Updated details:
Flight: We bought tickets directly from the Aerolineas Argentinas web site for $730 per person, round-trip JFK to Santiago. The flights were all on time; everything was fine.
Hotel: Again, we loved the Hotel Posada de Farellones, located near the ski resorts up in the Andes. This season, the Posada had found two Swiss-trained chefs who served very good food, much better than one would expect. They even got into attractive presentation. I loved their kiwi sorbet. Our room had been recently renovated. One thing new this year was the presence of many more families with young children. The staff offered better service than ever. I've never experienced staff that is so interested in and considerate of what we wanted. Even though the restaurant serves one set menu each night, the staff knew that we were all picky eaters and went out of their way to arrange ahead of time that we would each have something we liked.
The resorts: The snow was decent this year, not as good as last year. La Parva is advertising its new snowmaking capacity, but it is very limited. Conditions tended to be best in the high elevations of La Parva. Valle Nevado on a Sunday seemed quite crowded, though still pretty uncrowded by US resort standards. SkiTotal has resumed service from the Posada to Valle Nevado, which we used twice ($8,500 pesos per person).
Lift tickets continue to be a bargain (low season price about $18,000 pesos for an adult day ticket). The weakness of the dollar has raised prices in general and most other things did not seem like a bargain -- except for a complete lunch in Santiago for roughly $3.50.
Again, I had the hotel arrange airport transfers, $90 each way. Many people seem to work it so they get taken to and from Santiago by SkiTotal. It's worth it to me to have a private car pick me up at the airport. We arrived at 9 AM and were skiing by 11:30.
It was my impression that Americans are discovering Chilean summer skiing. While there has always been a large American presence at Valle Nevado, this year there even seemed to be many Americans skiing at El Colorado -- traditionally the locals' favorite resort. It was also my sense that more resort staff spoke some English than before. Still, many people speak no English and it helps to know some basic Spanish.
Overall, when the snow is decent and the sun is shining, it is truly spectacular to be skiing in the Andes.
