SCOUTING CHILE
By Leo Alsved
Posted on 21st August 2015
I remember writing earlier this year: “If you can’t wait until March, join us in Chamonix in January”. Well, ironically, we couldn’t even wait until January, so we escaped the European summer and took to winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
Skiing in August may not be your first holiday option and I must admit, packing thermals in my TYW bag along with my swimming shorts and slops did feel a bit odd. But here we are in the Andes mountains with brilliant snow conditions and majestic peaks of 5400 meters in the background.
We are her to explore and scout locations for a new event we can add to The Ski Week destination list. Our main focus is La Parva and Valle Nevado due to their proximity to Santiago making them easily accessible. They also happen to be the biggest ski areas in South America, perfect fit for The Ski Week we thought.
To be completely honest I didn't know what to expect in terms of skiing and terrain. We headed out to La Parva the first day and all I can say is WOW! What an incredible place. Much of the fresh snow that came with a storm 4 days prior to our arrival was still hidden in shade and untracked. Powdered to perfection.
The terrain is big and open like a blank canvas; the perfect playground. With insane pistes and wild backcountry lines. Oblivious to the altitude we finished off the day hiking up a 4000 meter peak. Coming from sea level the altitude definitely got the best of us but we found a super fun couloir on the way down:
After a mind blowing few days at La Parva, we packed up our skis and headed to Valle Nevado. The setting of this little ski area is just amazing. Located 3000 meters on the narrow ridge of a mountain: you don't get a better view to wake up to. Valle Nevado is perfectly planned with skiing in mind. There’s slopes running in and out to every hotel and the pistes are just perfect. This short video says it all, who wouldn’t want to ski from here?