Sean Cooper from Canada writes:
After 45 years skiing around the world and 34 in Chile, I can rightfully say that La Parva has the terrain, and could be a good ski area, but it isn´t, because:
The average lift age is 34 years, excluding the “new” lift which was bought used in Spain. Breakdowns are common, and when we go to La Parva my wife avoids the chairs, because at least when the pomas break down, you can bail out.
Run maintenance is funky, and if conditions are marginal, nobody cleans the rocks off the runs or poma lines, which is worse when the wind blows pebbles onto the runs. They move snow around to help cover up the worst parts, but this is ugly and ruins off-piste skiing, and there are no warnings of the machine gouges. Better keep to El Colorado where run maintenance is impeccable.
The best runs are often closed for training, even on weekends. Others are rutted by racers early in the morning, then opened to the general public. As many runs on their area map are not maintained (read un-skiable), in particular black and red ones, this often limits the general public to one or two runs at best per lift.
On a powder day, the lifts open gradually during the day, and some not at all. As the racers get on the bottom lifts before the general public can, they get the best lines when they do open early.
The website snow report is dysfunctional, with wrong or outdated info. No packed base info is available.
Richer locals like La Parva because they have apartments there, it is exclusive, and they participate in the racing. Day skiers, even paying full price, are third class citizens, and there isn´t even much parking for them. Most locals don´t like the attitude of the current area management, and if they can´t afford an apartment there (the main business for the owners), they ski elsewhere.
The three valley ski areas are all big mountains with mainly intermediate runs, and good off-piste opportunities. Portillo is the premier advanced ski area. La Parva, though, has its disadvantages which should be taken into account.
2011-09-26 |
