Massive Winter Storm Shuts Down Highway to Portillo, Forcing Extended Closure While Atmospheric River Closes Resorts Across Chile

6 cm (over 2 inches) an hour are falling relentlessly at Portillo in Chile as I write this, the highway closed by local authorities for safety reasons (i.e. avalanches that can block the road and cause bodily harm and/or death). No one can come up or down as the storm rages on with no foreseeable end.

• Related: SnowBrains Forecast: 3-6 Meters for South America’s Central Andes through Thursday

“We’re riding the storm out,” Portillo Ski School Director Katie White said in a video update shared on social media. “We’re enjoying getting this fresh snow.” White said that as soon as a weather window becomes available, the resort that’s located 2 hours south of Santiago will do “everything it can” to bring guests up to the its legendary hotel and slopes via helicopter and later, the road, once the Chilean Highway Department gets around to clearing it (highway snow maintenance in South America isn’t always as quick or efficient as in the US of A.)

This mega-storm comes only a few weeks after a slow start to the Austral winter that caused Portillo to push back its opening date. Now, snow forecasts are showing that the iconic Chilean ski area could receive up to 200″ of new snow by the end of July as an atmospheric river snow event bombards the Central Andes. Guests with reservations in the coming days have been contacted by the resort to alter their bookings, Portillo wrote on its social channels.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ski Portillo (@skiportillo)

North of Portillo, resorts in Santiago’s alpine corridor such as Valle Nevado and its sister resorts El Colorado and La Parva are getting heavily slammed by the atmospheric river as well. According to the SnowBrains Professional Meteorology Team: 

“The ongoing storm expands rapidly Thursday, crests across the central Andes from Thursday night through the weekend, and reloads with colder snow Monday through Wednesday. The deepest mountain totals through Thursday morning cluster at Valle Nevado, El Colorado, La Parva, and Portillo. At the high central resorts, 10-13:1 snow-to-liquid ratios during the first wave improve above 13:1 in the colder reload, supporting increasingly light snow.

Farther south from Portillo, ski resort Corralco reports a temporary closure, and ski slopes at Nevados de Chillán remain suspended. Elsewhere in Patagonia, lift-served terrain is mostly partially closed due to avalanche risk, with storm-related holds likely on exposed lifts.

At this time, 10 regions in Chile are under a state of emergency declared by Chile’s government in preparation for the snowfall and associated avalanches, flooding, and landslides that will inherently occur as a result of a storm this severe. The nation’s president José Antonio Kast posted to X on Tuesday about the severe winter storm, sharing:

“In the coming days, we will face a frontal system of great intensity. We are deployed and coordinating all the necessary resources to protect Chilean families.”

In the meantime, the nation must brave the storm while skiers and riders at its storied ski areas shelter in place and wait patiently for a respite from the constant battering of snow and wind and the increasing avalanche danger. Eagerly as they wait, holed up in little snow-covered strongholds throughout the Chilean Andes, shoveling snow, staying warm, conserving energy—one thing is for sure once the storm clears: there will be a hell of a lot of powder skiing to be had.