With a surge of power, the helicopter soars up and over jagged peaks and clears the summit of the highest mountain in view, which falls away to reveal the white-cloaked Andes stretching as far as the eye can see. Looking down at the mountains around Palena, in the Los Lagos region of Chilean Patagonia, there is no sign of human life at all, just mountains, unblemished blue sky and untouched powder offering more than one million hectares of potential skiing.
While there are conventional ski resorts here in Chile (including Valle Navado, just east of the capital, Santiago,
