Volcán Copahue

On the border between Argentina and Chile

So close, yet so far. I wanted so much to ski down from Volcán Copahue (2953 meters), but despite trying very hard it was not going to happen.

We are at the Caviahue ski area, the first destination on our 35 000 kilometer trip to Argentina. On day 1, we attempt to get the ski area guides organize a trip to the top of the volcano for us. They normally organize such trips, but not on this day. Apparently the local scientists think that the volcano is too active at the moment. Copahue has been in somewhat active mode recently, and is spewing off steam, smoke, and even spreading some ash on the snow fields surrounding the peak. So no transport to the top and no help from the ski area.

Our vacation spot in Argentina

The volcano

Naturally, we decide to climb to the top on our own. However, our late arrival on the previous night, late wake-up, and the time to return to the car to get our gear delays us, and by the time that we start it is already afternoon. And the peak is far away, there are many kilometers to hike, and the peak is almost a kilometer higher than the highest lift. My friend Tero has some problems with the bindings of his ski touring equipment and he stops as we reach the steeper part of the summit cone, but I continue. But by 5 pm even I give up and turn back to return while there is still daylight. At this point I'm maybe 150 meters away from the crater rim and 300 meters away from the summit. But it is good that I turned back; the return route turns out to be non-trivial, and involves hiking across rock fields. We would have been in trouble without light.

This is how far I got. So close, yet so far.

Our route to the volcano

On day 2, we are out of energy to re-try the climb. Tero's hi-tech watch shows that we burned almost 6000 calories on the climb on the first day, and we are still tired. But the sun is shining and we think we have a plan for getting closer to the top with the help of snowmobiles. We spend the afternoon touring with snowmobiles, in part because I needed practice riding them.

My first time on a snow mobile!

On day 3, it is bad weather and our last day. The snow mobile option has dried up; it is a bad snow year and we'd only get 600 meters away from the summit. We'd have to climb in near zero visibility and howling wind, at very cold temperatures. The ski area has a better route and better vehicles - "bandvagns" - but now the weather is too bad for them to let us ski down. I give up, and we spend the day driving to our next destination.

So close, yet so far. A bandvagn.

Bad weather day

Steam coming out from vents near the Las Maquinitas thermal pond

The volcano

Caviahue Ski Area

But despite not making to the very top of the mountain, our visit at the Caviahue ski area was very nice. The area is small, just a couple of runs, but the runs are fun, and the areas around the slopes also provide a lot of space for skiing.

The area consists of two sections served by the upper and lower lifts. The lower section is interesting because of the beautiful Araucaria tree forests. These massive, evergreen trees look like a strange mixture of pine and palm trees. It is easy to find forest routes on the left and right sides of the ski slope. There are some ditches (and obviously trees) to run into in these areas, however, so be careful.

Araucaria trees

Araucaria trees

Araucaria trees

To get to the upper section, one has to ski down a bit from the top station of the lower lifts. At the time that we were in Caviahue, the slopes towards the upper section were closed and you were expected to take a chair lift down to get there. However, with a few meters of walking even these slopes could be skied, as long as you were able to sneak past the yelling lifties. On a normal year, there would have been two meters of snow at the base altitude, but now there was almost none. So normally these runs would have been in use.

Climbing, with a smoking volcano in the background (what else?)

The most interesting off-piste routes are in the upper section. There is a steep face to the skier's right from the top station, for instance, and many interesting valleys and rock faces on both sides.

Skiing off-piste to the skier's right in the upper slopes

Snow dunes and other terrain features on an off-piste at Caviahue

Skiing. Volcanoes. What else is new?

Touring with Snow Mobiles

On our second day, we took a snow mobile tour with eneQene guides. The tour started with a small 4WD drive off the resort, and then we rode half a day on snowmobiles around the volcano area. It was my first time on a snowmobile, and I was surprised how hard and difficult driving on them is. Compared to skiing, one has to be far more careful about where to take the snowmobile; steeps and side-way slopes are off-limits. It was also a lot of work - at least as a beginner - to control the snowmobile.

