Katie in the Mountains: Viva la Sudamerica!

About this time every year I start to think about skiing again, especially when I wake up to snow on the Gore Range like I did on Saturday. And when I get emails from friends in Chile and Argentina that are filled with expletives and hyberbole about the snow conditions, I really start to itch.

It was about this time last year that I gave into my yearnings and headed to Portillo, Chile and Las Lenas, Argentina. What an awesome vacation! Two weeks of sun and amazing corn skiing in the Andes. Portillo is like the cruise ship of ski areas. Located about 2 hours from Santiago on the Argentine border, the only way there is via a narrow, winding road that crosses several avalanche paths. The resort itself is made up of one large hotel, a youth hostel, and a additional loding space called the Octagon- aptly named because it is truly shaped like an octagon.

All activity happens in the hotel from the three fabulous meals that come with you lodging package, to the apres seen in the hot tub, and in the event of an interlodge snow storm there is a huge gymnasium in the basement. The terrain is spectacularly varied with as much as 5,000 vertical feet of skiing if you are willingly to take your skis off and hike. The most notable feature is the crazy 5 person surface lifts that zip you up some of the slopes. They are almost a ride in and of themselves.

One of the highlights of the trip was the van ride over the border, through the Andes and the wine country of Mendoza, to Las Lenas. Las Lenas is much larger with several hotels and a small village area and much more terrain. The key to a good day in Las Lenas is the Marte chairlift which accesses the steep, rugged terrain of runs like Eduardos and the Manhattan coulior. We were lucky and the Marte ran 4 of the 6 days we skied. On the two days it didn't open due to high winds (like 80 mph) we skinned out to some of the surrounding peaks. Sometimes you have to earn your turns.