It feels rather strange; wearing a big load of winter gear in your backpack in June. Gloves, merino ice breakers, a ski jacket and all. But as Anton Chekhov put it: “People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy”. That might be true, but in our case it for sure was the cold in here that just made us very cheerful while cruising the Chilean part of the Andes near Santiago in summer.
A little background information
The Andes is the earth’s longest mountain range. It stretches some incredible 7000 km / 4,300 miles from Venezuela to Chile and has the second highest tops outside the Himalayas. So indeed it’s… huge.
Although you can of course only experience a small part of the range while skiing or snowboarding it, it’s a great way to get introduced to the massiveness of the Andes.
If you’ve ever dreamt of a summertime ski adventure, I think the area of Los Tres Valles de los Andes – literally ‘The three valleys of the Andes’, which are El Colorado, La Parva and Valle Nevado – in the Andes might just be right for you. If only because the area’s quite a big one – even bigger than famous Portillo – and because it’s in close proximity to Santiago.
I do have to mention however that it’s not the easiest road to get there. Some 60 hairpin bends are spread out along the Camino a Farellones, that connects Santiago to the ski area. But just think of it as such: every bend will bring a new vista and will take you closer to the higher and snowy parts of the Andes.
After a 60-minute drive (pretty cool idea that you’re so close to the capital, right?) you’ll arrive in Farellones, affectionately called ‘Fare’ by the locals. Farellones serves as the main hub for the three valleys. It’s quaint and quiet – as far as I’ve experienced – and offers its visitors some beautiful sunsets.
While sliding down the slopes of the valleys, it’s an insane idea that the highest Andean peak – the majestic Aconcagua with an altitude of 6,961 m / 22,838 ft – is in such close proximity. You can’t see it though, but the top of famous Cerro El Plomo is for show. You can even see its large peak all the way from Santiago on a clear day.
Another remarkable thing is that the three ski areas are located at such high altitudes that all of its slopes are above the tree line. Really little will get in your way while sliding down. So strange if you’re used to skiing in Europe.
The ski season in South America runs from mid June to mid October. We were there at the very start of the season and at the time being the layers of snow on the piste were still rather thin, unfortunately. Especially off piste skiing wasn’t possible really, without breaking a ski. (Guess what happened…)
So do yourself a favour if you’re looking for some decent levels of powpow and visit the area between July to mid September.
And you might have seen it while scrolling down this article, the sunsets in the valley are worth a visit alone!