But it was a lot of fun and we did get to interesting places with the snow mobiles. We made a brief visit to Chile and saw many snow dunes and ancient volcano craters. We also saw the half-finished geothermal plants, designed to tap into the steam that is generated when melting water from the glaciers reaches hot material a thousand meters under the surface. Hopefully these plants will get into operation, as one plant is reported to be able to generate enough power for 100,000 people.

A snowmobile and a smoking volcano on the background (again!)

And then we ended up in the Las Maquinitas thermal ponds. There are several hot ponds around the in-the-winter abandoned village of Copahue. We chose to visit a lake that was surrounded by collapsed buildings.

It was windy and -10 degrees, but I've come this far, I have to go in. It turns out that the water is warm enough, maybe even too warm. At first I end up sitting on the muddy bottom but quickly realize that is a mistake. My ass is burning from the steam coming from the bottom of the lake. The guide tells me to find a flat stone and sit on top of it.

Las Maquinitas thermal ponds

Collapsed structures near the thermal pond

Almost boiling water... I'm doing OK as long as my ass is not on the bottom

Collapsed structure at the thermal ponds

The abandoned Copahue steam electricity plant

On the snowmobile tour

After-Ski

As the owners of our hotel put it, people come to Caviahue to ski, not to go into bars. We were unable to identify any open bar on our short visit to the village.

Off-piste around the upper slopes of the Caviahue ski center

Important Parameters

Caviahue is 350 kilometers from Neuquen, the closest city with commercial airline connections. Note that most of the domestic flights from Buenos Aires leave from the city airport, AEP, so in order to get to them from an international flight you may have to transfer from the international airport, EZE, to AEP with your luggage.

On our way to Neuquen, Argentina. Buenos Aires below.

Roads in Argentina are relatively well maintened, certainly better than in neighboring countries. You can make the trip in a normal 2WD vehicle, as long as you carry chains. However, police checkpoints are frequent, for reasons that we can only guess. On our way to Caviahue we were stopped a couple of times. One of these stops included dogs sniffing through our stuff, and then having the police take apart our luggage item by item. All the way to checking out individual pills of some of the medicine that I had with me. Had they gone any further in the inspections they would have required rubber gloves. Luckily not, and they let us put our luggage together and leave. Phew! And this was for two western tourists that quite obviously were not in Argentina for any criminal activity! (Except maybe an occasional unauthorized visit to closed-off volcanoes or Chilean backcountry.)

We stayed at Hotel Farallon, the closest major accommodation facility to the ski slopes. The hotel is a 5-10 minute walk away from the ski area. If there had been as much snow as there is on normal winters, the hotel's bandvagn would have taken us to the ski area from the front door. The hotel costs were around 65 USD per person per night, including breakfast. There are plenty of other places to stay at in Caviahue, but they are in the main village and little bit further away. I do recommend Farallon, for its location, the view, and for the nice owners -- who also speak English. For a large part of the Argentinian off-beat tourist locations, that is very rare. And I had failed to learn more than a couple of words of Spanish before the trip, despite my best intentions. Being able to speak at least some Spanish is generally recommended for travels to Argentinian backcountry.

Our hotel's transport to the ski slopes

This would be the way to travel! Your own desert buggy on the back!

The guides that we used on our snowmobile tour were from eneQene. They know their way around the local mountains, and can organize anything, be it from a thermal pool visit to nights in an igloo.

Skiing, with a smoking volcano in the background

Verdict

Caviahue is far away, certainly harder to get to than, for instance, than other major Argentinian ski destinations such as Bariloche or Ushuaia. Caviahue is smaller, the after-ski and party scene is non-existent, and the slopes are small. But strangely enough, Caviahue would still be my choice for a ski destination, if I had to choose just one place to visit in Argentina.

Let me explain. If was with my kids, I'd like to have a small and safe area where I can watch them. The Caviahue ski area is perfect for this. And if I was on my own, I'd like to find the most radical off-piste touring opportunities. And Copahue certainly has them, too, all the way to ice climbing and volcano summits.

The resident off-piste guide at the Farallon Hotel

Flowing snow

Photographing the steam plant

Volcano spewing smoke

Skiing off-piste near the Caviahue ski area

Photo and video credits (c) 2012 by Jari Arkko and Tero Kivinen

Boots on a Plane

Boots on a plane

I am on my way to Argentina and Patagonia for twelve days of snow fun. Well, six days of snow fun and six days of travel, as we have to wait a bit in Buenos Aires, we zoom around the country to visit different places, and so on.

