Southern Hemisphere Daydreaming

If you could plan a ski trip anywhere in the southern hemisphere where would you go and how would you plan it?

I've looked into this a little bit. The 2 heavy hitters that come to mind (at least for me) are las lenas in Argentina and Portillo in chile.

From what I've heard, the marte lift at las lenas has some of the sickest and steepest terrain in South America. It's been compared to the terrain served by the kt-22 lift a squaw. Only problem is, it's frequently closed. There have been times that it's been closed over a month due to winds, avy danger, or even being buried. If it is closed, then there really is not much challenging terrain. So if you're planning a trip you're really taking a gamble.

Also, las lenas is in the middle of NOWHERE. I check their website, and there's an airport like an hour away that supposedly has charter flights ever Saturday, but I couldn't find any. Not to mention, you can't just show up in Argentina with your passport, you need to fill out paperwork and pay ahead of time, it's about $200 (may you can pay on site, but according to their tourists site you have to take care of this ahead of time)

Portillo is only 2 hours from Santiago, the Capitol of chile. You can pay for a shuttle both ways for $130 I believe (last I checked), from and to the airport. They limit lift sales, and as a result are never crowded. They have hotel Portillo on site, and have packages with food included. I priced out a trip from Denver to Santiago with transport to the resort, a week of skiing with food included at their lowest room rate, and the amount was a little over 3k. Not too bad.

I've heard the inbounds terrain is not as difficult as the terrain served by marte at las lenas, but there are a lot of BC options. Not sure how much hiking you'd want to do while you're on vacation, but I read about the "Super C Couloir" having nearly a mile of vertical and being an experience of a lifetime.

Not to mention, Chile does not have any special passport restrictions that have to be addressed ahead of time. My uncle does do business there occasionally though, and he told me that the first time you show up you do have to pay $150 (which you can do at the airport), and customs will stamp your passport and you don't have to pay that fee again until you get a new passport.

This is all through my own research though. Hopefully someone else can chime in, I believe madmadworld has skied Portillo and can maybe comment on the snowfall.

I do know that parts of SA did get upwards of 2 feet a couple weeks ago.

Australia or NZ. English. Being in the middle of nowhere in a some-what third world country and being American is not fun if I were doing it on my own. I would need a group to go with. Planned by someone who's been there.

Chile and Argentina are somewhat third world countries?

Ditto on the Argentina and Chile.....

deadheadskier said:

Chile and Argentina are somewhat third world countries?

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I've watched too much Locked Up Abroad to have an unbiased opinion.:smile:

:lol:

Las Lenas looks pretty cool. A lot of the hotels offer "ski insurance". Is that for theft or breakage or both? I also like that the terrain is broken up in to 4 catagories; fácil, intermidia, dificil e muy dificil.

New Zealand was fantastic 2 years ago, I would highly recommend especially if you want to do stuff other than ski. Tons of off hill things to do and see there. Just a long plane ride away (if you go, check out Air New Zealand's different options for upgraded coach offerings. Several to choose from and if you can't swing the full business seat cost, definitely makes a 12+ hour flight more enjoyable).

machski said:

New Zealand was fantastic 2 years ago, ...

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Where did you ski and what was it like?

Abubob said:

Where did you ski and what was it like?

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All over, we did Ruapehu on the North Island (both Wakappa and Turoa (co-owned on same lift ticket) and the South Island (Treble Cone, Cardrona, The Remarkables and Mount Hutt). The skiing was pretty good, though they were in the middleof what they were calling the Great White Drought (4 weeks without any snow). That year started great though so they had base snow and we did get some during our time that re-charged the snow pretty well. The Ruapehu areas are less touristy, Turoa skied better and had much better snow than its sister resort. Better lifts as well. Wakappa is mostly T-bars on the upper mountain and the lower tends to be very restricted routes due to terrain and snow pack (as I saw).

