What's on in Valle Nevado, Chile through the year

Busy — Summer holidays in Chile, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Closed for the summer (20 Oct – 10 Jun (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Chile, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Closed for the summer (20 Oct – 10 Jun (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Chile, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Closed for the summer (20 Oct – 10 Jun (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Closed for the summer (20 Oct – 10 Jun (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Closed for the summer (20 Oct – 10 Jun (usually))

Busy — Winter holidays in Chile

• Rule

  Chains on the Farellones road

  1 Jun – 15 Oct · usuallyRiskClosures

  The only way up is sixty hairpins from Santiago, where the police check for chains and run the last stretch one way at fixed hours. Leave before seven or plan to sit in it. Source ↗

• Opening

  Valle Nevado opens

  19 JunSki season

  The resort usually turns the lifts on in the third week of June, sometimes on partial terrain while it waits for a storm. The opening date is announced only a few weeks out. Source ↗

• Season

  Ski season

  19 Jun – 5 Oct · usually

  Above the treeline at 3,000 metres with nothing around it but the Andes, running from about the third week of June to early October. A big year pushes the closing date well into October.

Still on: Closed for the summer (20 Oct – 10 Jun (usually))

Peak crowds — travelers describe it as peak season, July winter holidays

• Season

  July winter holidays

  10 Jul – 10 Aug · usuallySchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  Chilean and Brazilian school breaks land on the best snow of the season, so the middle of July to early August is the busiest and dearest fortnight and the lift queues show it.

Still on: Chains on the Farellones road (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), Valle Nevado opens (19 Jun), Ski season (19 Jun – 5 Oct (usually))

Busy — July winter holidays

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Chains on the Farellones road (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), Ski season (19 Jun – 5 Oct (usually)), July winter holidays (10 Jul – 10 Aug (usually))

Busy — Fiestas Patrias recess in Chile

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Chains on the Farellones road (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), Ski season (19 Jun – 5 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Season

  Closed for the summer

  20 Oct – 10 Jun · usuallyOff-season shutdownClosures

  Everything shuts once the snow goes: no lifts, no hotels, no reason to drive up unless you are cycling the hairpins. The mountain is genuinely a one-season place.

Still on: Chains on the Farellones road (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), Ski season (19 Jun – 5 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Closed for the summer (20 Oct – 10 Jun (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Chile, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Closed for the summer (20 Oct – 10 Jun (usually))