I typically go south from January to April, as that fits my work schedule. I know that Aconcagua and the Puna de Atacama and Patagonia is all accessible at this time. I also know that the Cordillera Real and the Cordillera Blanca are generally quite wet. The volcanoes around Arequipa seem dry enough to climb year-round and the mountains near San Pedro de Atacama also sound fine at this time. How about Pomerape and Parinacota? I am also curious about Sajama, but that may be above my pay grade at this time. I am prepared for high altitude and temperatures down to perhaps -20C or so, but its the serious snow and potentially avalanche risk that concerns me... any advice or local knowledge is appreciated... thanks

OK. Now that I got on a proper internet (instead of my cell phone), I have researched the forum further back and realize that I am not the first to ask this question. Pardon me.

So, am I correct in understanding that the Invierno Boliviano still affects this region, it is just not as severe is in the Cordillera Real, for example? Sounds like, given my personal scheduling constraints, April would be my best opportunity to avoid storms? Does this seem reasonable? Potentially there would be plenty of water/snow available then and hopefully the rains/snows would be just concluding. How about avalanche risk at this time?

Also, am I correct in understanding that anything south of here is essentially the same type of weather patterns observed near Mendoza / Bariloche / El Chalten... places where I have traveled fairly extensively during the same seasons? It is my assumption that anything in the Puna de Atacama region would start getting pretty cold (and pretty dry) by the end of February.

Thanks