Our Snow Day!

Last weekend, Claudio and I did something completely different to our trip to Zapallar the previous weekend, travelling in the opposite direction up into the mountains to the ski centres of Farellones, El Colorado, La Parva and Valle Nevado.

This was a trip that I'd been wanting to take for a long time, and we were really determined to do it at some point this winter. So on Saturday, we got up at the crack of dawn and left when it was still dark, in order to beat the weekend traffic and spend as much time in the snow as possible.

The ski centres are not very far from Santiago in terms of distance (in fact, they are part of Santiago province and Lo Barnechea comuna), but because of their high altitude (Valle Nevado is at an altitude of 3000 metres above sea level), it takes at least 90 minutes to get there from the city. The journey consists of 40 sharp bends up the mountain road, which seems to go on forever... but then finally you arrive in Farellones, which looks like a fairytale Alpine village, and you feel like you're in a completely different world.

First of all, we spent some time driving through all four villages and getting to know the area, before exploring Valle Nevado, which is probably the most popular of the ski centres - there were many Brazilian and Argentinian tourists there, as well as Chileans.

It was pretty hard at first to get used to the cold (it was -4 degrees, which is a big contrast to Santiago, where the days have gradually been getting sunnier and warmer again). But later in the day, we put on some snow trousers and gloves which Claudio's family lent us, which made a big difference.

In Valle Nevado, there's a rooftop viewpoint, which offers you really great views of the mountains and the ski slopes.

The next place we stopped off at was an area at the side of the road, where lots of families were having a great time sledging and playing in the snow. This area is a free alternative to paying for activities at the ski centres, and it has amazing mountain views.

Afterwards, we went back to El Colorado. Here we had lunch at a restaurant with views over the ski slopes. While we were there, it actually started snowing, which was pretty exciting!

We didn't go skiing or snowboarding this time, but we had a look at the prices for future reference, and discovered that we could go for a ride on the panoramic chair (in other words, the ski lift) without actually taking part in any winter sports. The ride was a little expensive ($10000 pesos per person, which is around £10) but it was a lot of fun, and it made our snow day extra special.

Going up into the mountains to spend a day in the snow really felt like being on holiday, as it was so different from the city, and the scenery was so beautiful. We are definitely going to try to go back there at some point in September (when I'm back from my trip to the UK), and next time we're planning to try skiing or snowboarding for the first time! I'm really looking forward to trying a new sport and writing about it here soon!