2022 Ski Season Underway in South America

Most of the leading ski areas in Argentina and Chile have opened for the 2022 season.

For some it is their first operations since 2019.  It is also the first time in three years that skiers from around the world can head back to the Andes. Various restrictions remain in place, but it is possible at least to travel so long as you meet the criteria – now largely focused on ensuring you have adequate medical insurance to cover repatriation if required.

Conditions at most areas are good after up to a metre (40”) of snowfall in June and generally low temperatures this month.

Portillo in Chile opened a week early after big snowfalls there. The centre just managed to open to locals for a few weeks at the end of last winter when the country eased restrictions. Argentina’s Las Leñas, which has also opened, is one of those not to have operated since 2019.

The continent’s largest ski area by uplift Catedral near Bariloche in Argentina actually opened at the end of April after a fresh snowstorm, the first in the southern hemisphere to be open in 2022, if only for a weekend, but it is now open daily.

Argentina’s La Hoya (pictured top and below) is another of the first to open on the continent.

The start of the season in the Andes means that for a few weeks lift-served skiing and boarding is now available on all six populated continents,  with centres in Australia, Southern Africa and New Zealand already open and resorts in Asia, Europe and North America still open from the start of the 21-22 season there. The last centre still open for 21-22 in Asia is due to close early next month.