Pucón, Chile – Ski resorts across South America are gearing up for the season ahead by investing heavily in new infrastructure, including Chile’s first gondola lift.
Valle Nevado resort, already boasting the largest skiable terrain in South America, will be opening Chile’s first gondola. Seventy cabins with a capacity of six passengers each will add to the already modern infrastructure which includes the Andes Express quad chair, the fastest lift in the region. The new lift will rise from a new day visitor parking lot and service center to the Bajo Zero restaurant at mid-mountain, at the base of the Andes Express.
The new day visitor lot at “Curva 17” just below the resort’s main entry point can support 500 cars and the completely new service center will provide ticket sales, equipment rentals and a restaurant. And in line with the resort’s 10-year, $150 million master plan, Valle Nevado has a new sports and entertainment center which includes a climbing wall and skate ramp.
Just over the hill from Valle Nevado, El Colorado resort is also developing its accommodation offerings with the first wastewater treatment plant in the range, paving the way for four new apartment buildings that will be online this year. A new drag lift, with a capacity of 1,400 people an hour, will open up the Valle Olimpico with 12 new runs and extensive off-piste.
El Colorado is also ramping up its services, with 1,500 new parking spaces at the entrance to the village, new ticket sales offices and software, and an investment of $200,000 in five kilometers of safety fencing. Its partner Farellones has boosted its non-skier offering, doubling the capacity of snow tubing available and adding a third access lift.
La Parva, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has announced a project to develop the first Olympic halfpipe training center in South America. This will be accessible by its new triple chairlift which has opened up five new runs.
David Owen of tour operator PowderQuest keeps a close eye on developments and is particularly interested in the smaller Chilean ski resorts. “These ski areas are much less known and a completely different experience, given that they are sitting on the sides of volcanoes, many of them active,” he says.
On the flanks of Lonquimay volcano, Corralco has a new $7 million, 66-room hotel and spa. The small resort has improved access by paving four kilometers of access road, following in the footsteps of sister resort Villarrica, on the active Villarrica Volcano overlooking Pucón, which paved part of its road prior to last season.
Just across the border, Las Leñas resort in the Argentinean Andes is building a new Doppelmayr quad chairlift to move 2,100 people an hour, and making a substantial investment in their mountain infrastructure.
“Last week, the Meteorological Office of Chile released its latest forecasts for this winter season,” says Owen. “The good news is the report claimed that La Niña, responsible for lower precipitation levels over the last couple of years, is in its final stages.”
The Met Office report said there has been a slow rise in sea temperatures, suggesting that from May a neutral phase will begin.
“From then on, if these models are correct, we should see completely normal levels of precipitation across the country, which would make for the best season in years,” Owen adds.
Tourism agency SERNATUR is already predicting the greatest influx of foreign visitors on record. 2011 showed an overall increase of 11 percent guests from abroad when compared with the previous year.