One of the ten greatest whitewater rivers on Earth, in a Patagonian valley of glacial turquoise and emerald mountains
Futaleufú is a small Chilean frontier town in Los Lagos Region where the Futaleufú River — widely regarded by kayakers and rafters as one of the world's top ten whitewater rivers — runs through a valley of startling beauty: turquoise water against emerald mountains, the kind of colour combination that reads as digitally enhanced in photographs but is entirely real. The rapids on the Futaleufú's canyon sections (Class IV–V, with named drops like the 'Terminator' and 'Himalayas') draw expert kayakers from across the world, and outfitters run guided multi-day raft trips through the canyon sectio…
The Futaleufú valley was settled by Chilean and Argentine colonists in the early 20th century, many of them Welsh immigrants who had crossed over from the Chubut colony in Argentine Patagonia — a migration stream that gave the area its distinctive hybrid character. The town itself was formally established in 1929. For most of the 20th century the valley was known for agriculture and timber. The international whitewater community discovered the river in the late 1980s, and the first commercial rafting operations began in the early 1990s. The river's reputation was significantly boosted by the…