Chapelco ski resort

World class ski among the pine trees

Leaving from the city of San Martín de los Andes –1,600 km or 30 minutes flight from Buenos Aires- and taking National Road Nº 234 (7 Lakes) bordering Lácar lake, you travel along 16 kilometers of paved roads, and then take Provincial Road N° 19 on your left. After driving for 5 km along this gravel road, you get to the mountain’s base.

Chapelco offers special characteristics for skiing. Its ski runs are surrounded by beautiful native lenga forests and are rock-free, making it possible to enjoy the hillsides, even when there is little snow.

Chapelco has 29 pistes of varied difficulty, thus the center offers alternatives for all level skiers. The base and Piste 63 are ideal for beginners, but there are also black runs, bumps and jumps for the experts. In the case of snowboarding fans, they won’t miss an opportunity to drop into the halfpipe, which is located at the ravine left to El Palito, and was specially designed for training and competing in different snowboard disciplines.

To improve Palito, snowfences were built so as to keep the area with snow.

All the infrastructure and excellent landscapes

As for the slopes, they go from 45º (maximum slope) to 20º (minimum slope). The summit is at 1,980 meters. There is a skiable area of 140 hectares, with a 730 meter ski run drop (not accumulated).

The longest possible trail is 3.4 km, beginning at the top of the quadruple chairlift at Mallín, and skiing along Travesía, Mocho, and De la Pradera pistes, in combination with other runs and De la Base piste. Another possibility is start at the top of Poma del Filo and go down along Pioneros, which is quite a long run too: 3.4 km.

Chapelco boasts about its good and abundant snow during the “top” winter months. The annual average snowfall is 1.50 meters at the base and 2,50 meters at the summit, while the average snow depth is 0.50 m at the base, 1m at the intermediate and 1.30 m. at the summit. Experts can enjoy speed at the off-pistes, sinking and floating in the snow.

The eleven lifts available give the resort a lift capacity of 11,718 people/hour, so skiers can move around the mountain with ease using their magnetic cards called “snow pasess”. There is a warm and comfortable gondola that takes only five minutes to get to platform 1,600, an area where there is snow all winter long. To sum up, one gondola, five chairlifts (two double, one triple and two quadruple) and five drag lifts cover the whole area.

Torch parade in Chapelco. It takes place every Friday, if weather conditions allow it

Chapelco has a Ski School of international renown; its reputation was earned through 20 years of excellent teaching of this sport, with ski instructors at the same level of the best European referents.

The staff is leaded by Mr. Enrique “Quique” Elguero and they are totally qualified to teach different types and techniques: Alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, carving, adventure skiing, paragliding, monoskiing, all snowboard disciplines, and backcountry skiing.

Lessons can be taken privately or in group, according to the skier’s preferences and level, and they can be hired at the mount’s base or at our offices in San Martin de los Andes.