By DPA
Las Lenas (Argentina) : While many holidaymakers lounge on Europe's beaches during the summer, others hanker for snow and skiing.
For some, no distance is too far – the Andes Mountains in Argentina and Chile, for instance, have become a popular "alternative destination".
There are even those who have concluded that skiing in the Andes — with their panorama of mountain lakes and extinct volcanoes — can beat skiing in the Alps. It is not necessary to forgo the jet set and apres-ski there either. Take Las Lenas, sometimes called "the St. Moritz of the Andes".
Swiss students Mark and Nico have been sold on Las Lenas, in the Argentine province of Mendoza, for years. "The conditions are a dream – no comparison with home," they said.
Amateurs are not the only ones who appreciate the good snow conditions, which generally provide plenty of fun on the slopes from June until October. Skiing federations use the slopes above 3,400 metres as summer training camps.
The cost of skiing in the Andes is also comparable to that at upmarket European resorts. Hence it is hardly surprising that mainly members of Argentina's upper class, as well as wealthy Chileans and Brazilians, swoop down Andean mountainsides along with Americans and Europeans.
An adult can expect to pay the equivalent of 1,000 euros (over $13,000 dollars) a week for a hotel room and the use of ski lifts during the high season in the Andes, plus the cost of meals and evening entertainment.
The Penitentes ski resort, which is also in Mendoza, is no match for Las Lenas when it comes to glamour and the selection of slopes. But with its backdrop of peaks reaching between 5,000 and 6,000 metres makes it a jewel – and far less expensive.
Further south, in San Martin de los Andes, in the province of Neuquen, the Chapelco ski resort belies the notion that the Andes are merely an "alternative destination". The view of Lake Lacar and the extinct Lanin volcano, 3,747 metres high, are two reasons for nearly 5,000 skiers to converge there daily in the high season.
Neuquen has two other noteworthy winter sports resorts: Cerro Bayo in Villa La Angostura and Caviahue. In Caviahue, holidaymakers can relax in thermal springs when they are not skiing.
Winter sports nomads from Europe are particularly fond of the 19 ski runs at Cerro Castor, near Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego at the extreme southern end of Argentina. The slopes may not equal those at Las Lenas, but the slogan "ski at the end of the world" seems to be too enticing for many to resist.
In Chile, too, skiers can find what they seek during the European summer. The ski resorts of Portillo, La Parva, Valle Nevado and El Colorado/Farellones are no more than 150 kilometres from the capital Santiago, so a ski holiday can easily be combined with city sightseeing. Further south, the winter sports areas of Corralco, Termas de Chillan, Ski Pucon and Antillance are worth a visit.
In any event, the ski resorts in the Andes are usually less crowded than their counterparts in the Alps, which can make an Atlantic crossing attractive to ski tourists. Awaiting them is untouched powder snow off the ski runs and not a soul far and wide. And that more than compensates for the long trip.