Valle Nevado

Valle Nevado was designed with French Alpine expertise in the 1980s and remains the most resort-like of the Santiago-area ski areas, a compact cluster of hotels and lifts set high on an Andean shoulder well above the trees. Its great asset is altitude: this is among the loftiest lift-served terrain in the Andes, which keeps its snow cold and dry and opens up huge sweeps of high, treeless off-piste. Wide groomed pistes suit intermediates, while the surrounding bowls and ridgelines draw powder hunters, backed by one of South America's best-known heli-skiing operations. It is the hub of the Tres Valles, lift-linked to El Colorado and La Parva. The setting is stark and spectacular, all rock, snow and sky above the distant lights of Santiago.

Come for high-altitude snow quality, a genuine ski-in, ski-out base and easy access to serious off-piste and heli-terrain, all within a couple of hours of an international airport. It is the pick for skiers who want the most reliable snow and the biggest freeride potential of the Santiago resorts, and for those who prefer to stay slopeside rather than commute up from the city each day. The Tres Valles link adds a large intermediate playground on top.

Across the June-to-October season Valle Nevado's height gives it the coldest, driest snow of the local resorts when storms arrive off the Pacific, followed by long spells of brilliant Andean sun. The best powder days come after the deep mid-season fronts, and the high bowls can hold cold snow in sheltered aspects well after a storm, even as sunlit slopes firm up.