got back on Sunday. what a trip! no doubt one of the best trips I have ever been on.
even though no new snow while we were there, still was excellent skiing. It felt like our own private mountain with how few others were there out on the slopes. no lines, no crowds and you could do the condor lifts continuously until your lungs burst. Such a different feeling than CO resorts.
First day was high winds and lifts were touch and go. but we still got tons of skiing but the main lift that goes up to Tio Bobs was shut down most of the day. after that it was smooth sailing. We stayed in one the chalets just off the main hotel and while the building was past due for a renovation by about 10 years, waking up to that view of the lake every morning made up for it. Bathrooms were tiny but we really cared about the living room which was spacious and the kids fought over who got to sleep and hang out in the 'wedge' (windowed part in the first pic).
you are kinda forced into a slower pace as all meals are provided with the hotel fee. Full sit down breakfast, 3-course lunch, 3 course dinner. So a far cry from grabbing a coffee on the way to get in line before the lift opens at a stateside resort, then either scarfing a homemade sandwich or getting ripped off at a crowded on-mountain lunch spot. We got out later than we liked, but it just did not matter due to empty runs and non-existent lift lines. The only down side was the Chilean army or reserves was training some of the days and 10-20 soldiers were on the runs at any given time.
we missed the wine week (started this week i think) but they still had a 'test-run' wine tasting from Vik in the hotel which was excellent if all in Spanish.
The condor lifts were cool
I was not prepared for how fast they drag you up the mountain. took a little getting used to on my snowboard. kids and wife had no issue with skis. But you could get dragged up the mountain, ski down and be hooked up for another run in like 2-3 minutes. repeat until fried.
The boy and i took this one down
a little rocky on top but not too bad after that. he set a PR for speed (at least on ski tracks ap) at 68mph. again the lack of crowds meant you could really go all out. here is a pick mid-day on a cloudless blue-bird day. it's practically empty
Everyone was really friendly. We had to lean on our broken Spanish a lot more than i thought we would though. not many Americans %-wise that we ran into.
We killed a few hours before our flight home walking around the Plaza de Armas in Santiago but that was about the only excursion we did. you are pretty trapped at the hotel once getting there. It is astounding that so many 'local' tourist take cars, buses etc... to just get into the parking lot and public area of the hotel to see the Inca Lake and take pics. Saturdays were a zoo getting in and out but the hotel transpo did a great job of getting us in and out.
Everywhere you looked, it was just stunning. view from our deck.