Chile

Skiing in Chile and Argentina began with the building of the Central Trans-Andean railway from Valparaiso to Mendoza around the turn of the last century.As no roads then accessed the Uspallata pass, near the present-day resort of Portillo, the Norwegian and British engineers and workers contracted to build the railway were forced to ascend (and descend) on skis.

In the 1930s, the first ski clubs in Chile constructed mountain refugios, and by 1946 Portillo could boast the continent's first chairlift. Skiing spread quickly throughout the country, though operations remained modest until the 1980s, when a number of Chilean ski resorts improved lifts, services, and other infrastructure to world-class levels.