Valle Nevado Announces Opening Day for 2024 Season

There's something truly magical about snowboarding at Valle Nevado. Just arriving at the Chilean resort, which sits above treeline on a diving board of a cliff surrounded by the beautiful and jagged peaks of the Andes, takes your breath away.

The resort just announced their opening day for the 2024 season: Friday, June 21st.

The base area of Valle Nevado a few winters ago.<p>Mary T. Walsh</p>
The base area of Valle Nevado a few winters ago.

Mary T. Walsh

The base of Valle Nevado sits at 9843 feet and the summit is 12,041 feet, which you reach by riding the Tres Puntas poma, the longest in South America. The mountain has been a destination for film crews and catalog shoots for years, most memorably in the "stuck in Chile" segment in Mack Dawg's 2006 video, Follow Me Around. Jeremy Jones, Jussi Oksanen, DCP and the film crew got stuck at Valle during an August storm that closed the access road and dumped nine feet of snow on the mountain.

The section starts at 7:18 in the video below, set to Dolly Parton's Jolene.

Located only 90 minutes from Santiago, Valle is a great day trip from the city, but staying in Farellones (the mountain town that is a hub for Valle, El Colorado, and La Parva) or at the base of Valle Nevado is an incredible experience to immerse yourself in the mountains.

The resort has really fun terrain, with long-winding runs, gullies, steeps, and a park. It's great on a powder day, though we recommend riding with someone who knows the resort to find the best stashes.

Valle is on the Ikon pass, too. You can get 4-7 days there depending on the pass version. The resort is also a member of Power Pass and Mountain Collective. And thanks to the partnership with Mountain Collective, children 12 and under can ride for free any day of the season. All the info can be found on Valle's website.

The iconic road from Farellones to Valle Nevado has 20 switchbacks—there's more when you drive all the way to Santiago, offering breathtaking views. <p>Cristian Torres/Getty</p>
The iconic road from Farellones to Valle Nevado has 20 switchbacks—there's more when you drive all the way to Santiago, offering breathtaking views.

Cristian Torres/Getty