Valle Nevado to renovate its hotels, apartments, and sporting sites

A master plan has been put into place to transform Valle Nevado into a year round ski resort town.  Over the next three years, US$40 million will be invested in the town in order to create a “comfortable place with parking, service and a platform of restaurants,” says Valle Nevado general manager Ricardo Margulis.

“We have always wanted to convert Valle Nevado into a mountain town, that has both summer and winter attractions,” said Abrajam Senerman, an architect working on the master plan.

Valle Nevado, a popular ski resort 70 km from Santiago, was established in 1986.  Nestled in the Andes, Valle Nevado has 9,000 skiable hectares spread over 37 kilometers of runs.  Ski season is between the beginning of June and the beginning of October, though the resort is open year round.

Valle Nevado offers not only traditional skiing, but also snowboarding, heli-skiing, hang gliding, heli-surf, hiking, horseback riding, and rock climbing.  The resort also has the only super snowboarding half pipe in South America.

Chile is known for its Andes skiing throughout the northern hemisphere.  It is a popular destination for Olympic training and family vacations alike, as the best conditions here correspond with the summer months in the United States and Europe.  Valle Nevado is located near two other well-known and respected ski resorts, La Parva and El Colorado, in an area called Los Tres Valles.

Currently, the ski resort offers the biggest ski-able surface in South America, three hotels, eight restaurants, and apartments. Valle Nevado will expand business in the summer and improve the skiing experience in the winter months.  As part of the plan, the group will build at least one new building per year over the next 15 years.  At the end of next year, there will be 260 apartments for sale.

Additionally, the existing hotels will be renovated.  US$1 million will be invested in the Valle Nevado hotel this year.  A premium hotel, to be built by 2014, will be run by an international chain.

The businessmen behind the plan are excited about the future of Valle Nevado and the demand the new renovations will create.  “When a project is good, demand is created.  We are positive that we have a really good project, so we will also have a very high demand,” adds Senerman.