Skiing in Chile

I can't make a fair comparison between Portillo and VN, but I'll offer what I've seen and heard.

Last season, a low snow year in Chile, VN was unskiable sooner than Portillo. I had intended to go there for 2 days after Port., but was told not to bother by a local driver, and some ski tourists who had just gone.

The road up is a lot hairier (though how that's possible, I have no idea.)

I bet VN is great conditions being equal, but I haven't been disappointed by Portillo yet.

My ski experience includes Switzerland, British Columbia, South America, and 12 US states, just to give an idea of what I compare to.

Xdog,
HI, is Portillo worth a week of skiing(in your standard)? I am aware of your staying in PC etc.
Deos the cost fair with the over all quality of skiing?

Talk to the guys at the Basin Ski Shop, they go every year. They have a great web page and a contact address. You can also see pictures from the various trips.

what is the basin ski shop's web site address?

I'd say that with good snow coverage, and the lake being frozen, there's as much skiing as anyone on this forum could handle. This assumes, of course, that you do not strictly ski on-piste.

If you don't stray off piste, and are a groomers only type, a week is too long to ski Portillo.

In a poor snowfall year (like Summer '03), a week can be too long as well.

Bear in mind, they try to push the Sat.-Sat. ski week on you, but you can do less time without substantial monetary penalty.

As far as cost, it really depends on what you value. If you're an ignorant schmuck (not implying such) who goes down there looking for US ski resort standards and amenities, you'll walk away disappointed.

If you're semi open minded, and down to immerse yourself in another culture, enjoy fine dining, meet interesting folks, and ski in the shadows of SA's tallest peaks, well then you'll love it like I did. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

basinski.com

No way dawg, the only thing you can blame on me is an informed decision.

You'll need to take those other issues up with mother nature.

I was in Portillo the same week as Xdog last year and had a fabulous time. 45cm of snow the first night sure helped. 3 days later you could still easily get some fresh turns in with a little traversing or a short hike. I've heard there is other great hike to terrain but after warming up considerably after the new snow stability did not allow for a lot of hiking.

I plan to hit Portillo this year again, probably for a week. In addition to skiing, the food was amazing, and I made a bunch of great friends. Enjoy the skiing, but go for the entire experience, you won't be disappointed (I hate Cruise Ships too, while I see the similarities, it's just not the same). I also plan to hit Las Lenas this year and am looking at some other options in Chili (Valle Nevado, Termas de Chillan, maybe some ski touring up some of the volcanoes).

rick,

a few questions:
1. where did you stay?
2. can a non-Spanish speaking group/individual "blend" in with the locals?
3. did you have any problem to get around>

thanks.

[ April 07, 2004, 07:15 AM: Message edited by: jackw ]

I stayed at the Octogon Lodge. I was traveling alone so I booked everything throught Portillo travel. My room, 4 amazing meals a day, and lift tickets (8 days of skiing if you skied every day including the day you arrive and leave) was under $1000. Flew into Santiago, the Portillo van drivers were right outside customs waiting for everyone that was arriving. I shared my room for half my vacation, but then had it to myself. I'm the type of traveler that likes to meet new people and since I was alone I figured sharing my room would be an easy way to get to know a few folks, and I used the money I saved to go Heli skiing for half a day. I think this summer I'll spring for my own room in the main part of the hotel. The rooms are kinda small, people were complaining about that the first day, but then you realize that you hardly ever spend any time in your room, you're skiing, at the hot tub, going to Yoga or fitness classes, hanging out in the big living room, hanging out in the dining room, etc, the rooms are perfectly adequate for sleeping in.

Portillo is not necessarily a "Chilean" experience, most of the guests at the hotel were American or Canadian with a few Europeans and Chileans mixed in. We did discover the little locals bar at the end of the driveway towards the end of our trip and I did find it very easy to mix with the locals despite my limited spanish. Chileans love to have a good time and I was there for the 30th anniversery of the coup that put Pinochet in power (which happened to be 9/11, another whole story) and independence day was just after I left, folks were dancing at the bar and celebrating and I was made to feel like a part of it all.

I did stay one night in Santiago on my way out, again took the Portillo shuttle back to Santiago and stayed at a nice hotel that was recommended by the Portillo travel agency (~$100 for the night). It just so happened that some of my new friends were staying there too, so we all got a driver the next day and took a trip out to the coast. Folks at the hotel spoke English and were happy to arrange for the van and english speaking driver for us.

BTW, one more thing, I do think that staying at Portillo is the only option. You could maybe do a day trip from Santiago but I doubt you'd do it more then once, it's a long drive on a mountain road that is a main route for trucks heading to Argentina. If you haven't been practicing passing trucks around blind curves it will take you a lot longer then the Portillo drivers. There is a little town along the way, but it's real small, did not look like it had much going on at all.

Thanks, Rick, for your report which is comforting and informative.

Great infos!! I was in doubt about traveling on my own (no Spanish at all¨) but it seems to be not a big deal. How ever I will try to find sb to join.

Just in case sb on this forum is interested to share accomodation and/or ski together:

Resorts: No yet decided
Time: mid August for about 2 – 2.5 weeks
Accommodation: *** to **** condo, apartment or ….

