After three nights in Farrellones we moved to the town of Los Andes. It was nice to be in a hotel with room to spread out. The downside was our room was 85 degrees. When I spoke to reception he suggested we open the window. I think this cooled the room down to 84. At one point during the night I was so hot that I stood next to the window for ten minutes to cool down. Even the tap water only came in two temperatures - hot and hotter. The only good news was I think the heat helped me sweat out most of my cold.
In the morning we headed off to Ski Arpa. This is a ski cat resort which means that there are no pomas. The drive from town was a little scary. We drove up a dirt road just wide enough for one car. The road was a series of very tight switch backs up the side of a mountain. I was glad to not be driving but would have appreciated a seatbelt.
Once we arrived, we had a quick safety talk and hopped on the ski cat. After several days of cloudy skies and high winds, we were blessed with a bluebird day. The only way the day could be better is if there was fresh snow, but we still managed to find some soft spots. I think both Colleen and I were happy that we had taken the previous day off because we needed fresh legs to manage the steep drops and areas with styrofoam-like snow.
Just before our final run, the clouds in the distance cleared and we got a spectacular view of Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Andes. We decided this was a good time for a photo shoot. It was a good thing too because just as our shoot finished the clouds rolled in and out sunny day turned cloudy.
The next day we headed to Portillo. This is the most famous resort in Chile. It is also the resort that sent me an email that led to our Chile adventure in the first place.
This was our last day of skiing and I think most of us were pretty tired. The resort is really amazing if you are fine with pomas, as you will remember - I'm not. They have several multi person pomas which look like a disaster waiting to happen. I opted out and stick to the basic groomed runs available via chairlifts.
After lunch I was forced to do one more poma, but once again, the poma won. Rather than give it the chance to school me further, I took off my board and hiked to the top of the lift. Halfway up I regretted this but was at the point of no return. Fortunately, it was the end of the day and I was able to recover/sleep on the drive back to Santiago.
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