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All of the action shots are with the Insta360 X3 and no case. Just the invisible selfie stick. The rest of the shots are with a smartphone.

Thanks! Yes, as long as there's sufficient snow, you can ski or board from Valle Nevado to El Colorado and back. Same with La Parva.

Yes, on this trip, I went alone. I met others there who did the same thing. If you stay in one of the hotels, it may be much easier to meet others. It obviously helps to speak Spanish, but I don't and was still able to manage Santiago, Valle Nevado and La Parva well. The only language struggle I had was in La Parva.

@@Puzzoozoo Yes, and the cost is even more obscenely high this year with the price increases. Japan is tough to beat. Portillo is so unique and in my view, so much more beautiful than Hokkaido (Niseko and Rusutsu at least), that if I were going to go 10 times to Japan, I switch to 9 trips to Japan and once to Portillo. At current prices, I'm not sure I could justify more than once to Portillo since the snow is far less consistent than Japan.

@@Frank020 Good question. I didn't notice a difference in maintenance. Whatever they had seemed to be running, though one day the Tres Puntas button lift at Valle Nevado was not operating on a sunny day for some reason. Outside of that, it was more a question of which resort has more modern lifts. On that front, it's pretty even. When I was at Catedral pre-pandemic, itl had a tram and one high speed chairlift. The rest were older, slower chairlifts, with at least one T-bar at the base. Valle Nevado has a gondola and one high speed quad chairlift. The rest is a mix between T-bars/button lifts and older slower chairlifts. So for comfort, I think Catedral wins because it is primarily chairlifts, while Valle Nevado is at least 30% T-bars/button lifts. All was fully operational when I was at both resorts.

@@SkiBoyNY. Nice Thank you 👍. The most important thing is lots of powder. Lol.❄️ Does Chile deliver ?

Thanks so much!

Thanks! I'd recommend Corvara because it's a decent size, right on the Sellaronda and also provides access to beginner slopes if you have beginners with you. I think Colfosco and Selva Wolkenstein as well. There's also Arabba, though I didn't explore it.

Thanks so much! The closest resorts to Portillo that I'm aware of are Valle Nevado, La Parva and El Colorado, which are about a 3-4 hour drive from Portillo. You have to head back to Santiago from Portillo and into a different canyon to go to those resorts. All of the resorts are pretty much above the treeline, so I don't think you'll find a single tree run, let alone a solid one. I believe there's also Pircas in Argentina, which is about a 40 minute drive, but I haven't been there. it's very small and requires crossing the border.

Great to know that we avoided a potential disaster!

I prefer Cardrona and Treble Cone to Coronet Peak and the Remarkables, but they're much further from Queenstown. Tough to choose between them since they both have different strengths. Treble Cone didn't have anywhere close to the amount of terrain parks that Cardona had when I went, but Cardona has since bought Treble Cone, so maybe they've added good park elements. But Treble Cone has such better views and so much great terrain to explore.

I wish! But I'm actually going to Las Lenas, which also has a ton of snow, so I'm not complaining!

@@SkiBoyNY. yeah, ton of snow… I wish you booked piscis or any of the top hotels.. Las leñas was built in the 70s and NEVER updated :(.. don’t get me wrong it’s fun, but don’t expect new things.. we can say it’s Vintage…

@@GerDarioOtero I actually booked an apartment rental that looks like it has been renovated, but yes, I am expecting it to be vintage! I'm excited to visit because I learned about Las Lenas as a kid and it was the first time I realized that there is skiing outside of North America and Europe.

@@SkiBoyNY. awesome, I’m based in Buenos Aires actually, Las leñas is a different xp compared to any of the other resorts.. it’s above the tree level (~1700m), so no woods there, it’s an alpine like skiing.. specially for your snowboarding friend, get ready for some Poma lifts and Tbars.. I know there’s some good heliski there too!

I agree! I think Bariloche may be the most beautiful resort I've been to. Some of the views of the lakes and jagged mountains when the sun was low and the light was disbursed by light cloud cover, I'll never forget it.

Qué loco, ¿verdad? Me alegro que haya tanta nieve ahora. Espero que todos salgan a disfrutarlo. ¡Estaré allí en un mes!

Thanks! I haven't been to Cerro Castor yet, but plan to go and make a review the next time I visit Bariloche!

Thanks so much!

I used the Insta360 X3 in this video, with their invisible selfie stick attached to my helmet in some shots and my ski pole in others.

I use a 360 camera attached to an invisible selfie stick that I then attach to my helmet. Typically on the back or side of the helmet. It makes it a bit difficult to ski, but it can give you some pretty good shots. I explain it a bit here: ruclips.net/video/fhU9Z9lhzQs/видео.html

Thanks so much! Really appreciate it. Absolutely, if you ski Belleayre, La Parva and Valle Nevado will be similar in terms of steepness of terrain. Belleayre may actually have more moguls since the Chilean resorts are above the tree line. I haven't skied El Colorado yet, but I hear it's generally more beginner in nature than the others, so there will be no surprises there. I had no problems with credit cards anywhere. As far as ski bags, I'd check the airline website to confirm, but generally, my experience has been that South American airlines will treat a ski bag as a regular checked bag as long as it's within the total inch-wide measurements for checked bag. Just like in the U.S. and Europe. So far, this is looking like a great South American winter, with many resorts opening early, so you may have picked one of the best years to go. Let's hope the snow keeps coming!

