South America where and how much?

hello all

im currently in whistler for the season and loving it!(living in pemberton)
im going to south america when the snow melts away!
i wanna know where i should go?
id like to go to a place thats ski in/out or as close to that as posable.
ive been told valle nevado but everyone says that.

also how much is the cost of living compared to living at whistler?
i accept that it will be a rip off as all resorts are but will it be a rip off by south american standards or much worse.

thanks
benjamin levi

Hey Benjamin,

That’s great to hear you’re enjoying yourself over there. How’s Pemby life been?

Your best bets in South America are Argentina and Chile. Both have a lot of good mountains to visit. I haven’t been myself but I have heard a lot of good things, especially about Chile. Santiago is meant to be an incredible city with a few mountains close by to choose from. Nearby you have Portillo, La Parve, El Colorado and Valle Nevado. Either way you will probably have to fly into Santiago, so you might as well visit.

In Argentina check out Las Lenas and Cerro Catedral. 

On average I believe you will pay about $35/day for lift passes, and accomodation, food ect is cheaper than North America.

Let me know how you go.

Well, I went there five years ago, so the information I have is certainly not up-to-date, but here’s a general flavor.

I personally found Santiago to be on the dull side, but I just scratched the surface and am not a Spanish speaker. You are still about 50 km-ish from the slopes, and it’s slow going. The roads are paved, but you are looking at the curviest roads on Earth, and a very significant elevation gain. The resorts are all in the vicinity of each other, so with a vehicle, it’s fairly straightforward to get from one to another. I did not have a car, and opted to use the shuttle services that do the round trip each day from Santiago. From my experience, this is convenient if you’re staying in the middle of town, but despite an early pickup, you’re stuck at the rental place associated with each shuttle company for more than an hour. You’re on the hill by say 10 AM, and off by 4 PM. Life ticket rates were slightly cheaper than Europe, so I recall around $40-50 USD / day.

Portillo is a bit further, along the main highway crossing the Andes between Chile and Argentina and at the border, and as I understand it, the majority of the bookings are for the week. It’s on my list of places to visit.

I flew across the Andes to Mendoza, and took the 6-hour bus ride to Las Lenas. Early start, 6 AM or so, and I arrived in the area around 11:30 AM, with a change of buses. Best to keep your wits about you if you choose to go in this manner, the change of buses takes place in San Rafael, and it’s on the confusing side of things. That’s where my bags disappeared on the way back from Las Leans a week later.

The hotels in Las Lenas are expensive, so I did the budget traveler’s thing and stayed 20 km out at this very random cluster of buildings called Los Molles. The bus dropped me off at a rather abandoned-looking hotel, I knocked around and nobody was home. I finally got my bearings straight and ended up at the hostel I had booked, a 1 km walk along a dirt road, uphill, with my stuff. Woohoo. Let’s just say it was rustic, but was $15 / night, including dinner and breakfast, and cheap Argentinian wine. Basic, but there was a reasonable crowd of people from Buenos Aires that kept it lively, and I still stay in touch with them today.

I hitched daily to Las Lenas, so this ether meant pleading with the people from Bs. As. to let me sit in their car, or sticking the thumbs out and getting a ride in the pack of a station wagon.

Enjoy your adventure!