I have two sets of skis, two pairs of boots, crampons, ice axes, and other fun stuff with me, so regardless of the long way there I think it will actually be fun. This will be my first visit to Argentina, and among other places we'll visit Bariloche, the legendary ski and party destination for the Argentinians, a ski a volcano in Caviahue, and visit Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city. They also have the most southern bar, unless you count the one in Antarctica.

Shopping?

But it will be a long trip, over 33 000 kilometers again. We are also prepared for the eventual airline mistake. As is usual in my travels, I keep my ski boots in the cabin with me. The boots are filled with essential gear, like my ski pants. My backpack contains the jacket, gloves, and my camera gear. I left the ice axes in checked luggage, however.

I should be able to buy or rent the rest, if the luggage gets lost. I'm a bit nervous about that, actually. We're even switching airports in Buenos Aires, and still the airline claims that they will deliver the luggage all the way to the destination. We shall see...

Distances

Route

Photo credits (c) 2012 by Jari Arkko and Tero Kivinen and the Great Circle Mapper

Plastic Ice

Typical ski photo?

This ski area is so hot that it melts your skis. Water would help, and also make the skiing faster. But their sprinkler system is being replaced, and this also happens to be the only day on our vacation when it does not rain.

We are at the Midlothian Snowsports Center in Edinburgh, in the middle of the summer. My second day of skiing in the UK.

Views

"Sir, do you have pants"?

Even if it is warm, they require you to use long pants, jackets, and gloves, as a fall on the plastic may easily hurt bare skin. So on my first attempt to enter the ski lift on my shorts was cut short by the liftie shouting that I can't go to the slope "without pants". Luckily had long pants with me, so after a small delay I was able to get to the slope.

In a traditional British black cab, with skis (and shorts!)

Sir, do you have pants?

The slopes

The slopes are covered with plastic matting, allowing the ski area to be used at any time. (There is typically no snow here even during the winter.) Holes in the matting allow grass to grow in the slopes, and at times you can not be quite sure whether you are skiing on grass or plastic.

There is one long main slope, a shorter training slope, a very small kids slope, and the fun park with jumps and rails. There are two button lifts and one chair lift, though the chair lift only runs at certain times.

Plastic powder

Skiing and golf on the same day, same place?

Amazingly, the Scottish olympic team practices here, including a former top downhill racer. There was a short race track in the slope even when we visited it.

The feeling in the slopes is quite different from regular snow. Mind you, we were there on a day when the sprinkler system was not operating, and the feeling is likely different on a wet slope. Interestingly, the slope felt otherwise quite similar, but braking and canting had far less effect than it does on snow. This is reason for choosing "plastic ice" as the name of this blog article. In fact, most icy ski slopes would be easier to break in than the plastic. And I can not imagine that the sprinkler system would make braking any easier.

Racing!

Skiing

After-Ski

Well... apparently the after-ski is not that great. Cafe 360, the only food and drink source in the area closes one hour before the ski slope closes. By the time we had taken off our gear, the entire facility was empty, including all staff.

Cafe 360

Details, Details

The slope resides 10 kilometers from the city center of Edinburgh, near Hillend. It is open every day from 9:30 to 19:00 (18:00 on Sundays). One hour lift ticket costs 12 £. The longest slope is 400 meters long.

We took a cab to the slope at the cost of 20 £. Make sure you have a phone number to call for a taxi if you plan on returning this way as well, and prepare for some waiting before the taxi arrives in a busy Edinburgh evening.

Use protective clothing all over your skin, and light gloves. I suspect that the hole-filled plastic may hurt you even if well clothed. Luckily we did not fall.

Base area

Evaluation

This was my first outdoors artificial ski slope experience. It was interesting, and different from all other ski experiences. There is a definite 1960's feeling to this base (and indeed the center was opened then).

I find it difficult to think of the place as something where I'd go to on a regular basis, however. Or maybe I would, if I lived in Edinburgh. In any case, the center is a friendly facility, and I always like the community ski hills. This is a must-visit place for Edinburgh tourists. Recommended!

