Los Penitentes
A high-Andean resort on the road to Aconcagua whose eight lifts fell silent in 2018 after a concession dispute, and which reopened in July 2026 as a much-reduced mountain park.
- Region
- Mendoza
- Country
- Argentina
- Status
- reopened
- Year opened
- 1978
- Year closed
- 2018
- Reason for closure
- The original 1978 concession expired in 2013 and was never cleanly renewed. Administrative disputes between the Mendoza provincial government and the operating family left the resort in limbo, investment stopped and the lifts ran for the last time in 2018. In 2019 the province expropriated about 42 hectares of base-area land to break the deadlock.
History
Los Penitentes lies in the Mendoza Andes on Ruta 7, the international road to Chile, about 165 km from Mendoza city and a short distance from the Aconcagua park entrance. It was founded in 1978 by the skier Emilio López Frugoni and opened for the 1979 season, growing to 25-28 marked runs across roughly 300 hectares served by eight lifts including the twin double chairs Pircas and Punta Guanaco, with an hourly capacity approaching 8,000 skiers and beds for around 2,000 guests at the base. Its high, dry setting gave it a long but erratic season. The founding 50-year style concession lapsed in 2013 and the resort slid into a drawn-out administrative fight between the province and the operating family; investment stopped, the ageing lifts were progressively withdrawn, and the last of them ran in 2018. The base village stayed inhabited but the mountain sat idle for eight winters, with the province expropriating about 42 hectares of private base land in 2019 to gain control of the chairlifts, base area and access roads. In July 2025 MAPSA Group S.A. won a 20-year concession with a commitment of roughly 6 million dollars over five years, and the site reopened to the public on 28 July 2026 under the name Penitentes Park. The reopened operation is deliberately modest - the recertified Pircas chair, the base surface lifts in the La Herradura sector, a snow park, sledding and skating - rather than a restoration of the full 1980s ski area, and most of the upper-mountain lift network remains out of use.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pircas | Chairlift - Double - Fixed | 680 m; the surviving main chairlift, recertified on 2 April 2026 and returned to service for the 2026 season | |
| Punta Guanaco | Chairlift - Double - Fixed | One of the resort's twin double chairs at its peak; not part of the 2026 reopening | |
| Babylift Los Penitentes | J-Bar | 320 m beginner lift in the base area | |
| Escuela 1 | Surface lift | Borer AG | 200 m low rope tow in the ski-school area |
| Escuela 2 | Surface lift | Borer AG | 200 m low rope tow in the ski-school area |
| Escuela 3 | Surface lift | Borer AG | 200 m low rope tow in the ski-school area |
Sources and further reading
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Penitentes_(Argentina)
- https://snowbrains.com/brought-back-from-the-dead-los-penitentes-ski-area-arg-reopens-after-8-years-of-closure-with-a-new-name/
- https://www.skiresort.com/en/ski-resort/los-penitentes/
- https://www.iloveski.org/en/2024/05/21/los-penitentes-ski-resort-reopens-in-argentina/
More in Argentina
Location
-32.8411, -69.8412