Qualla: Nevados de Chillán

Nevados de Chillán: Introduction

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dropus, CC BY-SA 4.0. Imagine finishing a day on the slopes by lowering yourself into a steaming pool, then realizing the water is hot because the mountain beneath you is alive. That is the strange luxury of Nevados de Chillán, a ski resort in the Chilean Andes wrapped around a cluster of three volcanoes, one of which has been actively erupting in recent years. You ski here on the flank of a working volcano, through some of the only real tree runs in the Andes, and soak afterward in mineral baths heated by the same fire that built the peaks.

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Image: Dropus | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nevados de Chillán: Three Peaks, One Still Growing

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dropus, CC BY-SA 4.0. The name Nevados de Chillán belongs both to the resort and to the trio of volcanoes that hold it up, in the young Ñuble region of central Chile. Cerro Blanco rises to the northwest at 3,212 meters. Volcán Viejo, the "old" volcano, sits to the southeast at 3,089 meters. Between th...

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Image: Dropus | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nevados de Chillán: Tree Runs in the High Andes

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tecnologiacts, CC BY-SA 4.0. Most Andean ski areas are bare, wind-scoured worlds above the treeline, beautiful but stark. Nevados de Chillán is one of the rare exceptions. The base lodge sits at 1,500 meters and the highest lift tops out around 2,200, a vertical drop of roughly 700 meters, and the area carri...

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Image: Tecnologiacts | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nevados de Chillán: Water From the Fire

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit pabloendemico, CC BY 2.0. Before the slopes, there were the springs. The resort was long known as Termas de Chillán, "the hot springs of Chillán," and the volcanic baths were its whole reason for being. When new owners took over in 2008, they renamed the place and rebuilt the ski operation, but they had t...

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Image: pabloendemico | CC BY 2.0

Nevados de Chillán: Getting to the Mountain

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chile_location_map.svg: NordNordWest derivative work: Виктор В (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. The resort lies about eighty kilometers up into the mountains from the city of Chillán, and the journey is part of the adventure. Most travelers arrive through Concepción, whose Carriel Sur airport receives daily flights from Santiago, then continue by shuttle, taxi, or rental ca...

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Image: Chile_location_map.svg: NordNordWest derivative work: Виктор В (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0