Portillo is well known for its blissful days of clear skies and lots of sun. The yellow hotel itself almost bursts with light. But as the saying goes, too much of a good thing is often dangerous, and last week Portillo needed snow… not more sol. Like many of the nearby resorts, the Portillo was forced to painfully delay the season opening as it waited for that fluffy white stuff to make its graceful arrival. While pushing back opening day is never optimal, it made today, the first ski day of the year, that much better for everyone.
It’s no secret that Portillo is a special place – and not simply because of the world-class skiing. This will be my second year working at the hotel, and I was as impatient to return as anyone. I had originally decided to spend my summers in the frigid cold of the Chilean Andes because I love to ski, and the prospect of making turns from June to October seemed pretty great. Yet after last winter, my love of Portillo stemmed as much from the intangibles – the friendships and the memories– as it did from the skiing. Generations of guests and employees will agree: it’s the complete atmosphere, the classic yet ever-welcoming nature of the Portillo experience, which made postponing the start of this season so painful. People want to be here; they want to reunite with old friends and a hotel that has been their winter home for decades. Guests that are new to Portillo will quickly learn that the skiing is only a slice of what Portillo has to offer, and now that the snow has finally fallen they’ll have the opportunity to do just that.
This last storm shored up the base we needed, and guests have been pouring in all morning. The front desk, where I work, has been overrun with folks eager to take advantage of the new snow – many having had their reservations rescheduled from the week before. What I love most about working in reception is the opportunity to talk with them all, to answer questions and placate concerns. Behind the front desk are brokers of information – snow conditions, entertainment, the how’s and where’s of the hotel, we know it all.
This same paradigm of sharing is what will frame the Portillo blog for 2011. There’s a lot going on here this winter and I’ll be covering all of it. As in years past, Portillo will host camps and teams from the world over. We’ll have wine week and friend’s week and kid’s week… And although my job is to know what’s going on, there are probably a few surprises that even I’m still unaware of. Nevertheless, my entries will ultimately be notes from the desk (the front desk, that is), consisting of much of the same information that I relay everyday as a receptionist. And if you can bear the some banal commentary from a gringo, I’ll share that too.
Like I said, Portillo is a sunny place, and today is no exception. But as it should, the warm sun has followed the soft snow and the slopes are filled with friends and families alike. One of my favorite things to do on days like this is to stand on the hotel deck that overlooks the lake. It’ll freeze over in a month or so, but until then it will sit in majestic silence. It’s a welcome stillness from the front desk downstairs, where the screams of children and the clamoring of ski boots can only mean one thing: the 2011 ski season in Portillo has officially begun!- Alec Barfield
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