well, i finally made it up to the slopes today. how were they? it was fun, and cheaper than the us, but i prefer tahoe more.

the cost: because we went during the week (and off-season prices just started), it was ~$60 for transport (1hr each way), lift ticket and equipment rental. the board was in pretty bad shape (and the smaller binding broke midway through the day), but it was still a good price.

the view: the terrain is pretty interesting. just 20min away from the slopes there are cacti. the slopes are treeless….just white with some rocks. looking towards santiago there is a low-hanging haze with the tips of mountains peeking out. it’s beautiful….until you realize those aren’t rolling clouds….but smog.

the slopes: the resorts seem to be really really small. we went to el colorado, which had just one peak. right next to it are two neighboring resorts, which you can easily ski into (but you can’t take their lifts up without a pass). two or three of the resorts would make up one in tahoe. because there are no trees, there are also no real boundaries, which is kinda cool. in the states, you’re often forbidden to go off the trail, but there aren’t ski patrol here and it’s much easier to go off trail (no trees and nice powder). so basically once you get to the top, you can do whatever you want coming down, which is pretty cool. i was a bit disappointing with the low-difficulty of the slopes at el colorado, though.

the lifts: el colorado only has a few lifts and they are very slow. the resort does have quite a few tow ropes, though…which are equally slow, plus a bit challenging on snowbards. one time, i drifted into the fence and had to bail. another time i fell off the side of the path (which was narrow at times) and had to hang onto the tow while i was dragged back up. by the end i got the hang of it, and started playing games with my friends, like rolling snowballs to each other (which are hard to pick up when being towed on a snowboard.