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Southern Hemisphere Daydreaming

E

E H

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skiNEwhere said:
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.
Click to expand...


---------

Much of you post isn't true... I travel to Argentina and Chile 3-6 times per year and just got back from Chile two weeks ago.

1) Chile does not currently have any entry fee of any sort for Americans.

2) Argentina has a 10 year visa required by all Americans that is $200. You pay once right when you arrive... there is a "special" customs line for Americans. You do not need to do anything ahead of time. There is no a paperwork... the agent does it all. The visa is pasted into your passport and is good for ten years. They started this about five years ago after the U.S. starting charging Argentines to enter the U.S. The visa has a bar code that is scanned if/when you return within 10 years.

3) If you want to really ski in South America you have to ski Arpa. This is a catski area, but unless you want the retarded tourists in Portillo, suck it up and go to Arpa. If you're lucky and hit a storm week you will never ski anywhere else... well maybe Japan... but no where else compares.


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Puck it

Puck it

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Over 200 inches of snow is forecasted for the upper mountain at Valle Nevado, Chile over the next 4 days! The forecast is according to snow-forecast.com, the go to forecast website for South American ski resorts.

Though this storm is going to hammer northern Chile, the mountains to the south will also recive ample snowfall from this latest snow system with over 10-feet of snow predicted in central Chile.
[h=3]CHILE SNOW FORECAST OVER THE NEXT 4 DAYS:[/h]El Colorado: 14.2 Feet (170″)
Portillo: 13.5 Feet (162″)
La Parva: 13.2 Feet (160″)
Ski Arpa: 9.2 Feet (110″)
Las Lenas, Argentina is forecast to get 75″ of snow in the next 4 days.
 
MadMadWorld

MadMadWorld

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E H said:
---------

Much of you post isn't true... I travel to Argentina and Chile 3-6 times per year and just got back from Chile two weeks ago.

1) Chile does not currently have any entry fee of any sort for Americans.

2) Argentina has a 10 year visa required by all Americans that is $200. You pay once right when you arrive... there is a "special" customs line for Americans. You do not need to do anything ahead of time. There is no a paperwork... the agent does it all. The visa is pasted into your passport and is good for ten years. They started this about five years ago after the U.S. starting charging Argentines to enter the U.S. The visa has a bar code that is scanned if/when you return within 10 years.

3) If you want to really ski in South America you have to ski Arpa. This is a catski area, but unless you want the retarded tourists in Portillo, suck it up and go to Arpa. If you're lucky and hit a storm week you will never ski anywhere else... well maybe Japan... but no where else compares.


Sent from my iPad using AlpineZone
Click to expand...

I second Arpa. The skiing is worth the added cost. No inbound terrain in Chile can compare either.
 
Abubob

Abubob

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Puck it said:
Over 200 inches of snow is forecasted for the upper mountain at Valle Nevado, Chile over the next 4 days! The forecast is according to snow-forecast.com, the go to forecast website for South American ski resorts.

Though this storm is going to hammer northern Chile, the mountains to the south will also recive ample snowfall from this latest snow system with over 10-feet of snow predicted in central Chile.
CHILE SNOW FORECAST OVER THE NEXT 4 DAYS:

El Colorado: 14.2 Feet (170″)
Portillo: 13.5 Feet (162″)
La Parva: 13.2 Feet (160″)
Ski Arpa: 9.2 Feet (110″)
Las Lenas, Argentina is forecast to get 75″ of snow in the next 4 days.
Click to expand...
August is to southern hemisphere as February is to the north. Best time to go?
 
MadMadWorld

MadMadWorld

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July is like our February. But in the Andes they can go a month without any precipation and then feets of snow within a very short period of time
 
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