The Chilean Andes house quite some interesting and large ski resorts. Most well-known are Valle Nevado and Portillo. But there are even so me smaller one - and the most interessting of them is Ski Arpa.

Ski Arpa is not a ski resort in the traditionell way - there are no lifts, no runs, no tracks, no hotels, no apres ski… Ski Arpa is pure freeskiing! The Austrian Toni Sponar founded it quite some of years ago, and after some backlashs, he runs the resorts with two snowcats now. That doesn’t sound like much, but it is great! First of all, there is pure open terrain and you are free to ride wherever you want to. Second, a ride in a snowcat up to the top is always fun. How did someone had the idea for such a resort - you may ask. Well we had plenty of time to talk to Toni (as he gave us a ride in his pickup). Toni used to design ski resorts and still is an active skiing instructor in Aspen. When he came to Chile some decades ago, he helped to design Portillo. Thus he was flying in a plane across the Andes. And he did not only found the place for Portillo, but even his own place for a perfect resort. So he bought the mountain and founded his own resort, that he runs in the Chilean winter, while he still works in Aspen in the North American winter.

But now some facts:

• Ski Arpa is situated some 1,5h driving out of Los Andes (approx. 2h driving from Santiago to the North)
• As the road is a very rough dirt road you should have 4×4 drive
• Take some 2-3 days for Ski Arpa. Even if you are a fast skier, you will not make more than 3-4 runs per day. It takes the cats roughly 45 minutes to drive up.
• Take your food and drinks with you as the is no restaurant.
• Quite a good place to stay is Termas de Corazon - a 50 years old wellness resort. It has nice rooms, plenty of pools - but don’t expect to much from the catering. And be prepared for Bingo, Sining, etc. at dinner - the atmosphere in the dinning room is more like a sanatorium
• If you can, take your hiking stuff with you. There is Valle Honda, a wide open bowl - that is perfect for some lines! You can reach it within half an hour hiking from the top from Alto del Arpa. On the map you can see our round-trip - allow 2-3 hours.
• Form Alto del Arpa you have awesome views towards the Aconcagua!

Here are some of our Ski Arpa pix

Skiing terrain and skiing map

And the wayfaring points for the runs