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Farellones

Farellones
Ski lifts connect Farellones Village and El Colorado ski resort
Ski lifts connect Farellones Village and El Colorado ski resort
Location Lo Barnechea, Chile
Nearest city Santiago, Chile
Coordinates 33°21′3″S 70°18′50″W / 33.35083°S 70.31389°W / -33.35083; -70.31389
Top elevation 3333m
Base elevation 2430m
Skiable area 13.3 km²
Runs 22
Lift system gondola lift
chairlifts
5 ski lifts
Website [1]

Farellones is a village and ski resort located 36 km from Santiago, Chile. It was founded during the 1930s, nestled in a small valley in the Andes mountains close to other ski areas such as Valle Nevado, La Parva and El Colorado.

Located in the commune of Lo Barnechea, 36 km from Santiago at an altitude of 2,340 meters above sea level (7,874 feet), Farellones has a health centre, a school and about 200 houses. The houses and cabins are made of wood, giving the village its characteristic look.

Skiers began visiting the Farellones area in the 1930s and in 1937, landowner Von Kiesling decided to sell the land off as plots to form a village. Not long after this, Antonio Padrós opened one of Farellones’ first hotels, the Posada de Farellones.

Farellones currently has only a few ski runs but its cable car system provides access to El Colorado, located only five kilometres up the hill of the same name. They are often considered as one joint ski area with a total of 62 runs including 11 for beginners, 6 for intermediates, 33 for advanced skiers and 12 for experts.They have a maximum altitude of 3,333 meters above sea level, a vertical descent of 906 metres and an average of 5 meters snowfall in an average year. They are popular with beginners and families.

Skiing began in Farellones in the early 1930s, when the ski gear came to Chile for the first time from Switzerland and Norway, consisting of wooden skis, leather boots coated in colourless grease to keep out the wet, with basic and dangerous bindings that remained fixed to the feet even during a fall.

The village grew up around the new sport and in 1937, the Hotel Posada de Farellones was constructed. Some years later the hotel received a royal visit from the English Duchess of Kent and served a formal luncheon. The first ski lift was built in the 1950s in La Gran Bajada (the great descent) in the area that will become later El Colorado, where the boldest skiers could leap over the roof of the Hotel Posada de Farellones at the end of the run.


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