Great question! The experiences were so different, and I'm planning on posting a video comparing them at some point. But I'd say Cerro Catedral in Argentina and Treble Cone in NZ were probably the two most beautiful resorts I've visited. Cerro Catedral is larger than any of the Queenstown resorts individually, and has a more developed base than any of them, so if you want access to a lot of terrain on a given day with many accommodation and food options immediately at the base, Cerro Catedral and Argentina win. Cerro Chapelco is more similar to the NZ resorts in that it's smaller with little options at the base compared to Europe or North America, but it does have a decent town (San Martin de los Andes) a short drive away. If you're looking for a sense of variety, I think Queenstown in NZ wins because you have four different mountains to choose from, even though Treble Cone and Cardrona are a bit of a drive. Further, if you want a town that seems more international and has many non-ski activity options (bungee, speed boating, cycling, etc.), NZ wins again. The restaurant scene in Queenstown is more diverse and it's the adventure capitol of the world for a reason. So either way, you should have a memorable experience at either!

Thanks so much! I'm actually headed to Las Lenas in a couple of months, so no videos yet, but I agree that it seems much smaller than Catedral. Unless you're going hors piste. Catedral is known to be the largest resort in South America. And it's certainly easier to get to Catedral than Las Lenas because there are multiple daily flights to Bariloche while the closest town to Las Lenas, San Rafael, seems only to have one flight per day. And San Rafael still requires an additional drive to get to Las Lenas while Bariloche is very close to Catedral. I'd assume that Barlioche is far more lively than Las Lenas. It's an actual developed independent town with tons of restaurants, bars, etc., while Las Lenas looks like it's just a collection of buildings at the base of a ski resort. So if I were to go for an entire winter, thinking about having diversions and other things to do in addition to skiing or boarding, and I wanted access to a larger mountain, I'd choose Catedral. Hopefully you're right about the epic stories of Las Lenas, though!

@@SkiBoyNY. ya i have to agree with u 100% there.. and I figure if I’m in cathedral I can always take short trips to las Lenas to check out what they have.. hopefully have made some friends by then 🤣🤣 again thanks for the help and info, perhaps we’ll link up one day out there . Keep doing what ur doing 👍🙏

Finally

Thanks so much! Really appreciate it.

Yes - I used the Insta360 X3 with their invisible selfie stick, sometimes attached to my helmet and sometimes attached to my ski pole. I go over it a bit in this video: ruclips.net/video/fhU9Z9lhzQs/видео.html

Amen. Alyeska is actually a fascinating little mountain. The avy risk (rightly) has led to extended closures of prime terrain. It's not just the runs themselves, but sometimes other avy paths above them that can't be safely secured. This would be solved by putting a lift of some kind near the actual summit ridgeline, allowing for consistent skier compaction and regular patrol avy work. But that would be immensely expensive and an engineering challenge similar to the new team at Big Sky or the older ones at Snowbird and Jackson Hole. It would only serve a few "safe" double blacks and a larger chunk of truly extreme terrain. Alyeska doesn't have the ski visitors to fund such a huge project, and a new pod of the gnarliest terrain in NA that's also a 7+ hour flight for most people won't bring new spending crowds. Crowds spend on intermediate family friendly terrain; Northstar sees way more visitors than Sugar Bowl, Mt. Rose and Kirkwood while having a pretty similar footprint because all they do is condos and blue runs.

And Eaglecrest is the best advanced area in AK.

@RD1R I've been working and skiing here for 10 years. I see the problem as a completely different issue then what you are trying to describe.

@@reidcapling4434 probably, and imo that's part of the problem. I've talked to mtn management and patrol during their onboarding to certain... Corporate products... And the very publicly stated reason for a lack of terrain staying open was avy risk. My solution is the "big resort" build it to the top method of avy control. See: Mammoth, Kirkwood, Palisades, Snowbird. The other option is the "small mountain" approach, like patrol only surface lifts next to a hike ala Bridger Bowl or more solidified access paths like A-basin. Alyeska has done none of that, so the terrain stays closed. I think that's cuz people who live there and run it haven't incorporated modern approaches to avy management + ski area. They do make a solid 75% of their social media posts about the spa tho 😭

june, july, august

Yes! I was there during peak season, and if you were skiing or boarding on a weekday, it was pretty easy to be alone on the slope. On a weekend, the crowds picked up, but it still wasn't at crowded North American or European levels.

Thanks! Yes, Europe tends to be way cheaper than Portillo, with a lot more terrain. But if you want to ski Chile, Valle Nevado is much more affordable than Portillo.

Yes, certainly by expensive by Chilean standards, and even by American and European standards!

Thanks!