Portillo Is on Every Serious Skier’s Bucket List, but This Resort in the Middle of the Chilean Andes Is More Like Sleepaway Camp for Adults Who Also Love Pisco Sours, Teatime, and Staying Put.
ON A BLUEBIRD day at Portillo, when the sun’s warmth is inescapable and the snow is soft and light underfoot, you look out at Laguna del Inca, a celestial indigo lake reflecting the sharp peaked mountains without a ripple, and you think, This is one of the most gorgeous natural bodies of water I will ever lay my eyes on. Of course, it would be hidden in the middle of the Chilean Andes, requiring a two-hour drive from Santiago up a series of winding switchbacks. But when you’re staring at it from the top of the Lake Run on a grim overcast day, gripping your edges on an impossibly steep face, you think, This lake, which has turned a dark blue I can only describe as genuinely malignant, may be the end of me.
“We pulled out five vicuñas from there yesterday,” says Portillo’s operations manager, Mike Rogan, who offered to take me, my husband, and a few others here, including a Slovenian astrophysicist and a software engineer from San Francisco, despite less-than-stellar snow conditions that day. “Were they alive?” asked someone who had drunk one too many glasses of vino tinto at lunch. “Nope,” Rogan said. “Okay, now we have to take off our skis and very carefully walk across this shale in our boots.” I’ve skied most of my life, on varied backcountry terrain, in blizzards, and in freezing temperatures. But this was a first for me.
This story is from the January 2017 edition of Condé Nast Traveler.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 2017 edition of Condé Nast Traveler.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Animal Kingdom
A massive effort in Saudi Arabia to restore its endemic flora and fauna is underway. Now, the country is looking to tourism to help support it
Building Change
On a pristine stretch of Mexico's southwestern coast, anew developmentis grounded in community and creativity
karma chameleon
A generation after Berlin's reinvention as the after-hours king of Western Europe, the German capital enters a new chapter as a softer-edged city that has settled more fully into its own skin
SWELL TIMES
Palm-tree-lined beaches? Check. Excellent reef breaks? Check. A cool-kid scene complete with surf stays, yoga retreats, and oceanfront cafés? Check, check, check. Sri Lanka's south coast has all the ingredients to become the next great lifestyle destination
OUT IN THE OPEN
A trip through Canada's remote Northwest Territories showcases the region's starkly beautiful landscapes and the Indigenous communities whose stories and ways of life have become newly accessible to travelers
los angeles plays itself
No place delights in retelling its own tale quite like the City of Angels. Now, a wave of chefs, hoteliers, and entrepreneurs is remixing the classics to usher in a new Golden Age
It's for everyone - Men are discovering the value of self-care too
IT IS A SUNNY winter morning, and I can see snowcapped peaks in the distance. The fragrance of pine fills the air. Birds chatter in the trees above.
It's for healing - Thailand's storied retreats offer an emotional reset
SUNSHINE WOULD HAVE been too much after three years that felt like one long dark tunnel. I arrive, exhausted, on Koh Samui during a monsoon, the wet jungle swaying with the energy of renewal. That night, a lullaby of raindrops helps me drift off to sleep. The far-off storm flashing on the horizon expels my subliminal rage. I awaken, refreshed, to birdsong.
It's learning to lead - Visiting Greece to succeed at work in New York
ON A BRIGHT November afternoon at Euphoria Retreat on the Peloponnese peninsula, I find myself curled in the fetal position, my body supported by the cool wood floor.
It's a way to push yourself - A plunge into the ocean at the end of the earth
I'M WEARING A BARBIE-PINK bathing suit, but there are no palm trees in sight. The snow has just stopped falling and I can see broken chunks of iceberg inching toward the ship I'm on. The ambient temperature is 29 Fahrenheit.
