MundoAndino Home : Andes Chile Guide at Mundo Andino
Portillo, Chile
Ski Portillo Chile (usually known simply as Portillo) is a ski resort located about 2 hours drive northeast of Santiago, Chile. It is one of the largest ski areas in South America and is located entirely above the tree line. The ski season typically runs from mid-June to late-September.
Plans to build the ski area were drawn up in the 1930s, construction began in 1942 and the ski area was opened in 1949. Several of the ski lifts on the west side of the valley were destroyed by massive avalanches in 1965, but were successfully rebuilt in time for Portillo to host the alpine skiing World Championships in 1966. The area has since grown into one of the principal destinations for ski racers to train during the Northern Hemisphere summer and it has a reputation for offering some of the best powder snow anywhere.
The town was once served by the now disused Transandine Railway which ran from Mendoza in Argentina to Los Andes in Chile.
References
Also available under ISBN 0-246-13116-0.
External links
Ski Portillo Chile official site
Chile - Portillo Ski Resort / Overview
Chile - Portillo Ski Resort / Photo Gallery at ChileanSki.com
Need more information for your travel research or homework?
Ask your questions at the forum about Ski areas and resorts in Chile or help others to find answers.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Portillo, Chile
