Shelter on the Calbuco Volcano: Sustainable Architecture and Tourism Promotion in Chile

I started writing a post about a mountain shelter, but it turned into a retrospective of my two years living in Chile. Curiosity about the world reveals close connections between seemingly distant things. Stepping onto the floor of the cabin on the slope of Calbuco in 2024, and taking my first steps in Santiago in 2022, I interacted with the same people who, by a strange coincidence, share the same values with me on this continent.

Calbuco Volcano Refugio, Chile

But first, about the shelter. Recently, I went on a half-day trek along this route:

I highly recommend this route — amidst the large tourist influx in the national parks near the Osorno volcano, there is almost no one on Calbuco. This area also belongs to CONAF, the trail is well-maintained, but the route is more challenging, and those tourists who come to see the Petrohue waterfalls usually don’t reach here. Rivers, fields of solidified lava, waterfalls, and stunning views of Northern Patagonia are all present.

We didn’t climb to the volcano’s summit but walked just to the cabin, which I fell in love with at first sight . “This is how it should look everywhere,” I thought. The house fits perfectly into the landscape, combining innovative wooden construction technologies with architecture that is both modern and includes elements of traditional Patagonian design (the wooden shingles that clad the exterior walls).

The construction used CLT (cross-laminated timber). And this abbreviation is not just a sound to me, thanks to my friend, who is actively developing the construction business.

Such high technology among the mountains is no accident. The project’s creator, Juan Pablo Mohr, is not only Chile’s strongest mountaineer but also an architect. He was the first Chilean to climb Annapurna, and in 2019 he was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the first person to summit Lhotse and Everest without returning to base camp in less than a week, without Sherpa assistance and without oxygen.

After his achievements in the Himalayas, Mohr decided to seriously promote mountaineering in Chile. His goal was to climb the highest peaks in each of Chile’s 16 regions and build a cabin for mountain tourists on each route. This led to the creation of the DeporteLibre foundation and Project 16D. Funding comes partly from the Chilean government and partly from private donations. The project is non-profit.

Laying the project’s foundation, Juan didn’t live to see its realization. In 2021, he died on K2 at the age of only 34. But he managed to contribute to the development of outdoor sports and tourism, and his legacy will live on in these projects and in the new generation of Chilean mountaineers.

The shelter on Calbuco is the first opened facility of the project.

Mountain refuges are not the only project by DeporteLibre. To promote sports among children and teenagers in cities, there is the PlazaLibre project. And it was one of their facilities that I encountered on my first walk around Santiago in 2022.

When I first arrived in Chile 2 years ago, I stayed in the center of Santiago. Deciding that touristy places wouldn’t escape me, I went for a walk in the opposite direction of mainstream areas. I came across a park in a typical residential neighborhood, where I discovered an unusual climbing wall. Two old technical towers had been turned into a outdoor climbing wall. There were many people, mostly teenagers, so the project is fulfilling its mission.

I liked the atmosphere, and it was from that moment that my love for Chile began.