Chile/Argentina 2026: La Parva
Another year, another pilgrimage down south for Austral winter. Over the summer I made plans with Mike Cariello to join me on a trip to Chile/Argentina for an expedition. Before connecting with Mike I wanted to spend a few days in Santiago as I have never skiied there in my previous trips down here.
After a long haul flight I connected with another fellow
guide, Juliana Garcia, for dinner with new friends. They had just skiied the super C in Portillo and their energy was infectious for skiing. Matt and John were keen to go skiing the next day and I was able to join them for a day of resort-based backcountry skiing.
We met that morning at their hotel at the base of the mountain road and headed up to La Parva. Climbing this road the landscape has deep canyons and insane vegetation; cacti riddled the place on the way to a ski area, it had me reminiscing about my time skiing in Arizona.
After nearly 40 nauseating switchbacks you arrive at the junction between el Colorado and La Parva. La Parva has the cheapest lift ticket and also gets you highest towards our objective for the day: Cerro La Parva.
We took a surface lift to two chairlifts and were at the highest point at the ski hill.
From there we had a gentle skin around falsa Parva and onto the summit to Cerro La Parva. We saw skiiers descending the Hollywood lines facing the ski area and decided we could find better snow elsewhere.
We poked around at the top and found a couple of untouched slopes.
I chose the direct line off the top with no tracks and Matt & John chose a route that looked like it had better snow.
I dropped in off the top and was met with boot high wind pressed powder, my first turns in nearly four months. Making rhythmic turns came to an abrupt end in the choke as refrozen tracks muddled my plans of glorious powder skiing. After the choke an untouched apron waited and it was glorious. We high-fived after our first pitch and continued down the cascading ramps. We proceeded to ski two pitches of perfect snow. A phenomenal way to start my trip to South America.
We deliberated on timing and made the call to ski back into the resort.
At the resort we met Silas, one of Matt’s friends. Silas is a 70+ year old skier who sleeps in his car and just only recently stopped backcountry skiing. You could tell he was a skier. His infectious enthusiasm, the light behind his eyes, and his genuine stoke for friends who just had a great day. I hope to connect with Silas again one of these days to share some turns in the resort.
We shared some stories, packed up the car and headed back down the 39 switchbacks to Santiago. I said my goodbyes to Matt and John as I was meeting Mike the next day for our flight to southern Patagonia. A great way to kickoff a few weeks of skiing in South America.
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