Portillo

When my brothers and I were younger, my father used to always entertain the idea of spending a few summer weeks skiing in Chile. Though he never followed through on the idea, my desire to ski during the summer months has not wavered. The only problem with summer skiing is that there are very few places to ski and most of them are quite hard to get to. In the early summer months there are a handful of glacial ski areas that offer June skiing such as Whistler/Blackcomb and Mt. Hood but the amount of ski-able terrain is limited. That leaves me with the Andes in South America and New Zealand. In terms of convenience, Chile seems like the much more suitable destination.



When my dad used to talk about Chile, my brothers and I ended up researching a few places. The most famous of which is Portillo. Portillo is located nearest to Los Andes, about 100 miles from the Chilean capital city of Santiago. The Andes are the world's most rugged mountain range and have the most unpredictable weather of any mountainous region. Portillo is no different. With a top elevation of 4020 meters (well over 2 miles) the mountain is battered with over 25 feet of snow a season. In fact, a majority of Northern Hemisphere skiers use Portillo as a summer training mountain including the national ski teams of the United States, Italy and Austria.



Offering luxurious resort/spas, unbelievable terrain and a very modest 450 skier/day limit, Portillo is a prime location for shredding up the summer months.