Hot Deal in Cool Chile! Start your ski season early, this is THE year for South America value!

Book by july 22 For GREAT AUGUST DEALS at HOTEL PUERTA DEL SOL & HOTEL TRES PUNTAS
in VALLE NEVADO, CHIlE!

Valle Nevado is the primary ski resort of Chile's Three Valleys - Valle Nevado, La Parva, and El Colorado. Located 9,925 feet above sea level, Valle Nevado is just 37 miles from Santiago in the Andes Mountains. It is the youngest ski resort in South America with state of the art facilities. It's been totally renovated recently.
Valle Nevado boasts 23,000 acres of terrain, with 23 miles of slopes all above tree line. In comparison, Whistler/Blackcomb in Vancouver BC offers 7,000 acres. If that doesn't sound like enough terrain, you can upgrade your lift pass, for an additional charge, to access both El Colorado and La Parva from Valle Nevado via surface lifts! With thousands of acres of skiable terrain, there are more options for every type of skier.

Book a 7-night trip and you will receive
the following:

• Buy 6 nights, receive 1 night free
• 30% discount on rentals
• 20% discount at the Valle Nevado Store
• Upgrade to a superior room (or superior hotel according to availability)
• Late check out (according to availability)
• This offer is only good for 7-night reservations that are booked and paid before July 22, for the following weeks: July 29 - Aug. 5, Aug. 5 – 12, Aug. 12 – 19, Aug. 19 – 26,
  Aug. 26 – Sept. 2
• This offer cannot be combined with any other promotional deals, and is subject to availability
• Book by  July 22

Take advantage of this week's special values and deals with Alpine Adventures. For the latest snow updates, mountains news, and pictures, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AlpineAdventures

Ecuador and the Galapagos by Jen Connelly

Ecuador and the Galapagos

by Jen Connelly

The first thing you realize when planning a trip to Ecuador is that its size belies the diversity that lies within. Your trip could easily revolve around the Galapagos, but once you realize all the country has to offer, it’s hard to limit yourself to an island excursion. When you land in the capital of Quito, you may expect a typical large South American city: a multitude of high rises, even more people, and a fast-paced atmosphere that constantly keeps you on your toes. What you may not expect is that all of these qualities would be housed in a verdant mountainous environment, with the active Pichincha volcano acting as guardian of the city.

Diversity, Crafts and History

Once you make it out of the city, a number of diversions await in the rolling green countryside. A stop at the Otavalo market, one of the largest markets in the Andes, will allow you to purchase anything from textiles and indigenous art, to Panama hats and homemade marionettes. From here you can head to the Chimborazo province, home of the highest peak in Ecuador at nearly 6,300 meters. The glacier capped Chimborazo volcano provides a spectacular backdrop in the high alpine environment to the grazing llamas and alpacas in the foreground. Your next destination is the city of Cuenca, whose city center was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its abundance of historical buildings, each one outdoing the last. En route to Cuenca you can stop at Ingapirca to experience the largest Incan ruins in Ecuador.

A Perfect Finish: The Galapagos

The perfect way to finish up your tour of Ecuador is to visit the Galapagos, the islands that led to Darwin’s magnum opus. It’s easy to spend several days here without getting close to seeing all the islands have to offer. Each island has its own unique flavor, many of which are so different as to make you feel that you have ventured to another planet. From the lava channels frozen in time on one island, to the hundreds of marine iguanas all basking in the sun on another, you don’t know what you’ll encounter until you set foot on the island. For those that like to go a bit deeper under the surface, diving and snorkeling the waters around the islands will afford close up views of sea turtles, sharks, and sea lions, as well as fish of every size and color.

An Amazing Variety of Things to See and Do

Whether you want to tap into your inner naturalist in the Galapagos, spend time experiencing fast paced city life, or take in the awe-inspiring sight of one of the many volcanoes, you can do all of this and more in Ecuador. You can dedicate an entire visit to the country’s beaches and learn to surf, or travel to the Amazon and see more species of bird than almost anywhere else in the world. It’s hard to believe that such a small country could have such an amazing variety of things to do, but then again, seeing is believing.

Contact Jen:

• Email Jen Connelly
• Mountain Vacation Specialist
• 
  
• Toll Free: 800-755-1330 x3220
• Fax: 954-564-6721

Jen Connelly's Swiss Adventure 2011

Swiss 2011 Experience

by Jen Connelly

Our adventures in Switzerland took us from one resort to the next, where we got to experience the unique flavor of each village, and see what they had to offer guests. It would be easy to extol the virtues of the skiing; we were lucky enough to sample the slopes at all of the resorts we visited, and the Swiss Alps more than live up to the hype. Most skiers and snowboarders are well aware of the legendary slopes in Switzerland, however, whether they have visited or not.

Gstaad, Switzerland

Less well known may be how you can enjoy Switzerland in all its glory without ever strapping skis or a snowboard to your feet. We received our introduction in Gstaad, where we traveled up a cable car to Glacier 3000--the place for the ultimate eagle eye view over the Alps. Sitting at the top of the glacier, sipping a hot gluhwein and looking out on both Mt Blanc and the Matterhorn made us feel that Switzerland was pulling out all the stops for our arrival.

Wengen, Switzerland (Jungfrau Region)

Our next stop was Wengen, a picturesque car-free village high in the Bernese Oberland, which is a short train ride away from the legendary Jungfraujoch. Visitors to the area immediately place a visit to the formidable peak at the top of their list with good reason. When you’re perched above birds soaring on an updraft, or looking off into the distance into a white sea of clouds, you realize that Jungfraujoch lives up to its title as the Top of Europe. If the endless vistas don’t induce the adrenaline that you’re looking for, however, a blood-pumping sledge ride back down to your village from the starting point of the Jungfraubahn will certainly do it. Barreling down the runs at top speed on your sledge is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Zermatt, Switzerland (Home of the Matterhorn)

From Wengen, we took the scenic train ride over to Zermatt. On one of the 300+ sunny days out of the year, when you can clearly see the towering Matterhorn in the distance, you can understand how the locals manage to be as enthralled with their everyday surroundings as are visitors. If you have time between all the sightseeing to take in the village atmosphere, you won’t be disappointed. Dining options of all types abound, whether you have not yet had your fill of the traditional fondue and raclette, or you want more exotic fare, there are more choices than you’ll know what to do with. If a night out is in the cards, we were advised early on that you have not officially been to Zermatt until you have danced on the barrel at the Broken Disco. This was duly noted by the Alpine Adventures crew.

St. Moritz, Switzerland

The last resort on our grand tour was St Moritz. The journey from Zermatt to St Moritz on the Glacier Express is a unique one: it’s one of the few cases where the journey is as spectacular as the destination. The train ride is spent traveling past innumerable peaks and valleys, cascading waterfalls and turquoise rivers, historic churches and villages. The only difficulty is trying to catch it all on film.
Once you arrive in St Moritz, you’re greeted with towering peaks that are only outdone by the lakes nestled in the valley floor. This is yet another resort where you do not need to be on skis to enjoy all that it has to offer. Some of the finest on-mountain dining can be found at St Moritz, and they have kindly made the restaurants accessible via the cable cars, as it would be a tragedy to deny anyone the five star service and 360 degree views these restaurants afford.
There are plenty of other activities in Switzerland that we didn’t have a chance to do, but one of the great things about Switzerland is that it always gives you one more reason to come back.