Posts Tagged ‘snowboard’

La Parva is located next to and just north of Valle Nevado and is a host to a plethora of refuges and rentable apartments for the winter season. Once you have purchased your lift ticket you are able to take the shuttle to and from lifts and lodges.  La Parva with 9,673 meters offers 13 chairlifts. It was easy to reach all parts of the mountain. La Parva seemed to be the most popular resort of the three and with good reason. It was well groomed, offered high altitudes with accessible lifts. They also offered Heli-skiing with their take off point from the top of a lift which was neat to see for people who dream of trying.

La Parva being bigger than Termas de Chillan offered a greater variety of runs, it was almost impossible to have the same run twice.

Termas de Chillan, located three hours south of Santiago is a resort, spa and casino! With many hostel options prior to the resort itself, you can save some money for boarding, food and the casino. With over twenty eight groomed trails and five lifts, Termas de Chillan actually offers the longest run in South America (13 kilometers). The lower height allowed for more trees and great scenery but unfortunately the resort lacked on the grooming and some of their black diamonds / tallest runs were pure ice and all bumps.  What were great were the long trails that went through paths of trees and also offered great side walls. For this reason I preferred Termas de Chillan over Valle Nevado.

Valle Nevado is located just east of Santiago in central Chile. With 3,000 meters in height and over twenty three thousand acres of accessible terrain it is said to be one of the most popular resorts in Chile.  As the host for the World Cup of Snowboarding the resort is ready for snowboarders with South America’s ONLY Super Half-Pipe. Valle Nevado also offers Heli-sking options. At such heights, Valle Nevado has little to no trees and high winds toward the top of the mountains. The view from that height is beautiful of mountains and more mountains. There are also little to no lift lines which helps cut back the time it takes to get all the way up the mountain. The style of the runs left little side wall available to play with. Access to three touching mountains, Valle Nevado, El Colorado and La Parva, allows for over thirty-five groomed trails.

The Chilean currency is used but for the most part prices are still comparable to major snowboard resorts. There are three hotels located within the  Valle Nevado snowboard resort, but because Santiago is less then an hours drive, it is cost saving to look into hostels below the mountain that also offer group discounts or rides to resorts. Unless you are going with a group, tour or guide be ready for the ride up to Valle Nevado. At 3,000 meters high car tires are required to have chains put on the wheels. Your car will most likely be a rental car, and unless you splurged for the four wheel drive, count on pulling over and dealing with these chains.  Because of the multiple resorts with one access road start driving early or mid morning to avoid the up mountain traffic.

Fix your summer snowboard craving and head south of the equator where the hemisphere allows you to feast on powder at high altitudes. The Andes are on the west coast of South America and are the longest continental mountain range. Resorts open for the season starting in June and go into October. Chile offers many options for high altitude boarding.

Below is a list of three snowboard resort reviews in Chile…

• Valle Nevado Snowboard Resort Review
• Termas de Chillan Snowboard Resort Review
• La Parva Snowboard Resort Review

The Andes in Chile offer powder at high altitudes, Heli-sking and amazing sunsets. If you have the motivation for a snowboarding adventure head south.

If you have been to any other snowboard resorts in Chile or in any other part of the world and would like to write a review of provide our readers with some feedback about a particular snowboard resort, then please send an email to info@snowboardrespect.com