Ski lift ride

Photo credits (c) 2012 by Jari Arkko, Janne Arkko, and Tarja Arkko

Climbing Volcanoes

Path leading from the summit of Arthur's Seat

We are trying hard to reach the summit in time. But we are late. 350 million years late, to be exact. This volcano stopped breathing before the dinosaurs came to life.

I am in Edinburgh this week, and to my surprise, I found out that there is an interesting hike to the top of an extinct volcano, Arthur's Seat, right in the middle of the city.

Radical Road, a path under the Salisbury Crags

St. Anthony's Chapel

Arthur's Seat is only 250 meters high and roughly 220 meters above the surrounding city streets. It is a nice walk or climb, depending on the chosen route. The easiest route is literally a walk in the park, as this area is a part of the Holyrood Park. Even little children and dogs can make it. Rain, bad visibility, or wrong choice of route can make things far more challenging, however. On our family excursion, hay fever and uneven pavement in the city streets caused more trouble than the hill itself. (By the way, I can warmly recommend the medical system in UK. They have expert doctors and first visits to the emergency room are free of charge.)

Levitation practice in the chapel

Caving near St. Margaret's Loch

A good place to start the trip is on the parking lot near the Scottish Parliament house. Be sure to visit the ruins of the St. Anthony's Chapel near St. Margaret's Loch on your way up or down the mountain. The ruins are very beautiful. Just behind the ruins there is also a small cave; look to your right above the lake.

The last two meters to the summit

Even dogs can make it to the summit

The easy path to the summit goes behind the Salisbury Crags, not under them

In any case, the volcano is cold, no craters can be identified, and there are no lava flows. Still, the rock formations are interesting and the views superb. To have such a mountain right in the city is exceptional.

This experience inspired me to write about some of my earlier adventures in climbing volcanoes, some which have been on more exciting volcanoes.

Mt. Pinatubo

A couple of years ago I took a day off before heading home from a meeting in the Philippines. I wanted to visit a volcano, and Philippines has many to choose from. There are usually a few that are actively spewing lava. (I remember once seeing a news article about the destruction of an eruption in the Philippines and ensuing evacuations on my browser while at the same my mail client displayed an e-mail urging volcano enthusiasts to travel right now to see the same mountain.)

I considered Mt. Mayo, an active and beautiful volcano. However, I ended up choosing a visit on the infamous, but momentarily quiet Mt. Pinatubo instead, as there were access restrictions to reach the summit of Mayo. As everyone knows, Mt. Pinatubo erupted with catastrophic consequences in 1991.

Warming up in the crater

Walking towards the mountain in the middle of ash columns

Crater lake

The trip started from congested Manila. There were plenty of "Jeepneys", unique conversions of Jeeps to public transports. Even if Mt. Pinatubo is only 80 kilometers from Manila, the traffic and road conditions can easily lead to spending three hours just to get to drop-off point. 

Jeepneys in Manila

The mountain is within the area of the Crow Military Reservation. A permission is required and an permit for an overnight stay can be particularly hard to acquire. But I was lucky to get the necessary permits, thanks to the friendly Philippines army folks. Every tourist entering the area has to have two soldiers as security guards. I'm not quite sure what dangers they were protecting us from, but all the soldiers that I met on the trip were very friendly. (Except maybe the ones that bombed the road right in front of us on our return trip, from aircraft. But maybe it was an exercise run, and I think our driver knew to stop right before the bombing was about to happen.)

Air raid in front of us

We used 4x4 vehicles to carry us nearer the mountain within the reservation. The area around Pinatubo is a mixture of hills, rivers, and sand fields. We must have crossed the same river 50 times going towards the mountain. 

Eventually the path became too narrow even for the 4x4 and we had to start walking. There are several paths to get to the crater. We followed the river, which was about a three hour walk. On return trip we we used a shortcut that takes under an hour. The hills around the river consisted mostly of packed sand and ash. This is an entirely new environment and rains can easily cause lahar flows, slides, or even the collapse of parts of the mountain.

The hike with a heavy backpack was tough, but eventually we made it to the crater wall. Beautiful views greeted us. In particular, the colors in the lake and the surrounding walls were magnificent.

