Snowiest Start to South America’s Season in 30 Years
Snowiest Start to South America’s Season in 30 Years
Published : 20-Jun-2024 12:54
South American's season proper is due to begin this weekend but most ski areas in Argentina and Chile have already been operating for 2-3 weeks having opened early due to exceptional autumn snowfall.
Up to six metres (20 feet) of pre-season snowfall has already been recorded at some centres and another 2.5 metres (100") is expected for the coming week. That's the most pre-season snow for 30 years, according to Portillo in Chile.
In fact, the latest snowfall is expected to be so heavy that Portillo, which has had nearly 4 metres of pre-season snowfall and had been opening Fridays to Sundays since the start of the month, has decided to delay its planned full-opening this weekend for a week, to the 26th.
However Argentina's Las Leñas, which has had more than 5 metres of snowfall on its upper mountain, is expected to open for its season.
It's a very different story across the South pacific with Australian and New Zealand ski areas seeing only limited snowfall so far at the start of their seasons.
Image from Las Lenas on 20 June credit Rod Malizia and Powder Quest.
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