South America’s Snowiest Start This Century

As snow continues to dump on ski slopes in Argentina and Chile, the snow totals are now leading to claims that this is the snowiest start of a ski season there since the 1990s.

Those with long experience of snowfall in the region have so far said the pre-season-start snow totals are the most in 25 or even 30 years in some cases.

The majority of ski areas in Chile and several in Argentina had already opened early for their 2024 seasons, which for most had been expected to launch this weekend, before the snow started falling six weeks ago.

Valle Nevado passed 5 metres for its snowfall to date stat on Saturday, the day it would have opened for the season had it not already opened weeks early. It has reached 509cm (17 feet), reporting  106cm (43”) in the past 48 hours.

“In an average winter, the resort typically receives 6.1 metres (240”) of snow annually, and this season's early snowfall is setting the stage for a spectacular winter,” a spokesperson for the resort, which is due to stay open until October 6 this year, commented.

So, it’s already more than 80% there this year.

Ironically though all the snow Is causing logistical issues and several resorts that had planned to open this weekend have been forced to delay doing so until the situation settles down.

In Argentina, the southerly resort of Las Lenas has been posting the biggest accumulations of all with local ski travel experts PowderQuest reporting it has had 6.5m (22 feet) on its upper mountain, 2.4m (8 feet) in resort.  It too had planned to start its season this weekend but has also decided to delay due to extreme avalanche danger.

Portillo had been endeavouring to open Fridays to Sundays since the start of June and planned its full opening this week. Instead, as its season-to-date snowfall passed 4.2 metres (14 feet), it has been forced to postpone by a week with roads to the resort blocked by snow.

Once things settle down though, it’s looking like an epic season ahead,

“Portillo is having their best opening in more than 30 years – so it looks like a good idea for any avid skier to head South!” a spokesperson said.