A Whitewater guide to the rivers of chile
The Rio Blanco Del Sur near Curacautin has a fantastic 10 meter drop that has a very long season, can be done as a park ‘n huck, and is day trip distance from Pucon. The falls itself has a nice … Read More »
Known as the Rio Pichapinga in it´s upper section and Rio Llaima in the lowers stretch this is a winter/springtime creek run in Chile´s 9th Region de la Aruacania. The river flows northwest of the flanks of Nevados de Solipulli … Read More »
This river also called the Rio Nalcalhue (and in its lower sections the Zahuil or Huanehue) is only boatable after extremely heavy rains or during winter high water season. The river is born in the Cordillera de Quinchilca whose largest … Read More »
When the winter rains hit Chile there are a ton of rivers to kayak that are dry in the summer months…One of these is the Huichahue Ben May Rio Huichahue Located in the 9th region of the Araucania, the river … Read More »
Jared Seiler dropping the “Suavemente” aka “Purty Thirty” at the start of the Lower section. The Rio Llancahue located on the southeastern slope of Volcan Villarica is reached via Conaripe. It is roughly an hour and a half drive from … Read More »
A Native Mapuche word perhaps meaning ¨rock magic¨ Cura-rock, Calcu-witchcraft Located in the comuna de Cunco, Region de la Araucania, Chile´s 9th region… A low elevation run flowing off the north western flank of the permanent snowfields of Nevados de … Read More »
A fun creek run flowing off the Cordillera Huerere into the Northwestern corner of Lago Colico in Chile´s 9th Region de la Araucania. The roadside run is low volume with good gradient, and crystal clear water flowing through a still … Read More »
The Rio Claro is a small creek in downtown Pucon..It is more of a novelty run for locals in the winter months or when everything else is too high.. Logistics are absolutely simple. The creek flows off the NE flank … Read More »
A rumbling steep creek coming off the permanent snowfields of Nevados de Solipulli is the Rio Trafanpulli. In local Mapadungo language the meaning is “junction of the valleys”. French kayaker Valentin Grollemund I first started looking at this creek in … Read More »
The best stretch of boating on the upper Maichín consists of a section of a class III-IV rapids above Puente Basas. Approximately 1 km below the put-in, the river flows through a 1.5 km long-columnar basalt gorge. The drops are … Read More »
Often overlooked amid all the class 3, 4 and 5 rivers to be found in Pucon, the class 2 Rio Tolten is big, beautiful and much warmer than the upstream rivers: Trancura and Liucura. The Rio Tolten is a scenic … Read More »
The lower Trancura is Pucón’s local playground and sports the most popular day raft trip in the country. This section of river is also popular with Kayakers, duckies, shredders and Hidrospeed river boards. On any given summer day dozens of … Read More »
Another run in Pucon area this one is pretty small and is therefore called an Estero instead of a Rio. Apart from the Ojos de Carburgua and the infamous “MP” this is probably the most popular park and huck. From … Read More »
This river, although interesting, is not worth going out of your way for. If you are in the Pucon area and more specifically up near the headwaters of the Liucura near the “Los Posones” or Termas de Huife hot springs … Read More »
Flowing off of the permanent snow fields of Sollipulli is an ice cold tributary of the upper Maichin. It is short, not very difficult but incredibly beautiful. I ran this with Zack “Del Sapo” Cowen in early December 2004 I … Read More »
This novelty run is only for those curious folks who are in the Pucon area and have already done every river imaginable. It is one of dozens of rivers named Rio Blanco in Chile. I first looked at this river … Read More »
Tumbling off the flanks of the magnificent 3717 meter Volcan Lanin are the headwaters of Pucon’s Trancura River. While lower sections of the river close to Pucon see hundred’s of daily visitors from the numerous rafting companies, the upper reaches … Read More »
The Upper Palguín is one of Chile’s premier waterfall runs. A partial first descent was made in February 1990 by John Foss and Christine Blask. Two years later John returned with Dave Black, John Mattson and Kurt Casey to complete … Read More »
The crystal clear, iridescent waters of the Maichín are home to one of the Pucón area’s classic rivers. Set in an incredibly beautiful canyon the Maichín has everything one could ask forsolid class 4/5 whitewater, excelent fishing, natural streambed, consistent … Read More »
The Rio Panqui is another Pucon springtime waterfall run. Although the river is referred to by local gringo boaters as the “Spank-me”, the orgin of the name is derived from the local Mapuche language and means Puma. The river comes … Read More »