hill You can see the multicolored jackets of the skiers that shine in the ski center that is just a mile and a half from the town and you can even walk.
The adventure of getting to Copahue from Caviahue
Until Copahue there are 18 kilometers that also remain under the white blanket in winter, which is why Provincial Route 26 cannot be traveled until late spring. But Adrián and Fernanda shorten it to about 8 km from Caviahue. Depending on how the day comes, they can go together in the adapted truck with tracks made in Rosario that turned out to be better than the imported ones or one of them on a snowmobile in front of the other motorcycles depending on the number of clients they have.
Off-piste skiing in Copahue.
After some white dunes, ups and downs and frozen lagoons where members of the Army and the Air Force make the pre-Antarctic campaign to acclimatize, they advance with the Copahue volcano and its fumarole on the left and snow-capped peaks on the horizon. Then they approach the villa. From afar you can see the colored roofs. They slow down and the camera pans: there are constructions under the snow, others that show the highest part, others that emerge almost complete. They arrived.
With the thermal village covered in snow in the background, a July outing for off-piste skiing.
Later, Fernanda is in charge of the shelter where you can have a coffee for 600 pesos, a smoothie for 1,000 a soda for 800 and a pint of craft beer for 1,000 pesos. A Milanese with garnish costs 3,250 pesos, a Neapolitan pizza 2,800 pesos and a chorizo steak 4,000 pesos. I’ll rip your head off because I’m the only thing open in that snow desert. “It’s not the idea”says Adrián, who takes command of the excursions.
One of them, the classic, It is the one that runs through Copahue from end to end, with lunch and snack at the refuge and costs 30,000 pesos per person. The others offer amazing snowmobile tours or backcountry skiing up snow-capped mountains to the highest peaks. The price depends on the one you choose and it is best to consult options. You will return happy like all those who were in that wonder of nature.
Contact with Caviahue Aventura: +54 2942 527696.
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