snowmystr's Blog

Fortune has it that I was able to answer my phone while riding one of the steeper route out in the Oregon Coast Range late one August day. Could I TD a race on the 10th of September? Yep, didn't take me long to accept for 2 reasons. The ski area I was working for was putting the entire staff on unpaid leave for 20 days on...you can't believe it either? September 10th. The other reason I knew I could "take" the race was the location was one of those mystical locations that occupies the deep dreams of true skiers of any age - Portillo.

So a few weeks later as fate would have it I actually quit that job - you can't be the Director of Customer Experience for a resort that fails to prioritize the customers and employees as their most valued assets. Time to leave - find a new path. And strike out on a new path I did. Without going into detail here I am now the rep for Halti USA. You want to check out some quality ski clothing go to haltiUSA.com . But the path that led me to Portillo was blazed by some friends of mine from Canada. Seems their pre-Olympic plan included holding a race for their top guys and a few training partners, and any others available for a mid-week race at one of the most remote ski resorts in the universe.

So after the usual red-eye from America to South America - Santiago in this instance I found myself waiting for staff from Alpine Canada. A private van shuttled us to the resort after a round-about tour of Santiago. There was no rush. The road to the resort had been closed for days due to avalanche. Yep, talk about lucky a monster storm had dumped new snow high in the Andes...to take a short-cut through the dialogue we ended up being the first vehicle to head up the slopes from Los Andes to Portillo. Check in was a breeze, a nice dinner, a nearly sleepless night due to putting pillow creases in our faces well above 9,000 feet and voila' we were on the slopes the next morning. Counting our blessings, and testing our lungs as we surveyed the hill we would be "hosting" an FIS giant slalom on later in the week.

If you haven't been to Portillo, or even viewed theiir promotional photos online all I can say is WOW. It isn't the most modern place on the planet...but you can hardly surpass the pure beauty and proximity to some of the most challenging terrain to be found.

I'll fill you in more later. Have to power down my last pisco sour of the week and catch a taxi to the airport.

Oh, about that First Twinge of Spring thing. I walked for several hours today through Santiago, up into the Parque del Refugio and smelled the sweet energy of Spring. Unlike the retirement scents of a morning in Autumn you could hear new blossums straining for the sun. Tomorrow morning I will be back in Oregon. Glad that my garden survived likely the last 90 plus days of a Pacific Northwest summer, and remembering this morning. Spring and Autumn back to back. It will be interesting and memorable. Like my first trip to Portillo. I will be back.

snowmystr