Andes Mountains, Valle Nevado Ski Resort, Chile - eNidhi India Travel Blog

Andes Mountains, Valle Nevado Ski Resort, Chile


-2020 update: Had to remove photos due to technical issue (site where I had uploaded them went down)- will try to restore -

Andes Mountain is one of the most popular mountain ranges within a short drive from Chile’s capital city, Santiago. Touristik was offering a 4 hour trip to Andes Mountains and I made a short visit to this mountain using their guided service. The mountain was fairly dry when I was there in April, by now (June) it would all be covered in snow. In fact Andes Mountain ranges world’s longest, separating Chile from Argentine. What we visited was a small part of it.

The 4 hour tour started from Mercado Central, Santiago and after 2 pickups- one from a passenger’s hotel and another near a mall, we were on our way to Andes Mountains. We were about 11 tourists, including nationals from Brazil, Germany and USA.

Total distance to top of the mountain is said to be about 40 kms from Santiago city. Road was 2 lane and in decent condition, except occasional bad patches. On the way to Andes Mountains was a popular hospital. A poor quality image of that hospital complex taken from moving bus can be seen below (right) I forgot for what it was popular for. We were also shown lot of cactus trees, some of them are infected with parasites (red in colour)


On the way at one point we were above clouds. The scene was nice.

A bit of ice could be seen on top of nearby mountains and a glacier was also visible at a distance.

The valley had a river, which was almost dry.

The roads were fairly scenic,with occasional bad patches

We reached the mountain top, which houses a big hotel (Valley Nevado Resort and Puerta Del Sol Hotel) and few other buildings. Since it was not the season for skiing, the venue was almost deserted. Heavy machines used to clear snow were lying idle. Some construction was also in progress. There was a restaurant where we could refresh and have some food/coffee and few viewpoints.
 
In June tourists flock in large numbers (about 10000 per day is the number given by our guide) do enjoy mountain sports (skiing). All the dry mountains you see in below images would be covered with snow and one can ski over them…How I wish I was there 2 months later…
 
Other adventures are also available, at a price. Below display details various activities a tourist can indulge in.

Sking, horse ride and jolly ride in the chairs, as shown below seem to be the main activities.

The left image above indicates the top most point, from where skiing begins: you can initiate a long slide down the valley from here…All skiing equipments are available on rent

Return journey was uneventful. We were back in town by about 6.


Toy train service in Santiago * Ceremony at the Palace * Santiago city views * Valparaiso city views * Cats in Valparaiso * Mercado Centre * Srilankan Posts * Chile Lifestyle Notes * Chile Posts Digest

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