Горнолыжный курорт Портильо (Portillo)

Portillo is the oldest ski area in South America, and its history holds an important place in the legend of skiing. It is a history of adventurers and the Andes, and of dreams and accomplishments in the wonderful world of skiing. www.skiportillo.com Renato Snchez 4270, Las Condes. Santiago, Chile Tel: (56-2) 2630606 - Fax: (56-2) 263 0595 Hotel Portillo: (56-2) 361 7000 Toll Free USA: 1 800 829 5325 Toll Free Canad: (800) 514 2579 E-mail: info@skiportillo.com - reservas@skiportillo.com IT BEGAN WITH THE RAILROADS In 1887, the Chilean government contracted English engineers to study the feasibility of a railway through the Andes at Uspallata Pass, which could transport goods and passengers from Chile's Central Valley to the Argentine city of Mendoza, and eventually to Buenos Aires. The English engineers then contracted two Norwegian engineers, Elmar Rosenquist and Michel Hermundsen, to conduct winter studies of the proposed line. The Norwegians spent two winters in 1887 and 1888 traversing the region on skis. They were surely the first skiers to cross the slopes of the Portillo ski area. Two years later, in 1889, the Chilean government hired 14 Norwegian skiers to transport mail between Chile and Argentina. We are told that the plan was not successful and was not repeated. During the construction of the railroad, skiing was common among the engineers in charge, most of whom were Englishmen who used skis in their work - and no doubt for enjoyment. Following the inauguration of the international railroad in 1910, these pioneers were followed by recreational skiers who used the train to get to the top of the mountain at Caracoles so they could ski down to the Juncal crossing - an area that is now within the Portillo ski resort. Thus, the Transandean Railway became the first ski lift in Chile. THE FIRST LIFTS & THE HOTEL Ski clubs began to appear in Chile about this time and were the driving force behind the development of skiing in Chile. The first club was the German Excursion Club, founded in 1909 in Valparaso. By early 1930, skiing enthusiasts focused their efforts on developing the slopes around Laguna del Inca (Lake of the Inca), an area known as "Portillo," or "Little Pass." The first lift in the area was a tow lift similar, in a rudimentary fashion, to today's Poma lift. Adventure-seekers came from Europe and the United States to ski the Andes alongside Chileans. European ski instructors then arrived, and a small mountain hut for lodging was built, known as Hotel Portillo. The tiny Hotel Portillo grew and developed services. In the early 1940s, a stock company known as Hoteles de Cordillera S.A sold stock to pay for the construction of a large hotel that was to be known as the "Grand Hotel Portillo." But the company failed, and the hotel was still far from completion when World War II began, which then occupied the minds and energies of men. Later, the Corporation for Development of the Chilean government resumed construction and at last inaugurated the 125-room hotel in 1949. The ski area boasted two single chairlifts and one surface lift. The ski school, high-mountain school of the Chilean Army - and even guests - all pitched in to groom the slopes. The Portillo Ski Area was born. Portillo's first ski school director was the internationally famous French champion Emile Allais, who stayed until the mid-1950s. The great Stein Eriksen then took over the direction of the ski school. The 1950s were difficult years for Portillo as the government struggled with the complexities of running a ski area. Unable to make a profit, the government sold Portillo in 1962 to two North Americans, Bob Purcell and Dick Aldrich. It was one of the first government businesses sold to the private sector in the history of Chile. PORTILLO'S MODERN ERA BEGINS Bob Purcell and Dick Aldrich were two men who had long traveled and worked in Latin America. Both had skied in Portillo and were impressed by the magnificent beauty and incredible skiing that they found at the resort. Portillo offered great opportunities, and both felt the time had come to invest in modern ski facilities. They hired me, a green 26-year-old, as General Manager of the new organization. I think I was the only relatively young and adventure-minded person that they knew in the hotel business. I was a graduate of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and had worked for 5 years for the Hilton Corporation. I was tired of big city hotels and big corporation life, so I jumped at the chance and moved my whole family to Chile. I soon discovered that nearly everything that I had learned about the hotel business at Cornell and with Hilton was not going to be much help at Portillo. THE INAUGURATION We hired Olympic gold medallist Othmar Schneider as Director of Skiing and the U.S. firm Needham and Grohmann to start a publicity campaign. I began to try to get the hotel operation on its feet, hire some personnel and clean the place up (there was a large black sheep called Lumumba living in the living room of the hotel when I got there). To inaugurate the new management, on June 15, 1961, Bob and Dick chartered a plane from the Unites States to bring a group of skiing dignitaries to Portillo, among them Howard Head, Ernst Engel, Alf Engen, Merril Hastings, Mrs. John Randolph Hearst, Ernie McCulloch, Wille Schaeffler and Cliff Taylor. At that time, the only way up to Portillo was aboard a narrow-gauge railroad - and the train operation in the high Andes was precarious at best. The VIPs spent most of their first day in a tunnel on the railroad waiting for the railroad workers to clear an avalanche that had fallen across the tracks. In the meantime, we had no way of knowing where they were because communications were not much at the time. There was only one surface telephone line and only one telephone number: Portillo One. A line that worked just fine in the summer but went out with the first snowstorm each winter. Thankfully, everyone had fun, so the ski area inauguration was a success, of sorts. THE FIRST - AND ONLY - WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN LATIN AMERICA, 1966. At some point in that first year it occurred to us that Portillo and South American skiing needed an event to put it on the map. We requested the Alpine World Ski Championships for 1966. In those days the World Championship was very important because there were only two events on the skier's calendar when all of the worlds skiers could come together to test their skills, the Olympics and the World Championships. After a great deal of negotiating, politics and promises, and surely with serious misgivings on the part of the FIS, the races were awarded to The Chilean Ski Federation and Portillo when all of the worlds skiers a world’s skiers. The preparations for the World Cup were enormous. We designed and built new lifts, rooms and recreational facilities, prepared a downhill course, installed a communications system and improved our transportation system. We then planned a pre-championship race for August in 1965 to give the new installations a try and the national teams a chance to try out skiing in the summer, something that was very unusual for most teams in those days. Nature has a way of laughing at mankind in situations like this, and she went at it with a vengeance that year. On August 15, a typhoon from the South Pacific moved through Portillo, blowing winds of up to 200 KPH. Monstrous amounts of snow fell and avalanches took out all but two of the ski lifts including the two newly built chairlifts. The brand-new 1,800-meter Juncalillo Poma double chair lost 13 of 24 towers, including the base and return stations. Five skiers were killed in an avalanche that destroyed part of employee housing. Ski teams that had gathered for the event were trapped in Portillo - and when the weather cleared they had to ski out to the nearest train station 20 miles away. The FIS was understandably distressed and asked the Portillo owners what they intended to do. There was a great deal of soul searching, studies, estimat

Подробно о компании →