Sunshine Sweetgrass Morgan

     Blogging daily is hard. Of course every week is a little different, but the reality of my life hardly changes from day to day. What's more is that life at the hotel repeats itself. The guests don't mind, as they only see Saturday to Saturday. I think few realize that the bands never change, the activities never change. Everything is cyclical at Portillo. But again no notices, so it's all good. In fact we pride ourselves on staying the same year after year, and being free of the commercial distractions and expansion that one would normally associate with "ski resort." Luckily this blogger's dilemma is resolved by Mother Nature and the weekly turnover.

Always and forever

      The weather is a constant topic of discussion here. From "Will it snow?" and "How much snow?" to "When will it be sunny again?" and so on... Well this week it was sunny. In the course of the last seven days, the snow conditions have gone from powder to soft crud to nice slop to heavy slop. Sometimes "despejado" is the way we like it - hence the logo... However, too much sun and even the best conditions will start to decline. Nearer the base it was spring skiing today and yesterday. Fortunately the higher one got the more consistent the conditions. Still tomorrow looks to continue the warm weather pattern, letting guests remember Portillo the right way: with a goggle tan. Whether they'll admit it or not, people are definitely thinking about that quintessential ski souveneir, if only to brag to their co-workers that they went skiing... in July... in Chile. Hey I don't blame them. The Portillo experience is memorable, and a ski tan can say it all. Just don't let me catch you on the deck sunbathing with your goggles on...


   New groups of guests also keep things interesting (and occasionally more challenging) from week to week. The interesting ones this week, in my opinion, were the dudes from Sweetgrass Productions. They arrived last week, before the last storm, to shoot the final segments for their new film, Solitaire (trailer!). It's likely you've never heard of Sweetgrass. To date this budding Colorado film company has only done a few feature films, namely Signatures. However, their unique approach makes me think that Solitaire will be epic. The project is two years in the making and shot entirely in South America. When I say South America, I don't mean Chile and Argentina only. These guys hiked deep into the unknow cordilleras of Peru and Bolivia as well... Plus instead of just mindless snow porn, Solitaire, is a Conradian travelogue, as the various crews daringly cross into the continent's most untamed regions. Like past Sweetgrass films, I anticipate that Solitaire will be a contemplative, albeit highly entertaining, ski movie. And if you haven't already, watch Signatures, which features Japan-only sequences and loads of Zen wisdom. As for the "challenging" group, that award goes to JP Morgan's recent mini-summit. Although the event was excellently organized, as with any group their size, problems inevitably arose. Can you imagine trying to coordinate an on-mountain dinner for 70 at Tio Bob's, running Plateau lift in complete darkness? But guest complaints were keep to a minimum and everyone enjoyed their stay. That's all I'm going to say about JP Morgan.



Clear skies