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If skiing and riding in the summer is on your bucket list, make it happen this year with options from California to the Southern Hemisphere to the European Alps.

Chili’s Ski Portillo is the recipient of the latest gift of snow thanks to El Niño. The resort has received 5.5 feet of snow since Aug. 5, with more predicted. The road to/from Portillo is closed to traffic until at least Sun., Aug. 8 when it is hoped Chilean snowplows will be able to open it. Weather sites are forecasting El Niño will continue to deliver copious amounts of fresh powder this season. 

It’s been a slow start to the ski season in Argentina and Chile, but El Niño delivered a massive winter storm over the weekend with more than five feet of snow for the region’s ski resorts.

Chile’s Ski Portillo is putting a freeze on ski week prices for its 2015 season that runs June 20-Oct. 3, keeping 2014 costs. They’ve also added new mini ski week options and complimentary ski rental and group lessons in July packages.

Santiago’s Valle Nevado will open June 13, two weeks earlier than planned, because of a heavy snowfall. Ski Portillo plans to open June 21 after receiving nearly five feet of snow. 

Ski Portillo opened its 2013-14 season June 29 with more than four feet of snow and new offerings, particularly in the area of enhanced guest experiences off and on the slopes. Ski Portillo is about a two-hour drive from Santiago, but be sure to carry chains and pre-check weather conditions.