September 3, 2007 Valle Nevado, Chile

We decided to leave a bit late seeing there was no new snow and we wanted to wait for the firm slopes to warm and get creamy. We left Stevens house for the 35km ride up to the resorts about 9am. It was a Monday and there were few cars on the first section of 40 hairpin turns. We reached the junction for La Parva/ El Colorado and Valle Nevado in an hour. We took the right spur leading another 14km to Valle Nevado. This segment starts out rather straight and passes by an extended section of ski able cliff bands,photo 1, that had old skier/boarder tracks. You can approach these from the base of the ski resort and descend the numerous lines available and then hitch hike back to the resort or have a car shuttle. I was amazed at all the available terrain at the roadside. After about 10km you encounter the remaining 14 hairpin turns to Valle Nevado. These are narrow and have high snow banks that were melting and collapsing onto the road as we ascended. Came around a hairpin turn and met the waiting scoop of a giant front loader. No flagman! The resort was designed by a French company and it again reminded me of some of the French resorts in the Alps. Adult lift tickets were $35 on Monday.

The resort has one high speed quad, another fixed quad, a triple, a double and 7 pomas. The upper pomas do not have ticket checkers so Silas was able to skin up top and ride the pomas free. It was another cool day so the snow was firm until mid day. The highest poma, Tres Puntas, reaches over 12,000’. The resort is large and provides plenty of advanced terrain for downhill or side country adventures. As with La Parva and El Colorado, Valle Nevado is above tree line so cloudy, overcast or snowy days provide limited visibility. The base is about 9500’ so there is over 2500vf. They definitely had more snow at Valle Nevado than at La Parva. According to Steven, the prevailing winds carry the snow over towards Valle Nevado. There is lodging available at the base. We had a fun day cruising around and met our friends from Buenos Aires who were spending a week here. About 3pm, we found Silas and began the tiring drive down the 54 hairpin turns. Down about hairpin turn 12, they are numbered, we encountered a large cement truck disabled in the middle of the turn with boulders blocking the tires. It was a mess. The remainder of the drive was uneventful – thankfully. The ski resorts are so close to Santiago but we found limited crowds on the weekdays just like what we experience in the PNW areas.

Photo 1 – Chutes and cliff bands below Valle Nevado
Photo 2 – Valle Nevado base area
Photo 3 – Silas, Jill, Florencia, Rosa Maria with El Plomo(5430m) in background