We listened to that podcast on a drive to Las Vegas Thursday. My final comment after
skiing Valle Nevado in 2007:
I am more critical of lack of cooperation in lift placement. A couple of new fairly short lifts at Valle Nevado could add quite a bit of terrain.
I recall Adam and I looking at the surrounding terrain and thinking, "Rarely has a ski area made so little out of so much." Adam had minimal interest in returning vs. Portillo and particularly Las Lenas.
The current trail map shows the addition of the Embalse lift, which was what I said was most needed to expand terrain skiable from Las Puntas.
It would be better to have a lift base farther down that canyon and Coleman said that was something they planned on doing.
Interestingly, they want to expand both above and below present lifts/ski system.
So home today I had to pore over Google Earth to figure that out. The current lift system goes up to 12,000 feet and I have some question how much higher they can go without creating an epidemic of altitude sickness. Among major ski areas I believe the highest lifts are Klein Matterhorn at 12,740 feet and Imperial at Breckenridge at 12,840 feet. Gulmarg's gondola goes to 13,050 feet. Here's Google Earth of the area in question:
Cerro Falsa Parva, specifically mentioned by Coleman, is at 12,500 feet. Cerro Pintor is 13,700. He also mentioned Cerro La Parva, the peak in between them at 13,200, but overall the terrain was described as being "above Valle Nevado," and private so less bureaucracy in developing vs. the typical Forest Service situation in the US.
I drew the black line at the upper limit of what's lift accessible now and the purple line on what's accessible from those 3 peaks. The proposed upper terrain was touted by Coleman as being intermediate accessible, and I think the Google Earth pic supports that view. There's also some terrain to interest the likes of ChrisC, of which Valle Nevado currently has very little that's lift accessible. The proposed upper terrain is also mostly south facing. Considering the modest and erratic snowfall (about which Winchester did not query Coleman), the near ideal altitude and exposure for snow preservation of the upper expansion is a huge plus.
Coleman also said they planned to expand downward to 7,500 to the point where the Embalse canyon joins with one off the back side of Tres Puntas.
That terrain is marked in purple and the lift from 7,500 back up to the Valle Nevado base in black. Advanced/expert backside Tres Puntas terrain down to ~9,000 feet is southeast facing and looks very interesting. I wonder about keeping that runout to 7,500 covered during dry spells though. I'd put in a lift back up to Tres Puntas if developing that terrain.
Coleman bragged about ultimately having 6,000 vertical feet lift served. That's the difference between the base of the black lift in the above pic and Cerro Pintor. I think Adam might go back to Valle Nevado if Coleman realizes his plans.
In terms of commercial viability Coleman repeatedly emphasized the convenience to Santiago's airport and population and the no jet lag travel for North Americans. It's an analogy to sbooker and other Aussies skiing Japan. There were hints that MCP will end up with El Colorado too. That seems inevitable as it's the smallest of the 3 areas.
www.stormskiing.com
