Industry News
After record-breaking amounts of snowfall in South America during May, two resorts delayed their official opening days. The Argentinian resort Las Leñas delayed its official opening day from June 20 to June 29. This weekend, the resort will be partially open for a pre-opening ski weekend because of an official holiday in Argentina. The Chilean resort Ski Portillo postponed its opening day from June 22 to June 26 after it received a staggering 13 feet of snow before the season even started (the seasonal average is around 16 feet of snowfall). The resort isn’t open because an access road is closed.
While these resorts are still closed, many other resorts opened their gates for skiers and snowboarders in the last month. South America’s biggest ski resort, Catedral Alta Patagonia in Argentina, opened on May 9. Valle Nevado and La Parva, two of the biggest ski resorts in Chile, are also open. The resorts reported around 15 inches of snowfall in the last 24 hours. Usually, the ski season in South America lasts from June to September, but because of the large amounts of snowfall, this season is expected to last until mid to late October.
Las Leñas Resort is located in the Argentinian province of Mendoza and has 32 miles of slopes on 17,500 acres of skiable terrain. The base of the resort is situated at 6,500 feet and the highest point is 11,154 feet. Ski Portillo is located in the Valparaíso region of Chile. The resort has 18 miles of slopes and a vertical drop of 2,400 feet. The resort limits its daily visitors to 450 skiers and snowboarders a day
This could be one of the longest seasons in South America in recent years because of the insane snowfall. Once the resorts open, this could be one of the best and longest seasons in South America to date. Las Leñas even reported almost 19 feet of snow at the summit of the area and more snow is expected. This season could potentially last until mid to late October, which is right when the first resorts in the Northern Hemisphere start to open.
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