Ski Resorts in Chile

There are definite bragging rights that go along with skiing by the highest mountain in the Americas, not to mention doing it while everyone else is at home sweating out the summer heat. Chile’s Portillo Resort butts up against 22,800-foot Mt. Aconcagua, and the ski season opens just as the Rockies are shutting down for the year. From June through October, Portillo offers all-above–treeline views of surrounding snow-drenched Andes Mountains and the glacial Laguna del Inca. Portillo is fairly isolated (don’t think Alive isolated, you will have amenities in this austral oasis) and lodging options are limited to Hotel Portillo, but the Spanish nightlife still manages to triumphantly splay into early-morning hours.

While Portillo, Chile’s oldest resort, is only 55 years young this year, the country’s other resorts, such as Valle Nevado, are making swift headway towards world-notoriety. Nevado has a projected 15-year, $225 million plan of expansion, but with the interconnected resorts El Colorado and La Parva, the resort already has more skiable acreage than anywhere else in the Southern Hemisphere (65 miles of groomed trails).