Swimming on the cold side of the crater lake

I planned to spend the night in the crater, so I had a tent with me. I also took a swim the crater lake. The water was pleasant, not too cold. But on the other side of the lake there are places were the water is actually boiling. We used a small canoe to explore other parts of the lake, and were hoping not to fall over, as the water can indeed be quite hot.

The water on the shore is boiling. Do not tip over in the canoe here!

The crater seemed to have almost permanent clouds couple of hundred meters on top of the lake level, hiding the highest crater walls. This may be due to the hot steam rising from the lake. It was hard to believe that just 17 years ago this was an inferno. The crater is green, blue and silent. 

Canoeing on the crater lake

On our return trip, there was plenty of excitement in addition to the bombs... we were on the sand plains, probably doing 50 km/h when the vehicle suddenly drops on its side, and I see the back wheel run past us. The wheel has come off! 

We were lucky that this happened in this place, on some of the steep mountain roads or river banks this might have caused the vehicle to turn over. That would have been very bad, as we were sitting in the back of an open truck.


It was surprisingly hard to find the missing wheel, it took several minutes to spot it. On closer investigation, the threading had come off from the bolts. The vehicle was probably used day in and day out on the same route, taking constant beating. 

The wheel has come off!

Only the axle remains

But no problem, our 11-person expedition had two vehicles, so those of us who did not have to stay with the broken car loaded ourselves on the other one and headed back. All seats in this vehicle were taken, someone was even sitting on top of the hood. 

We found the tire!

There are several guides that can take you to Mt. Pinatubo. I used e-Philippines Adventure Travel and I was generally very pleased with their service. Recommended.

Stromboli


It was like a scene from the Lost TV series. I woke up after a boat ride and found myself on tiny tropical island with an overwhelming volcano almost pushing a tiny village to the sea. Smoke was coming out from the mountain. Can this place really exist in Europe?

Stromboli

I was in Stromboli, one of the Aeolian islands off the coast of Sicily. I had flown to Sicily for a couple of days for some volcano fun. Straight after arrival, I drove from the airport to Etna and climbed to the top despite various difficulties (bad visibility, ongoing volcanic action, missing the lift down, being alone in the night on the mountain, etc). Maybe not the wisest climb that I've ever done. But that was just a warm-up for the real goal of the trip, to see the wonderful lava fountains of Stromboli.

Moon, as seen on the descent from Stromboli in the night

Stromboli church

Stromboli is perhaps the destination for the travelers who are interested in volcanoes but not too keen on extreme mountain climbing or going out to unstable environments. Stromboli spews 100-meter lava fountains every couple of minutes, but is still relatively safe and easily reachable.

The inhabited part of the island, as seen from the mountain

To get to Stromboli, you have to use one of the boat lines that runs through the Aeolian islands. I took a boat from Messina, and booked a guide with Magmatrek, the main local climbing company. You can find their offices next to the church. Contacting them over the Internet or via phone in English can be difficult, however.

On the top, with a view of the craters below

A lava fountain

The climb to the summit begins from the tiny village between the mountain and the sea, in the afternoon. You have to climb a vertical kilometer, but other than that, the walk is easy. The idea is to arrive right before sunset, so that you get to see the wonderful colors of the sunset, and then get to see the lava fountains in darkness. The sounds and scenery are exceptional even during the day, but in the night the experience is out of this world.

This is why you need a helmet.
That is not dust on the lens, it is freshly brewed stones flying around.

Sunset from the top of Stromboli

Once the guides tell you that it is time to go down, you will descend the mountain by jumping down on soft ash for about half a kilometer. This can be a lot of fun, but don't count on having any dust-free items on you afterwards. If the sky is clear, the view of the moon on the sea is very beautiful.

Walking up on the ash-covered mountain

More to come

I have more stories on volcano tours. But I'll save them for future articles. Note that there are many skiable volcanoes as well, e.g., Etna, Mt. Ruapehu in New Zealand, Chillan in Chile, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, and Mt. Shasta in California. And on my upcoming trip to Argentina I hope to find some more!

Photo credits (c) 2009-2012 by Jari Arkko, Lasse Arkko, and Janne Arkko