Chile Ski Resort Could Set a New Record With December Closing Date

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It’s beginning to become absurd.

At Valle Nevado, a popular Chilean ski resort, the austral winter tends to last from June through September or, if conditions line up, October. November’s a stretch.

But this year, Valle Nevado met that watermark after a truly snowy season that allowed it to extend lift operations from October 18 to November 8, marking its latest closing date in history.

Now, Valle Nevado is announcing that it’ll keep the party going all the way until December 1. The November record shouldn’t last too long, weather permitting.

Here’s some context: currently, Valle Nevado is open at the same time as Colorado 2026-27 frontrunners Keystone and Arapahoe Basin. When December rolls around, it should be offering skiing alongside countless North American destinations, from Alta Ski Area to Killington and Palisades Tahoe.

The final stretch comes with tweaked hours and fewer open dates, according to a social media post breaking the news. Following November 8, Valle Nevado will be open Friday through Sunday, with a Monday and Tuesday tacked on at the end. The lifts will also start spinning earlier but close earlier—a common practice at resorts during the warmer months.

Valle Nevado Extended Season Operating Dates

• Friday, November 13 – Sunday, November 15

• Friday, November 20 – Sunday, November 22

• Friday, November 27 – Sunday, November 29

• Monday, November 30 – Tuesday, December 1

While the sun will start melting out the slopes at Valle Nevado eventually, the resort’s coverage still looks excellent given the time of year. Late season storms have certainly helped. In October, one system brought more than 40 inches of snow.

“Over a meter in mid spring and an image that looks like mid winter, but what we are living now, in October,” a Valle Nevado post about the storm read.

The strong sendoff follows a Chilean ski winter that’s been nothing short of memorable. Storms pounded parts of the country in July, bringing feet and feet of snow and shutting down the access road to another hotspot, Ski Portillo, for weeks. One member of the crew there at the time described to POWDER near-endless shoveling between board game sessions.

According to Chile’s Meteorological Directorate, Reuters reported, an intense El Niño episode has driven the surge in snow.

The ongoing El Niño—a recurring climate pattern tied to ocean temperatures, atmospheric patterns, and their knock-on effects—is still strengthening. Historically, the pattern tends to bring more moisture than usual to parts of South America. For Valle Nevado and others this austral winter, that’s translated to heavy snow.

That might bode well for certain ski states in North America this winter. Long-term outlooks shared by the Climate Prediction Center show raised odds of above-normal precipitation across the southern half of the U.S., including California, New Mexico, Nevada, and parts of Utah and Colorado.

Earlier this month, the agency said El Niño “looms large” over the winter outlook. We would, of course, prepare—whatever that means for your region—but don’t start counting the flakes before they fall.

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This story was originally published by POWDER on Oct 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add POWDER as a Preferred Source by clicking here.