Snowmobile Ride

Caviahue ski resort is gaining more and more fans every year. It has become a space to be enjoyed with the family as a result of its quietness, its spectacular snow and the excellent trails. However, other sport activities add up adrenaline to vacationing. One of them is a cross-country ride on a snowmobile to visit the hidden town of Copahue.

We chose the perfect day: not one cloud in the sky and completely windless. We wished to make the most of the new morning snow to take a shortcut towards the neighboring village riding cutting-edge motorbikes. Light, agile and easily driven, these snowmobiles only have an accelerator and a brake. And it is important to manage the perfect balance between speed and stability.


Getting the Engines Ready

We set out in the company of Abel Valdebenito, our local guide, and got deep into the wild mountain uphill. We avoided huge rocks and some undulations as we got used to the power of the engine while moving. We learned to move our bodies from right to left to enter a bend and keep the necessary balance.

Silence was almost absolute and only interrupted by the grazing of the front skis on the snow. The caterpillar at the back of the snowmobile grabbed onto the ground.

We made several stops to take pictures and check that everything was in order. It was during one of them that we saw the old inn used by the staff of Gendarmería Nacional, lying next to the hot spring lake called Las Máquinas. Several men from our group tried the muddy waters along with some other boys that were already immersed in them. To one side, in the middle of the snowy field, several fumaroles bubbled and steamed.

The last part of our crossing to reach Copahue began. This hot spring center opens from December to April. During the winter, its constructions are completely covered by snow and the settlers emigrate to other districts.

It was moving to see the old border milestone reading “Argentina” and “Chile”, as we understood we were right on the boundary that separated us from our neighboring country.

As we finally reached Copahue's viewpoint, we caught an amazing sight of the immensely white surroundings and the hot spring pools that remained uncovered due to their temperature. The guide told us that "when the winter ends, the village awakes slowly; the facilities are reopened and the streets are cleared with bulldozers”.

We took advantage of a slope towards the main buildings in the complex to leave the snowmobile and go for a walk around the area. We used a central footbridge and perceived the strong sulfur aroma coming from laguna del chancho.

We went around the hotels, the cabins and buildings, which were only showing the top of their roofs. As we bade farewell, we had the feeling of being observing a ghost town invaded by a gray mist, with strong suspended vapor. In contrast, during the summer, it is usual to see people coming and going and taking advantage of the properties of the water that emerges from the ground. They are extremely therapeutic.

As we returned to Caviahue, we had more trust in the snowmobiles and enjoyed the feeling of tranquility coming from sliding over the snow. Again, our tracks on the white blanket were everything we could see. The rest remained impeccable and still.