I just found this. If you are going this summer, this would be a great time to do it!!!!!

: : :

Portillo, Chile (Wednesday, April 7, 2004) - This summer, you could be hitting the Andes with some of the best freeskiers in the world at the first annual Ski with the Superstars Week in Portillo, Chile.

Organized by Davenport MountainSport Inc. and sponsored by Delta Airlines, Ski with the Superstars Week takes place from Aug. 21–28, 2004. Participants will have the opportunity to spend the week mastering the steeps and deeps of the Chilean Andes with top freeskiing champions, including Chris Anthony (1996 Alaskan Extreme Skiing Champion, veteran of eight World Championships and 15 Warren Miller Titles), Wendy Fischer (former U.S. ski team member and three-time World Extreme Skiing Champion), Chris Davenport (World Extreme Champion, 24 Hours of Aspen Winner, X Games Medallist, & Red Bull Ultracross Champion) and other top professional freeskiers. These athletes have starred in films by Warren Miller, Teton Gravity Research, and Matchstick Productions.

Ski with the Superstars Week costs US$1,000 and includes personalized instruction in small groups with a different freeskiing professional athlete each day, a special welcome cocktail reception and nightly slideshows and presentations by the athletes, and a professional photographer who will accompany the groups and present each participant with a CD of images at the end of the week. Lodging, lift tickets, and airfare are not included.

The week of August 21–28 is also the Chilean resort's annual Friends & Singles Week, which means a wealth of other activities as well. During this week, when two women share a room, the second woman stays and skis for 50% off a Portillo ski week package.

Portillo Ski Weeks begin at US$1650, including seven nights accommodations at the luxurious Hotel Portillo, seven days lift tickets, four meals each day in Hotel Portillo’s dining room, access to the fitness center, a glorious pool and other amenities. Rates in the more affordable Octagon lodge start at $1,050 per person based on quad occupancy including accommodations, lift tickets, meals in Hotel Portillo’s dining room and all amenities of the hotel.

Delta Airlines flies from Atlanta to Santiago daily.

hey,
what is the best way to get to portillo? How much does it cost to rent the cheapest car? Is it possible to travel to Portill for a couple days then to valle nevado for a couple of days? Thanks for the input.
Conor

Ullr - what about Charlotte Moats?

Thanks XDog.
Is it $50 roundtrip or one way? Also, any other way to get from portillo to valle nevado besides renting a car? Any buses go between the two areas? Thanks again.
conor

$50 each way.

Only way to go directly btwn. both resorts is private car, rented by you, or hired with a driver ($$$$).

You basically have to return to Santiago to get from one to the other.

We hooked up with the Basin Ski Shop crew at Valle Nevado a couple of weeks before the 9/11 thing happened. We got 11 feet of snow while I was there. We're headed back this August.

The main pistes under the lifts are fairly intermediate but you can traverse-to as steep as you want. The surface lift up to Colorado (one of the other two interconnected resorts) lets you access some interesting steeps that drop you a mile down the access road and you can arrange for a van driver to run shuttle service.

When I was there, we had so many snow days with flat light light that we didn't get the chance to wander over to the other two resorts. The total combined acreage of the three resorts is huge.

Valle Nevado feels like one of the purpose-built French resorts. Modern brick-faced buildings in a cluster. A half-dozen restaurants and 3 hotels at different price points. There are also condos if you're going with a group. It's all-inclusive and you get your lift ticket and 3 meals + afternoon "tea" in addition to your room. The only extras are alcohol, bottled water, and surcharges on some of the premium entrees.

* You do NOT want to rent a car. You're 2+ hours up a hairy road from Santiago at 9,500 feet. The last few miles of road are often snow covered and require chains. The car will sit while you're there since there's nowhere to go.

* I wouldn't rely on rental equipment. The stuff looked pretty dodgy to me.

* The mix of people is roughly 1/3 national team ski & snowboard. 1/3 Americans. 1/3 people from everywhere else. English works fine though a 20 word Spanish vocabulary is useful in the restaurants.

There's not much involved in booking a trip. Air, hotel through the resort, and transporation to the resort. There's a fairly hefty cash visa fee you have to pay at the airport. I think they nail Americans for $50 in US dollars. Vans to the ski resorts are right outside as you exit customs. I reserved ground transportation in advance but there are enough people going to the resorts that you could probably skip that. You can get the phone number for the resort from their web site.

http://www.vallenevado.com

Valle Nevado is definitively an excellent resort but you should know that it is above th tree lines that skiers are used to in USA. I will also be going there for my third time and hotels are good. They also have helicopter adventures with 15000 feet of skiing on the Andes.

Entry fee for US residents is now closer to $100.

The certificate is valid for the life of your passport.

Itator- Do you think that's really an issue for US skiers, no trees??? I'm thinking that's a good thing, less to crash into.

It's serious flat light conditions when it's cloudy. They often don't even run the main high speed quad when it's not sunny and you're often stuck following the bamboo piste markers to get any sense of up and down. Most places in North America, you can hide in the trees and get lots of contrast when it's like that.

Good point. Good thing the days are mostly sunny.

But I just got the impression that the poster thinks folks from the US would be intimidated or otherwise put off by skiing above treeline. Not so.