SerpApi.Org
The first chapter of a promising storm cycle for skiers across South America delivered, dropping feet of snow and, almost overnight, leapfrogging ski resorts from the early-season to the mid-season.
Valle Nevado, Chile—where around six and a half feet of snow has fallen—recently shared before and after images from around the mountain. In the photos, areas that were previously barren are now blanketed in white.
See below. Tap the arrow on the right to progress through the slides.
The snow totals emerging from Ski Portillo, Chile, just north of Valle Nevado, are even more absurd. According to the ski resort’s website, the storm brought 370 centimeters of snow, or about 12 feet.
The aftermath looks similar to the kinds of imagination-stretching storms that occasionally hit Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah or Mammoth Mountain, California. Or, in other words, Ski Portillo got buried. See below.
While Ski Portillo and Tres Valles ski resorts, as well as Valle Nevado, got hit hard, the system also dropped snow further south. Las Leñas, Argentina, looks like a winter wonderland. So does Nevados de Chillán, Chile.
As is often the case with storms of this size, Valle Nevado and Ski Portillo have not been able to open all—or any—of their available terrain quite yet. Intense winter weather can elevate avalanche danger, snarl roads, and cause power outages. All of that can slow operations after a storm.
Last week, Ski Portillo announced that its primary access roads and slopes would be closed at the height of the storm. Per its website, those roads remain closed as of Monday morning, July 20, and no ski lifts are open.
At Valle Nevado, only a few lifts and trails are open, according to its website. And in a telling scene, one of the webcams recently showed what appeared to be a family playing in a massive snow drift next to a hot tub.
You can’t always count on more snow following a hulking storm. Sometimes, the sun breaks through or, in a worst-case scenario for skiers, it starts to rain. But continued snowfall is expected throughout this week at several of Chile’s ski resorts, and not just a few inches—Ski Portillo and Valle Nevado could see around a foot of snow on Monday.
In short, if the weather continues this way, it’s only getting good.
