Ski South America

With skiing in the northern hemisphere winding down, it's time to look deep into the southern hemisphere to feed your passion! In the case, I'm talking South America and the countries of Chile and Argentina.

Here, the ski season runs from mid June to late September and Within the Andes Mountains are some of the best ski resorts in the world. The easiest ones to get to are located just two hours outside of Santiago, Chile. Santiago-Benitez International Airport is the main air hub for the region and has good transfer services via shuttle bus to nearby resorts.

Chile
In Chile, the more modern ski resorts are located in the Central Region, easily accessed from Santiago. Valle Nevado, Portillo, and Termas de Chillan are internationally known ski destinations. The Valle Nevado complex straddles the imposing peak El Plomo, and includes the 5-star Hotel Valle Nevado, the 4-star Hotel Puerto del Sol, and the 3-star Hotel Tres Puntas. Portillo is the most famous and oldest ski area in South America. It is more of a �boutique� ski resort, with limited hotel capacity, no lift lines and uncrowded slopes. Termas de Chillan, another popular destination 6 to 7 hours south of Santiago, is Chile's most complete Ski and Spa center.

Portillo is unique because there is no town and only one hotel: the grand Hotel Portillo, which has 123 rooms. In this regard, the Portillo skiing and resort experience is unlike that of any other commercial ski resort. Portillo operates as a weeklong, Saturday to Saturday, all-inclusive resort, with packages that include: lodging; lift tickets; four meals a day (breakfast, lunch, high tea and dinner); use of pool and fitness center; and other hotel facilities such as a cinema, game room, and more. Guests are given an eighth day of skiing if they return their room before 10am on check-out day.

Valle Nevado is another resort close to Santiago, Chile. At just over 35 miles from Santiago and an altitude of 9,925 feet, Valle Nevado sits in the midst of the most spectacular landscape of the Andes Mountains. The resort was created with the inspiration of french ski resorts and features modern buildings, hotels and lift equipment, like the Andes Express ski lift, the most advanced of southern hemisphere. It's also part of Chile’s �Three Valleys’ ski region, putting you close to other ski resorts like La Parva and El Colorado.

El Colorado, linked to Valle Nevado by special pass, is ideal for families and youth since unlike many other ski resorts, El Colorado offers a large number of runs devoted to beginners.

La Parva is suspended on the mountainside of the Andes high above the city of Santiago. This small mountain town has modern buildings, over 1,000 houses and condominiums, and can accommodate 7,000 people at any one time during the ski season.

Termas de Chillan, located 310 miles south of Santiago on the slopes of Chillan volcano in the southern Andes Mountains, is the biggest single resort in South America, by skiable terrain. The most convenient means of transportation for getting to and from Termas de Chillan is to fly to Concepcion and take a shuttle bus or hire a car to the resort.

Termas de Chillan has it all: immaculate tree-lined slopes, a huge vertical, South America’s longest run, a snowboard park, plenty of quality off-piste terrain and famous hot springs. Termas de Chillan ski resort has a good choice of accommodation at the base, with six slope-side condos as well as a three-star and five-star hotel. Termas de Chillan spa offers beautiful mineral pools where you can relax.

Argentina
In Argentina, there are outstanding ski resorts specially designed for winter sports lovers with international quality ski runs and state�of�the�art lifts and infrastructure. They are located along the unique Andes mountain range at the western and southern regions of the country. Las Lenas and Cerro Catedral are the country’s most popular ski destinations. Las Lenas, located in the heart of the Andes and a short distance from the airport of Malaguean, is one of the finest ski resorts in South America. It is the vastest and highest ski area in Argentina, offering some of the most spectacular mountains in the world. Cerro Catedral is internationally recognized for its quality establishments and services.

Las Lenas is located in the middle of the Andes mountain range, in the province of Mendoza, and 2,240 meters above sea level. It is surrounded by the mounts Torrecillas, El Collar, Ponce, Las Lenas, Entre Rios, Martin and Los Fosiles. Las Lenas is the most modern winter sport resort in Argentina and offers 228 hectares of beautiful natural environment. The immense mountains covered with the region’s best snow provide the perfect background for its famous ski runs suitable for beginners, intermediate, and advanced skiers. Access to the Valley is direct, which ensures faster transfers and great enjoyment. It can be reached by plane, flights to San Rafael with transfer included and charter flights to Malargue; by car, it is only 1,212 Km away from Buenos Aires; and by sleeping car from the city of Buenos Aires and other major cities of the country. Las Lenas has several accommodation facilities such as an exclusive five-star hotel offering total comfort and amazing views of the Andes mountain range, hotels, apart-hotels, apartments and dormy-houses, restaurants, an international casino, and a disco, all of which make Valle de Las Lenas a remarkable resort.

Cerro Catedral is located in the Nahuel Huapi National Park, surrounded by a unique landscape of lakes and mountains, and only a 19 Km paved route away from San Carlos de Bariloche (Rio Negro), a city with lodging and food infrastructure at the most demanding international tourism level. Bariloche sleeps about 18,000 people. Lodging arrangements range from the more economic levels to a dozen four and five star hotels; some of these services can be found at the mountain base. Cerro Catedral receives thousands of visitors throughout the year who come to the mountain slope to take in the breathtaking landscapes and go hiking and mountan biking in the summer. In the winter months, Cerro Catedral becomes South America’s most highly developed winter sports center, given its 70km of ski slopes, 200 skiiable hectares and ski lifts, among which the six-seat chairlift with a polycarbonate super bubble is worth mentioning.

Other international resorts include Chapelco and Cerro Castor.

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