Portillo, Chile Conditions Report: From Bone Dry to Powder Fly

This video proves, once again, that Portillo, Chile has incredible terrain.  Wow.

Northern Chile has had a dry winter this year.  Portillo is the furthest north ski resort in Chile that we know of.  It sits at the same latitude as San Diego, CA.

Just last week Portillo released this statement on their Facebook page and their website:

“Most of our lifts are functioning and all of the major slopes have adequate snow pack although the winter in Chile has been very dry. This lighter snow pack and unseasonably warm weather has affected the quality of the snow on our pistes. We are in a spring freeze\thaw cycle, the snow is firm in the mornings and spring like in the afternoon.  Due to a recent wind event the snow is brown and dirty in places.” – Portillo

This all turned around this week when 16″ of fresh snow fell and turned Portillo into a freeride playground once again.  Portillo went from bone dry to powder fly.

“Here is an edit I put together from the past few days here in Portillo.  This edit shows how good the skiing is now.  It snowed about 40cm/16cm and more snow accumulated in some places due to the wind.   We are expecting another storm this weekend.  If this storm delivers we will be in great shape for the rest of the season.” – Andrew Rumph, SnowBrains’ Portillo Reporter on August 26th, 2014