This resort in the Andes mountains is offering some pretty good prices for a week of skiing in July.
I’d like to solicit opinions from anyone who has skied there.
Is it worth it?
They tout their off-piste slopes. Can a moderately good skier from the midwest handle these?
I’m pretty good at powder skiing, as I take an annual trip to the resorts in Summit County in Colorado, such as Vail, Loveland, and A-Basin. How do the slopes in Portillo compare?
How is the transportation from Santiago, where I’d be flying into?
Is there enough variety on the slopes to warrant a full week of skiing there? (I.e., would I get bored?)
My understanding is that July is the high season for skiing in Chile and Argentina, as that is the month that all of the schools are out, so it is extremely crowded. Early August is supposed to be less crowded and normally better snow.
The resorts in South America are generally much smaller than what you see in Colorado, especially Vail. The longest run at Portillo is only 1.5 miles, with only 2,500 ft. vertical drop. Compared to Vail and other Colorado mountains with 3,600 vertical drop and the longest runs in the 4 mile area.
We are planning on a ski trip to South America the summer of 2017. Our daughter is near fluent in Spanish, and plan on taking a family trip to ski, but we haven’t decided where to go. If you do go, I’d be interested in hearing your opinions.
I skied Portillo about 15 years ago. We went around labor day, so much later in the season. The vibe is a lot more like Europe than skiing in the States. No real trails to speak of, everything is skiiable.
One word of caution that caught us of guard is they really aren’t equiped to do avy work. So if they get a big storm, they just shut down parts of the mountain. We were either at Portillo or Valle nevado(we skied both)during a pretty large storm and 80pc if the mountain was closed.
Great experience though. Expect a lot of Brazilians.
I’m going to be in Chile the first two weeks of August and my host is planning on taking me to Valle Nevado and Antillanca for a few days. Like the OP, I’m a Midwesterner that usually gets out west once or twice a year. I’m comfortable skiing chutes/double black stuff, but I’m not the guy impressing people on the chairlift. I was planning on bringing my boots with me, but not my skis. In general, how does skiing in South America compare to the Rockies?
I’m surprised I was solicited for a July skiing package, because as Omar Little pointed out, that’s high season when I’d think the resorts would not need to entice skiers.
And the more I’ve learned, both here and elsewhere online, the more I think that this would be a very expensive trip, for some good, but not great, skiing.
So maybe if I get to that area on a business trip, I’ll check out these Andean resorts. But fly there specifically for a summer (North Hemisphere summer) trip, I think not.