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by Travelocity.com Employees
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Gourmet meals. Massage and sauna. Four feet of fresh powder. And
the roads are closed.
Seeking refuge from the Dallas summer heat, six Travelocity employees
boarded an American Airlines flight bound for Santiago, Chile
late on a Friday night. Our final destination . . . Portillo.
The famous South American ski resort high in the Andes Mountains that
has played home to the U.S. ski team, the Chilean military’s mountain
survival school and even model/former-rockstar-wife Jerry Hall.
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"Travelocity
employees...
seeking refuge from the Dallas summer heat"
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Our nine hour flight ended early Saturday morning as the Boeing 767
touched down thirty minutes early at Santiago’s Arturo Benitez International
Airport. After the requisite coffee, we were met by our drivers, Guillermo
and his assistant Connie, both monolingual experts in all things Chilean.
Faced with a four hour journey into the mountains, the group called upon
the modest linguistic talents of two of its members for key bits of translation.
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Following twenty minutes of exhausting travel, our private
minibus arrived at our first rest stop – the am/pm Petrol Station/Minimart.
From there, we continued for another hour before reaching Los Andes,
the last signs of civilization on our arduous ascent into the mountains.
Following a hearty breakfast of empanadas, café con leche and
cheese puffs at the quaint Christ the Redeemer roadstop luncheonette,
we were on our way.
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"Exhausting travel in our private
minibus"
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Now, the only thing keeping us from our winter paradise was the obligatory
snowchain checkpoint and the 30 switch-backs that left several members
of our party wishing that they had packed Dramamine.
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"Picturesque Lake of the Incas"
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Upon arrival at the snowbound Hotel
Portillo, we were greeted in the warm lobby by the hotel staff
and Osa, a giant St. Bernard. The Hotel, celebrating its 50th anniversary
and situated just above the picturesque Lake of the Incas, is a mountain
oasis offering superb skiing for the expert and non-expert alike. In addition,
the hotel is a self-contained village with hundreds of additional activities
for those who may not be alpinistically-inclined.
Installed in our comfortable accommodations, we moved quickly to the
large dining room, where we would enjoy the first of our four-daily gourmet
meals (including ‘once,’ the Chilean version of high tea). Well-nourished
and with no thought of sleep, it was time to hit the slopes.
As a first stop, several members of the Travelocity group headed for
the renowned ski school, which counts Olympic Gold Medalists Stein Ericksen
and Othmar Schneider among its past Ski School Directors. The current
Director, Mike Rogan, is a U.S. Demonstration Team member and a contributor
to Ski Magazine
and other ski titles. We found the teachers to be extraordinarily professional,
and each tailored the lessons to meet our individual needs.
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Once the lessons were completed, there was still time to take some
of the individual runs. As frequent visitors to North American ski
resorts, we were immediately struck by the low-pressure atmosphere
on the slopes. With a maximum of 500 guests, you will never encounter
lift lines, nor will you feel as if you must constantly dodge fellow
skiers. Skiing is at your own pace, allowing for a relaxing and enjoyable
experience.
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"Skiing is at your own pace..a relaxing
and enjoyable experience."
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None of the hotel’s 125 rooms has a television or radio. This is to
encourage all of the guests – who usually stay for at least seven days
-- to take advantage of the apres-ski activities or, at the very least,
relax together in the giant living room. While the majority of Portillo’s
visitors hail from Argentina and Brazil, we ran into many North American
guests as well. The atmosphere is inviting, and it is all-but-impossible
to avoid meeting your fellow travelers.
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"Common area for a game of cards."
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As the snow began to fall heavily, we found ourselves quickly changing
out of our ski togs and making our way to the common area for a game
of cards, a quick read and a pre-dinner Pisco Sour. Entering the dining
room for the second time, we learned that the guests are assigned to
the
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same tables for all meals. By the end of our dinner, we knew our waiters
and the restaurant’s maitre d’ (a 30-year veteran) by name.
The group split up after dinner. Some went to bed (remember that we
had just arrived in Chile that morning!), some went to the hotel’s pub
to listen to the live band, a few watched a movie in the cinema, and still
others headed outdoors to the hotel’s heated swimming pool. The very late-goers
danced until 3 a.m. in the hotel disco.
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The following morning, we reassembled for breakfast at 9 a.m. Shortly
thereafter, the skiers collected their equipment from the convenient
ski and boot check stations located in the hotel’s basement. Little
did we know that this would be our last skiing opportunity for some
time.
As the noon hour approached, so did "La Nina,"
the largest winter
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"the largest winter storm to hit
the Andes since 1987"
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storm to hit the Andes since 1987. With swirling winds, zero visibility
and enough snow to keep Santa in business for many years to come, this
storm was destined to keep us off the slopes for at least a few days.
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Weather alone could not keep the Travelocity team at bay. That afternoon,
we fanned out to the far corners of the resort to take advantage of
the countless amenities including the fully-equipped gymnasium (with
aerobics room), volleyball court, gameroom, massage room, cinema, cybercafe/business
center and sauna. An evening snowball fight and return to the pub rounded
out the day.
The morning of day five in Portillo, we awoke to clearing skies and
the welcome sounds of dynamite. Portillo has an expert avalanche control
team, and we knew that the early morning blasts meant only one thing
– we had a big day of skiing ahead of us! After a hearty breakfast,
we hit the slopes, and by midmorning, the skies were clear and we were
floating through the knee deep powder off the Plateau chair lift.
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"..didn't keep the Travelocity
team at bay."
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The lift rides up were as exciting as the skiing, as we got to observe
members of the staff enjoy the winter wonderland conditions. Their jumps
and flips (and landings!) were great to watch.
By 1 p.m., our legs were growing tired and our stomachs were reminding
us it was lunchtime. So, we checked our skis and boots with the slopeside
valet and headed to the dining room.
The crews had been hard at work clearing the roads since first light,
so we knew this would be our last day in Portillo. We spent the afternoon
checking out the runs off the Las Lomas lift before heading to our
rooms to pack.
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"checking out the runs"
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Our journey down the mountain was an adventure in itself. Met late in
the evening by Guillermo, our original driver, we quickly found that the
30 switchbacks on the international highway had been transformed into
a single lane path cut in the snow. In one area, an avalanche had buried
the road, and crews had worked all day to cut a lane for passage. It was
over 20 feet deep, and from the road the snow rose like cliffs on either
side of our bus.
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"a full
day in Santiago"
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With only one flight a day back to Dallas, our late departure from Portillo
meant we would have an opportunity to spend a full day in Santiago before
heading to the airport. We hired a wonderful English-speaking driver to
take us on a tour of the city, and we all piled into his van for a day
of sightseeing and history lessons.
After a full week in Chile, we departed on American Airlines’ overnight
flight back to Dallas. Just before nodding off, we gathered to plan our
next adventure. Stay tuned…we guarantee you’ll wish you’d been there.
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On the Web:
American Airlines, United Airlines, Lan Chile, British Airways, Continental
Airlines, Iberia, and Lufthansa offer daily, non-stop service from principal
North American and European gateways to Santiago. Consult Travelocity
for schedule and fare information.
Hotel Portillo offers
a wide variety of accommodations to meet the needs of singles, couples,
group and family travelers. The Andean ski season runs from June to early
October.
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Contributing writers:
Elizabeth C. - Manager, Product Marketing
Ned. B - Director, Global Market Development
Contributing photographers:
Margie A. - Product Manager
Paul B. - Manager, Customer Relationships
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