Ski Resorts

The ski areas in South America are located exclusively in the Andes in either mid to Southern Chile and to a lesser extent, Argentina. Santiago Chile is the gateway to Chile's most famous destination resorts Portillo, Valle Nevado, La Parva and El Colorado. The resorts are all above the tree line and typically peak at over 10,000 ft. The primary international destination Argentinian resort, Valle de Las Lenas, is near Mendoza and peaks at 11,253 ft while the rest tend to be much lower in elevation.

As will all resorts south of the equator, the seasons are the opposite of the Northern hemisphere. Ski season is typically June to as late as October with the peak ski season in July.

Europe is considered the birthplace of skiing and developed the sport to the vacation and sports industry it has become. The Alps, home to Italy, France, Austria and Switzerland, provide the majority of Europe's destination ski resorts. The ski villages of the Alps have set the definitive architectural styling and ambiance of the traditional ski town. Modern day skiing was invented here.

The ski areas and resorts of Austria are typically above the tree line and just offer you a mountain without trail signs or markers. In fact the notion of a resort gets a little stretched as one can ski the back side or traverse to a neighboring town and ski area. Many times the town gives the ski area its' name and the lodging and lifts are independently operated without the notion of a contiguous or bounded resort. One may find it frustrating in that they will not be able to locate an official website for an area, just web sites for the town, hotels and independent services as there is no umbrella resort entity. This is especially true in Italy. By the way, the apple strudel in Austria is to die for!

The resorts of France and Switzerland offer the most challenging black runs and steep couloirs while Austria has an abundance of terrain for the GS style skier.