Ponder the possibilities. Ponder the possibility that every vista includes the snow caped mountaintops of the fabled Andes. Ponder the possibility of learning to Salsa, sipping your first Pisco sour, awakening in a hundred year old hacienda, pausing to absorb the uniform stripes of vineyards stretching endlessly across a vast fertile valley floor, dusty poncho clad gauchos on horse back, an August snow fall of fluffy white powder, the startling brilliance of an Andes sunset, a hotel that straddles a high mountain ridge with roller coaster views of vast canyons and towering peaks, shopping for your first Lapis Lazuly, sampling vintage wines, private reserves and promising young reds in the expansive caves of the Central valley, exploring the dirt floored alleys of artisan markets in old Santiago, savoring fresh fish from the local waters of the south Pacific, a perfectly grilled Argentinean steak, morning coffee on the sun drenched deck of a slope-side restaurant amidst a vast ocean of cresting mountain peaks, skiing three unique areas of unparalleled beauty in a single day, and possibly wondering, with a slight touch of angst, why that nice man named Hector at the hacienda kept sneaking into you room to feed the salamander just before bedtime; thankfully, you recall, the salamander turned out to be a cute little pot bellied stove.
Valle Nevado, our base for both our Chilean Pure Ski and Ski and Hike Journeys, is just two hours north of Santiago (50 klm) up a twisting switchback with magnificent vistas of lush valleys, towering waterfalls, swift hillside streams, cactus covered desert slopes and snow peaked mountains. Perched on Peak El Plomo, a knife-edge of cresting cliff, Valle Nevado is a self-contained ski community with 3 hotels, 7 restaurants, several bars, a dozen or so shops and a full service a spa. Covering over 22,000 acres it offers 27 exceptional runs of varying degrees of difficulty and has the only high speed detachable chairlifts in Chile.
Vale Nevado’s neighboring and interconnected ski resorts are El Colorado rising to 11,000 feet and offering 19 lifts and La Parva at a slightly lower peak altitude with 14 lifts and 20 runs, both offering a broad range of ski terrain. Both resorts have a range of base and slope-side restaurants. All three resorts experience a high number of sunny ski days with good late winter or spring like snow conditions and very few icy spots. They also host a wide variety of summer training camps for many National, World Cup and Olympic ski teams.
What really makes Chile special are the people with their friendly outgoing and welcoming attitude, the excellent snow conditions and skiing terrain, its spectacularly rugged beauty, vast mountain vistas, abundance of beautiful sunny ski days and its fascinating history and local cultural diversity.
Summer / Fall 2007
August 20 to 29
September 03 to 12
Valle Nevado
Mountain Escape Journeys
10 days/9 nights from $5995.00US / $US single supplement
Go Back
|
|
|