Treble Cone is killer. Only 2 lifts of significance (6 pack on Home Basin side and a Fixed Quad on Saddle Basin side) but lots of great terrain. Best terrain is mostly accessed by hiking (either to or hiking out from) but plenty of great lines lift served top to bottom. The Remarkables was great, best snow of our time there (actually had a powder day of sorts). A few killer lines with a short hike inbounds off Shadow Basin Quad. Since we went, it has undergone a huge expansion and revamp with the new Curvey Basin 6 pack and terrain along with a redone base area. Mount Hutt looks killer but you need time there. We only had a day and we fogged out of skiing much other than the lower quad area. Has some killer terrain though. It has a reputation as Mount Shut, mostly due to high winds, though Fog and Icing also get them. Cardrona was ok, more of an intermediates paradise with a few decent lines for more. Had some powder here as well. Cardrona and Treble Cone are together so a multi-day pass is good at both (Wanaka is a fun little ski town). Remarkables and Hutt are also co-owned though spread far apart with Remarkables in Queenstown and Hutt up near Christchurch. Also owned is Coronet Peak, lower elevation but in Queenstown too. We went, but it was icy hard and opted to bail and go back to Remarkables that day (where we found powder!) Queenstown is a blast, plenty of stuff to do here and in the nearby valley (Otago is well known for wine and vineyard tours). If you go to the North Island for skiing, stay in Oakahune, a little town below Turoa.

Overall, the snow when we were there was very much like New England snow, firm but edgeable and did soften as the day wore on most days. Had a bit of powder too, but not much. That can be hit or miss. They had plenty of base mostly, though lower runouts needed (and they do have great) snowmaking to make it work. We still had a blast even with a bit of a miss in terms of the best snow that year. It is totally wide open, it is nothing like you have ever skied. Not a tree to be found on the slopes, just rock outcrops and chutes between rock walls.

This has always been a dream of mine although I have never been. I have a friend who has been going for a week every summer for about 20 years and he swears by Portillo.

Hi all, a member referred me here, and I can help with questions on Chile. I am a Canadian that has lived and skied in Chile for decades, and have been posting a lengthy thread with info and updates on skiing here. So not to repeat myself, just follow this link and I hope you enjoy it! http://bit.ly/skichile2015

Portillo limits the number of tickets they sell to folks not staying at the hotel. Portillo is kind of like a cruise ship with mountains and snow. People go there to ski and experience the food and activities. The inbounds can vary depending on conditions and how far up the surface lifts are running that day. If it brings you up high enough you can traverse over to some cool stuff. Backcountry and heli terrain are no joke. The hardest run inbound was Gargantua. Nasty culoir with small mandatory air at the top (at least when I was there in late August) and runs right next to the lift.

I preferred La Parva overall. Terrain was more challenging and some decent hiking to stuff.

Didn't get the chance to go to Las Lenas since it was our honeymoon and the wife wanted to experience the coast which was just as beautiful.

If anyone is planning on going down, we made some good friends that will be happy to give recommendations and help out.

So Portillo sounds like the Aspen/Stowe/Loon of the mix. How would the others stack up?

Here are some useful stats and links for the main Chilean ski areas.

Abubob said:

So Portillo sounds like the Aspen/Stowe/Loon of the mix. How would the others stack up?

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I almost forgot....Arpa's terrain is unreal if you don't mind paying for cat skiing. I would recommend doing it once. Valle Nevado is probably more like Stowe and La Parva is more Smugglers Notch. They are very close to each other but VN caters to a differ crowd. Portillo is a destination resort where people stay for a week and really never leave (probably because there is nothing close by). It's gorgeous and they really cater to families looking for an all inclusive trip.

Number of "real" lifts?

Abubob said:

Number of "real" lifts?

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Lifts you might actually ski. That excludes bunny runs, magic carpets, anything under 100m vertical that distort the stats.

MadMadWorld said:

Portillo is a destination resort where people stay for a week and really never leave (probably because there is nothing close by).

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You mean like Sugarloaf?