South America 2026

[tseeb]

Report from Valle Nevado from alexzn who I know @Tony Crocker skied with at Palisades Tahoe gathering. He does not include dates he skied but I think it was in the first half of August. His advice includes "The drive to Valle Nevado was uneventful, but we were glad that we took the transfer, as the road to the resort is very unpleasant. The Andes are really, really steep and you are crawling up switchback after switchback. Note to yourself: don't drive in the Andes unless absolutely necessary..."

 

[Tony Crocker]

by 12noon on a decent day from February to the closing date, 90% of the terrain will be a variable surface: crud/corn/mashed potatoes.

Not true at Mammoth. Mammoth is probably better than LCC at preserving winter snow and equal to most of Colorado aside from the 11,000+ foot places like A-Basin. I've skied chalky windbuff at the early February Mammoth industry demo after multiple weeks of no new snow. And the upper steeps usually retain winter snow into early April, absent an event like this year's March heatwave.

I have reached the point where I avoid giving gear advice; my own preferences have become so specific that my perspective is rarely useful to others.

Yes, I'm reticent in that regard too. But unlike most people here sbooker has no home turf to experiment with equipment.

Andes mimic Sierra-like snow. It's heavier than Rocky Mountain snow, and can be compacted by winds.

Altitude and wind make Mammoth the closest analogy to the Santiago areas in terms of both wind and altitude range. Why is Mammoth better?
1) More snowfall
2) Higher latitude for preservation, also the main explanation for the snowfall difference.
3) Mammoth terrain, expert terrain in particular, is oriented to catch wind deposition. La Parva's orientation is negative in that regard, and I don't see any obvious large deposition sectors among these ski areas like Mammoth has. There might be few pockets in Portillo that are not obvious.

My view that these places with a big snowpack in September are an analogy to Mammoth in April greatly informed my decision for the upcoming trip.

 

[ChrisC]

His advice includes "The drive to Valle Nevado was uneventful, but we were glad that we took the transfer, as the road to the resort is very unpleasant. The Andes are really, really steep and you are crawling up switchback after switchback. Note to yourself: don't drive in the Andes unless absolutely necessary..."

I don't think the Andes are particularly bad for mountain roads. It's just unusual how much vertical they climb for North American skiers, especially when interstates serve our major resorts. We do have some high-pass or big-access-road resorts: Cottonwood Canyons, Mount Baldy, Bogus Basin, Whitefish, Schweitzer, Taos, etc., but they usually have shoulders.

Honestly, I am more impressed by how poor the roads are in Europe, especially to mega-resorts like Val Thorens, Monterosa, Alpe d'Huez, Saas Fee, Cervinia, etc. And I have only experienced Coronet Peak in New Zealand.

Anyway, I thought the access road to the Santiago resorts was scenic and relatively crowd-free in a previous August, so I could take a quick photo while driving or from the roadside. Weekdays had light traffic, but you still had to pass some drivers. Weekends were more crowded, but with 2 lanes in each direction, passing was straightforward. There was snowfall (4-6 inches), but the snowline/accumulation was almost at resort level.

However, by Day 4, I was done with driving/daily commuting, no matter how beautiful the views were.


Photos to set personal expectations/comfort level - all over 4 days in August 2016, commuting from Las Condes/Santiago, one minor snowstorm overnight on day 3.