A Guide to Chile's Northern Ski Resorts
by Tony Crocker

Santiago, Chile - North American skiers and snowboarders looking for a summertime fix cast their gaze toward the Southern Hemisphere. While skiing is available in Australia, New Zealand and even South Africa and Lesotho, the biggest resorts and most dependable snow cover lie in South America.

Santiago, Chile's capital city in the country's central valley and one of Latin America's most modern metropolitan centers, is the most convenient gateway to Southern Hemisphere skiing. Skiing from Santiago doesn't require a connecting flight when flying from North America, as New Zealand and Argentina ski resorts do. Chile also offers more flexibility and choice among ski areas than Argentina.

In September 2007 I divided my time between Los Andes, an hour from Santiago and a little over an hour down the hill from Portillo, and the interconnected ski resorts of Valle Nevado, El Colorado and La Parva, located an hour and a half from Santiago. From Los Andes I also sampled two days with Valle El Arpa snowcat skiing.

by Tony Crocker

Las Leñas, Argentina - Las Leñas is the largest but perhaps most controversial ski area in the Southern Hemisphere. Advocates compare its scale to Vail and Snowbird combined, though the long and steep off-piste terrain is perhaps more analogous to low density European areas like Alagna or La Grave. Detractors point out that 80% of this terrain is dependent upon the Marte double chair, which is closed at least half the time due to weather, avalanche control, wind or less diligent management than we expect in North America. When open, Marte’s skiing can also be limited by substantial lift lines and by the other slow lifts needed to return to it.

The polarized opinion above, plus my favorable impression of Extremely Canadian’s clinic at Whistler, convinced me to sign up for one of their World Tour weeks. Extremely Canadian has been coming to Las Leñas since 2002, and lead guide Joe Lammers has over 200 days of lifetime skiing at Las Leñas.

Some skiers put a premium on skiing anything in the Southern Hemisphere, just to break up the typical six to eight months between northern ski seasons, so it’s worthwhile to analyze Las Leñas relative to Southern Hemisphere alternatives, as well as on an absolute scale vs. European and North American skiing.