La Parva Ski Resort Chile
Skiing at La Parva Chile in the Andes is inimitable and worthy of bragging rights. The resort of La Parva is one of the Tres Valles (Three Valleys) ski areas, along with El Colorado and Valle Nevado. Relative to these resorts, La Parva ski resort gets few international visitors and it’s more like an exclusive private ski club for Santiago’s wealthy families. The local elite enjoy the skiing and boarding, but their preferred past-time is to sit on the deck of their condo and lap up the fantastic views of the Andes whilst basking in the sunshine.
Pros and Cons of La Parva Chile
La Parva shares the
Tres Valles pros and cons and also has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Pros
- La Parva ski resort is reasonably sized and has better advanced in-bounds terrain than El Colorado and Valle Nevado.
- The amenities are good and the ski resort has some nice restaurants that are perfect for perching in the sun to soak in the views.
- If coming from Santiago, the travel time to La Parva is a little less compared with Valle Nevado.
Cons
- There are no La Parva hotels and only apartment (condo) accommodations, so it’s not an ideal spot to stay if you’re heading to Tres Valles solo or in a pair/couple.
- La Parva apartments are generally either outrageously expensive, of sub-standard quality, and/or they require you to supply your own linen. During the peak season there is very limited flexibility regarding the start day and duration of your stay.
- There are lots of surface lifts, which is somewhat common with South American ski resorts.
- The resort is very family friendly but it doesn’t cater well for English speaking children.
Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective
- Whilst it can get busy on weekends, the place is almost deserted on weekdays and weekday lift passes (outside of the busy July school holidays) are heavily discounted.
- La Parva provides access to some great backcountry for those willing to work for their turns, but it can be hard to line up your assault with good snow conditions.
- The resort is somewhat exclusive, and staying at La Parva Chile is well suited to those with a generous budget. Many of the condos are either ski-in ski-out or very close to it.
La Parva Ski and Snowboard Terrain
La Parva Chile is a moderate sized ski area with treeless terrain and plenty of vertical (960 metres: 2,670 to 3,630m). It has a dedicated area for beginners and like the adjoining ski resorts, La Parva is mostly suited to intermediate riders. The groomers are a lot of fun and 75% of the trails are rated as either blue (easy intermediate) or red (more difficult intermediate). La Parva Ski Resort also has a terrain park and a handful of on-piste slopes for advanced skiers.
For advanced skiers and snowboarders the main joy can be found in the extensive off-piste areas. The Valle de Fabres (Zona de Freeskiing) in particular has some really interesting terrain features. For experts there is some fabulous hike-to-terrain above the ski resort and you can test your nerve on the famous La Chimenea, a tight colouir with a super steep entrance. The line is visible from the village, so it’s a great show pony run.
For such a posh ski resort, the lift infrastructure is rather no-frills. Of the 15 lifts, only 5 are chair lifts and these are generally thumb twiddlingly slow. The rest of the lifts are quad-burning surface lifts which are at least good for when the wind is howling.
See the
ski La Parva page for more information on the skiing and snowboarding terrain.
La Parva Snow
As with all South American ski resorts, the snow conditions are very variable and the off-piste areas are either powder filled bowls or a powder hound’s nightmare. The wind scours some of the slopes at La Parva, particularly the backcountry areas, and with lots of sunny days and no trees, there’s plenty of opportunity for the slopes to get baked. However on a powder day the place absolutely rocks, and with an average of 7 metres (276”) of snowfall per season, powder days are reasonably common.
Where is La Parva Ski Resort?
La Parva is incredibly accessible, only 56km/35 miles from Santiago, the capital of Chile. From Santiago you can self-drive, or alternatively there are various ground transportation options from the city or the airport. See the
getting to La Parva page for more information.
Interconnected with Other Tres Valles Ski Resorts
From La Parva Ski Resort it’s possible for accomplished riders to ski to
Valle Nevado and
El Colorado. The combined
Tres Valles ski area is large, with almost 2,500 hectares/6,200 acres of in-bounds skiing, but one limitation in accessing all this terrain is the exorbitant prices for an inter-resort lift ticket.
La Parva Accommodation and Facilities
The delightful village is largely ski-in ski-out and likened to a ski village in Europe. There are no La Parva hotels and lodging options are limited to apartments. These condos are not suited to the budget oriented, and the requisite duration of the stay is a week (Friday to Friday or Sunday to Sunday) or sometimes mini weeks are offered (check in on Friday or Sunday).
Alternative lodging can be found in
El Colorado and Farellones where there is more flexibility regarding the length of stay and a range of accommodation for different budgets.
Farellones in particular is a great place to stay to access La Parva for day trips. Some
Farellones lodging providers offer complimentary transport to La Parva in the morning and you can ski back to the village of Farellones at the end of the day.
Tres Valles Lodging Listings
Tres Valles Ski Packages
There are a few restaurants at La Parva that reflect the European influence of the resort, but many families have dinner at home and don’t venture out in the evenings. There are a couple of drinking holes, but if you want a little nightlife stay in Farellones.