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Ski Portillo - Chile Ski Resort

Photo title:Lake at Ski Portillo Chile
via Flickr

Portillo probably provides the most comfortable and relaxed ski experience in South America. With nearly all the guests lodged together in the grand Hotel Portillo, you really get to know your fellow skiers, and most people who frequent Portillo tell you they return year after year for this congenial atmosphere. And, since the resort is owned and operated by North Americans, communication for English speakers is easier here than at any other South American ski area.

Portillo's greatest asset is, however, outside. Crisp, sparkling days are the rule with Andean condors soaring in the crystalline blue skies and skiers floating in thigh-deep styrofoam-snow between pointy, shadowed rock outcroppings. When the glassy Laguna del Inca isn't frozen, it perfectly reflects this pristine scene as if the spectacular sight needed repeating.

Portillo seems small on arrival because the ski area is split by the hotel complex and because the lifts don't even approach the surrounding 4,300m (14,000ft) summits. The highest lift-serviced points on both sides are about half way up steep avalanche chutes and are reached by Portillo's own lift, the Va et Vient. The best skiing is found by sneaking over ridges and around corners on high traverses from the tops of these surface lifts. It is here, in the snow pillows, wind pack, and corn deposits of Portillo's upper slopes, that Portillo justly earns praise from skiers around the world.


Far from being a tired and stodgy resort, Portillo has been continually upgraded by owner Henry Purcell over the years. In the early '90s, the grand old hotel (built by the state-owned railroad in the 1940s) was completely remodeled and Juncallilo was converted into a triple chair. In 1995, two new lifts were added: a quadruple chair in the Las Lomas beginner area, and a surface lift to ease the return to the hotel after skiing the Juncalillo side. In 1998, a new quad chairlift was added. It carries skiers from the hotel on the Juncalillo side to the base of Roca Jack. This chair solves an old access problem and replaces two old poma lifts.

Portillo also remains the king of snowmaking in South America. The million dollar investment insures an early July opening and draws from the clear waters of the adjacent lake. Their modern system covers over 30 acres of ski terrain on the Plateau side of the mountain. In this season's dry weather, this system makes Portillo the only resort with reliable skiing throughout the year.

See the resort page here: Ski Portillo