Yes, you did read that title correctly. And yes, this is my real life. Skiing the Andes was one of those experiences that made me feel so incredibly fortunate to be spending 5 months in this country.
There is a company here in Viña del Mar called
Ski Portillo that will be so kind as to take you up to the Portillo ski resort (about a 3 hour drive through some of the wildest switch backs I've come across), give you equipment, a lift ticket, and lessons, if you feel so inclined, for the low, low price of $45,000 CHP (approximately $90 USD). So, one chilly Friday morning we gathered at 5:00 in the morning to head up.
Portillo Ski Resort is, in a word, incredible. Incredible doesn't even begin to do it justice, and I can't list all of the synonyms for incredible because those won't truly serve either. The resort is situated around a beautiful alpine lake that will actually take your breath away...
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If you ever need a dose of humility and appreciation for the world's natural wonders, go to the Andes
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| Yes, this is a real place that exists on this earth |
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| Look! I was there! |
I hadn't popped my feet into skis since April, but it did feel good to get back out in the snow! Plus, let's be honest, it's not often that I am going to be able to ski in early September! The US ski team was also there practicing, which was great to watch--and you could say that they asked me for some skiing tips. The snow was slushy, but the weather was beautiful and sunny, so we got our fair share of runs in!
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| We also had to learn how to take on this strange, 4 man T Bar lift... |
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| Let's ski! |
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| For
those who know how I ski, you will be happy to know that I took one of
my signature tumbles that ended up bending this ski pole and causing a
ski patrolman to give me a candy. I suppose I do get some benefits from
being an intermediate skier with too much confidence. |
Around lunchtime I got a call from my friend Megan that went something like this...
Megan: "Hey dude, you wanna trade our skis in for a snowboard?"
Yours truly: "I have never even put on snowboard boots before"
Megan: "Me neither, but it should be fun!"
Yours truly: "...Well alrighty then!"
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| Welcome to Portillo, Chile!! |
The men at the rental desk seemed hesitant to give boards to two obviously rookie gringas, but we fluttered our eyelashes, won their hearts, and proceeded to hit the slopes. Thinking rather highly of ourselves, we hopped right on the lift...Better said, we hobbled over to the ski lift and then realized that we didn't actually know how to get on a lift with a snowboard strapped to one foot, so we looked lost until some lovely resort workers guided us. At the top was when we realized that we
really had no idea what we were doing. However, as is the pattern with skiing/snowboarding, what goes up must somehow come down. We worked our way slowly down the hill, making the most progress sitting on our butts, and eventually picked up some of the basics. After that first run, however, we resigned ourselves to the bunny hill for awhile.
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| The way I spent most of my snowboard experiment |
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| Megan giving her best lobo marino (sea lion) impression on the slopes |
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| We made lots of friends there! |
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| And it's to the bunny hill with us! |
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| But that bunny hill has never seen such natural talent |
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| Our "before snowboarding" photo |
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| Our "after" photo |
By the end of the day, I am proud to say that we made it down a whole run, spending only about 50% of the time on our backsides--I would call that progress!
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