Mike
2010-10-30, 20:26
Valle Nevado and Portillo are the 2 largest and most popular ski resort in Chile.
Valle Nevado is a purpose built ski resort very close to Santiago (64km and under 2 hours drive) built in 1988. The base of the resort is at 3000m, top altitude is 3670m. It has 4 chair lifts and 7 Poma lifts, vertical drop is about 800m, with 9000 ha of skiable area.
Might be because of its high altitude, it is extremely dry in humidity. When I was there 5 years ago, I had to keep a humidifier on inside my hotel room 24 hours non-stop, still I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat.
One day ski pass cost US$24 (2005 price), quality of the rental ski equipment was not good, but price was reasonable. Food and beverage cost at the resort was high, over US$3 for a can of Coke, US$10 for a hamburger. Tap water is not potable and bottled water was expensive.
There are 4 hotels in Valle Nevado (all under the same owner) offering different degree of luxury and room sizes.
The chair lift,“El Mirador", takes the skiers up the mountain first thing in the morning. From there skiers can ski down to take another chairlift, “Andes Express” to another peak where there are 2 steep black runs down. Quarter way down, there is a fork to the left (El Sol) where long sweeping carving turns can be put to test all the way to the very bottom. Although from the piste map, the number of marked runs are not so many, but in fact the whole mountain is one big ski field open to all capable skiers.
http://www.vallenevado.com
Valle Nevado is a purpose built ski resort very close to Santiago (64km and under 2 hours drive) built in 1988. The base of the resort is at 3000m, top altitude is 3670m. It has 4 chair lifts and 7 Poma lifts, vertical drop is about 800m, with 9000 ha of skiable area.
Might be because of its high altitude, it is extremely dry in humidity. When I was there 5 years ago, I had to keep a humidifier on inside my hotel room 24 hours non-stop, still I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat.
One day ski pass cost US$24 (2005 price), quality of the rental ski equipment was not good, but price was reasonable. Food and beverage cost at the resort was high, over US$3 for a can of Coke, US$10 for a hamburger. Tap water is not potable and bottled water was expensive.
There are 4 hotels in Valle Nevado (all under the same owner) offering different degree of luxury and room sizes.
The chair lift,“El Mirador", takes the skiers up the mountain first thing in the morning. From there skiers can ski down to take another chairlift, “Andes Express” to another peak where there are 2 steep black runs down. Quarter way down, there is a fork to the left (El Sol) where long sweeping carving turns can be put to test all the way to the very bottom. Although from the piste map, the number of marked runs are not so many, but in fact the whole mountain is one big ski field open to all capable skiers.
http://www.vallenevado.com