How to choose a winter cabin

There are 4 key tips to ensure that the cabin you choose helps make your ski holiday a success

1. Don´t leave your search until the last minute as many of the best cabins are booked out early, particularly during school vacations and on long weekends. Corralco ski resort and cabins in Malalcahuello attract many Chilean skiiers during the final three weeks of July and weekends during August & September. Independence Day celebrations usually mean that Malalcahuello valley and Corralco ski resort are booked out for a week around the 18th of September. At these times it´s ,best to book early.
2. Make sure you ask about the insulation & heating. Many cabins in Malalcahuello & Chile are built on a low budget by unqualified builders, this means no insulation or inadequate insulation. You may have heating in the cabin but unless it is insulated, the heat will be lost quickly, especially noticeable at night and during black-outs, which tend to occur during winter.
   Some owners provide firewood for the slow combustion stove for free, others charge. Is there heating day and night or are there times when it can´t be used? Cabins in Malalcahuello sometimes run totally on generator and it is turned off during certain periods. If there is a system of electric heating, ask if there is back-up heating during black-outs. Ask about what measures need to be taken to ensure that there is hot water and heating during periods of minus zero temperatures as many cabins suffer problems with the gas hot water heaters freezing up, leaving guests without water. There´s nothing worse than waking up to no hot water or no water at all!
3. Check the reviews for the cabin on well known sites such as Trip Advisor and Booking.com, you will soon get a feel for what are upsides and downsides to your desired cabin and how responsive the owners are to any problems that have arisen for other guests.
4. Check what is included and excluded in the price. Are there additional costs for services and what additional services and facilities are available. For example, cleaning, breakfast, internet, hot tubs & transfer services are sometimes included in the price but may be offered as an optional extra.

At Chile Wild-Las Vertientes de Malalcahuello we have invested time and money in ensuring the best insulation and heating possible so that our guests are totally comfortable inside the cabins, even when it is -10 degrees celcius outside.

We use a combination of great insulation, gas hot water & electric heating throughout the cabins with generator back-up. In all our cabins we have a slow combustion stove in the living and firewood is free. During winter while guests are skiing at Corralco ski resort or at other times exploring Conguillio National Park or Volcano Lonquimay, we endeavour to maintain the stoves burning when guests are out to ensure the cabin is comfortable when they arrive.

Our water pipes are made of frost resistant material buried 1m below the ground and there is electric heating in the bedrooms and bathroom. Chile Wild-Pichipehuén is an older style house and does not have generator back-up. It is more independent and we only visit once per day to clean and maintain the fire while guests are out.