La Parva Join Power Pass Network To Create South American Mega-Resort
The Power Pass network just got broader this spring with the purchase of the sprawling La Parva resort in the central Chilean Andes.
The acquisition by Colorado-based Mountain Capital Partners comes on the heels of the 2023 acquisition of neighboring Valle Nevado, and creates the largest single skiing and snowboarding mountain complex in South America. The two mountains interconnect via lifts across a common boundary, and lie within driving distance of Santiago, Chile's largest city. And both offer expansive mountain biking in the off-season.
As with Valle Nevado, La Parva offers the purveyors of the Power Pass a chance to make on-mountain upgrades -- common after MCP purchases. None of La Parva's 14 lifts are high-speed, and 10 are of the surface variety. All of the terrain at both mountains is above treeline.
For now, Power Pass holders can head south for seven days at the Valle Nevado-La Parva complex, and senior pass holders get unlimited access. Officials have said that they are still working out details to include the South American mega-resort in the full-on Power Pass next season.
With 3,022 feet of vertical drop, La Parva boasts nearly 2,000 acres of terrain, the majority of which is rated advanced, intermediate or below. Its lift network runs one gondola, one high-speed chair, four fixed-grip chairs and 11 surface lifts (platters). Highest elevation is 12,041 feet. Backcountry and heli-skiing covers about 200,000 acres in the surrounding Andes.
Valle Nevado (2,224 a., 2,657 vert.) sits between 9,400 and 12,000 feet in elevation and covers some 2,200 lift-served, alpine acres (with tens of thousands more for heli-skiing). It has been a popular destination for North Americans seeking to keep their skiing and riding jones going during their off-season, and is a regular summer training location for international World Cup skiers and snowboarders.
MCP now owns and/or operates a disparate portfolio of 13 winter resorts, two golf courses, and one MTB park. Starting in 2000 with the purchase of compact Sipapu in New Mexico, the partnership has grown include mountains in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Nevada and now Chile.
