Chile’s Valle Nevado Resort Launches Early Bird Promo For North American/UK Skiers

One of South America’s top ski destinations is Valle Nevado, located just 20 miles east of Santiago, Chile. Already the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere, Valle offers access to over 7,000 acres of Andean terrain, as well as a full-service, self-contained resort.

North American and UK skiers can get in on some serious savings with purchase of Valle’s Early Bird Promo packages before March 15. The savings include up to 35% off on lodging, lift tickets, half-board and après ski activities.

Accommodations include three hotels ranging from budget to luxury, dining at all price points, boutiques, a spa/fitness center, and South America’s most modernized lift system, as well as a new gondola.

Valle also offers the continent’s best heli-skiing, with up to 5,000 vertical feet in one run. The resort season is June 28 to late September, so if you’re already mourning the advent of our spring, get in on this deal. Savings include 35% off stays of a minimum of three nights during specific dates; 25% off seven-night stays from July 12-19 and September 13-20; and 20% off minimum three-night stays August 2-16 (at neighboring Tres Puntas Resort only), and August 16 to September 13. Other restrictions apply.

To book a reservation or for more information, contact Valle Nevado reservations at toll-free at 1-800-669-0554 (U.S.), or 1-888-301-3248 (Canada). You can also email reservas@vallenevado.com, or click here.

[Photo credit: Azure PR]

Get inspired watching this heli-skiing clip of Valle Nevado, courtesy of PowderQuestTours:


Chile’s Valle Nevado ski resort rolls out early-bird special

Dedicated pow hounds tend to hightail it to the Southern Hemisphere once summer rears its sunny head. Chile is justly famous for its snow, as well as its lack of crowds, above-timberline terrain, and epic backcountry and vertical accessible via heli-skiing.

Valle Nevado, located 20 miles east of Santiago, is already the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere. This year, during its June 22-October 2nd winter season, it has even more enticements to offer.

North American and UK guests who book and pay before March 31st, 2012, will receive up to 50% off a season-long package that includes a seven-night stay at any of Valle Nevado’s three hotels (which range from high-end to budget), and two interconnect tickets for the neighboring resorts of La Parva and El Colorado, which opens 7,400 acres of skiable terrain (that’s more than Vail, for you ski and snowboard die-hards).

The promotion also includes 25% off equipment rental, a complimentary 30-minute massage, and free attendance at the weekly Thursday Wine Festival. Look for forthcoming announcements on heli-skiing packages, as well. To book, call 1-800-669-0554 from the U.S., or email reservas@vallenevado.com.

Wine lovers can win ski trip to Chile this summer with “Sips & Slopes” contest

If wine and schussing are your thang, unleash your inner poet and enter the Wines of Chile “Sips & Slopes” contest. The rules are simple: compose and tweet an original haiku about Chile, using the hashtag #SipsSlopes. The lucky winner and a guest will win a five–night stay at Chile’s largest ski resort, Valle Nevado, including two round-trip tickets on LAN airlines. As you might expect, being wined and dined is included.

Chile is well-known for its stellar skiing and other outdoor recreational pursuits (both winter and summer), as well as for being “un pais de poetas,” a country of poets. Literary greats such as Pablo Neruda and Isabel Allende are the inspiration behind the “Sips & Slopes” contest, which is to showcase Chile’s reputation as a rising star of South American wine production.

The country’s diverse landscapes and topography provide ideal microclimates for the production of a wide range of varietals, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Carmenere, Chardonnay, and Viognier. Where Chile was once merely a mass producer of low- to mid-range wines, today it’s a serious contender against the high-end wines of Argentina’s famed Mendoza Valley across the border.

Chilean wine regions such as the Maipo, Aconcagua, and Colchagua Valleys are drawing visitors from all over the world, who come for the Mediterranean climate, rural pastimes such as biking, horseback riding, and hiking, and excellent (and affordable) dining, wine tasting, and accommodation options.

Applicants to “Sips & Slopes” will be judged on “creativity, originality, and adherence to haiku format.” Entries will be accepted until June 30th (only one per person and Twitter account, please); the winner will be announced on or around July 7th. Buena suerte!

[Photo credit: Flickr user wharman]