Resorts Open Early in South America
30th May 2024
Last modified on June 10th, 2024
Portillo and Valle Nevado in Chile are open after 2m of snow has recently fallen. Summer skiing has also begun in the northern hemisphere. UPDATED
Following huge snowfall, Valle Nevado, opened three weeks ahead of schedule on Friday, May 31st.
Last weekend, June 7th, it opens for daily operations following significant early season snowfall that dropped over 1m of snow on Chile’s Tres Valles.
“Thanks to excellent early-season conditions and a successful pre-opening last weekend, we are excited to announce daily operations will begin two weeks ahead of schedule,” said the general manager of Valle Nevado, Ricardo Margulis.
During the 3-day pre-opening, Valle Nevado saw more than 3,000 visitors.
“Last year, we were the first Chilean ski resort to open, and it was one of the best winters in resort history with nearly 250,000 skier visits.
“This year, we anticipate an even better season, expecting around 300,000 visitors, which is about one-third of all snow visitors in Chile,” added Margulis.
International visitors make up 80% of guests, with Brazil being the largest market, followed by Argentina, the U.S., and Europe.
Among day visitors about 70% are Chileans and 30% are international, with Brazil accounting for 60% of the latter group.
Valle Nevado is linking with neighbouring La Parva this season to become the largest ski area in the southern hemisphere, as we reported earlier:
Image credit, La Parva.
It is weekends only in Portillo for much of June with locals able to make some early turns as the resort opens for the season.
The Hotel Portillo opens on June 20th.
In Argentina Cerro Catedral near Bariloche opened a few runs in the middle of May, but then conditions forced it to close.
Last weekend, June 7th, it re-opened.
We reported on conditions in South America earlier on PlanetSKI:
In Australia resorts opened last weekend but there was very little skiing on offer.
Snowmaking is underway but some natural snow would be more than welcome.
Perisher, that is next door to Thredbo, is making snow at every opportunity and other ski areas are doing the same.
In the state of Victoria Mt Buller has five all-weather snowmaking guns that are being used.
See here for a related PlanetSKI article:
In New Zealand resorts are planning to open in the second half of June.
One resort, Whakapapa on the north island, opened its magi carpets on Saturday June 1st and Sunday June 2nd.
Terrain is is limited but the first skiers and snowboarders have been making some turns.
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In the northern hemisphere the summer ski season is underway in Norway.
The Norwegian resort of Stryn Sommer Ski has fired up its lifts.
It has depth of 6m after heavy winter snow.
Other resorts in Scandinavia are also open.
Riksgransen in Sweden has closed due to warmer temperatures, buy it hopes to re-open later in June for mid-summer skiing.
In the Alps the Italian resort of Passo Stelvio has been unable to open for summer skiing as there is too much snow.
We have reported on it elsewhere on PlanetSKI:
It is hoping to open for skiing on June 8th.
In Austria there are currently three glacier resorts open – Molltal, Kitzsteinhorn and Hintertux.
Zermatt is also open and the glacier area can also be accessed from Cervinia in Italy.
