First Days of Skiing

Beautiful view of the lake for Sunday morning. Renee chose to sleep in and catch up on some missed sleep, and Sara, Anna and I made it out at the awesome hour of 11am. We learned that we should order our scrambled eggs "firm" (firma huevos revueltos), and we started out on the sunny side (Juncalillo - which an instructor told us is really pronounced "junk o' lillo"). That's the trail that goes over the highway twice on the way down, and over the highway four times on the way up.

Renee joined us in the afternoon, and after a few practice poma runs, rode the "easier" va-et-vient lift (La Condor). We learned that snowboarders ride the lift strapped in, which is definitely foreign. Anna barely held on, and was a little bit phased by it. The lift goes FAST! But with a little help from Dad, she made it to the top and we unloaded it semi-gracefully (I've certainly seen youtube videos that show worse).

We stopped for some pictures with the iconic Portillo hotel in the background. This is the Plateau run, which has some of the best snow.

And then later that evening (after "tea"), we went for some family pictures out on the balcony overlooking the lake.

And a tango demonstration in the evening

No one wanted to enter the Uno tournament - too exhausted after a day of skiing.

On Monday (7/15), the whole family made it down to breakfast at a reasonable hour of 9ish. The eggs were firmer, but I guess the adjective "very firm" will have to be added tomorrow. Out on the trails by 10:15am, it was already warm on the sunny side and Renee was snowboarding in a t-shirt.

Anna and I did some more poma practice and I managed to find a poma that was detachable - or at least slipped all the way down to the next poma. I was glad we were the only people on that lift. More va-et-vient practice on the Condor - we're getting ready for the Roca Jack which is much faster, longer, and steeper (the Roca Jack is the one in the above youtube video). She can now make it to the top without crying! :-).

The Las Canarios poma is quite interesting. All of the pomas are "pooled" at the bottom so when the lift is empty, just the cable runs. You line up at the bottom and put the next poma between your leg. When you say "go", the attendant pulls a bar and you attach on to the cable and it takes off!

Ski patrol took an excellent family portrait. Nice touch to get the Portillo umbrella in the picture...

So far, that's the picture of the vacation...


Some time at the pool, a quick nap. Sara went to yoga, while we went to the game room and did some "slack line" (basically a tightrope, but the "rope" is about the width of your foot). Still pretty challenging. I could balance on it but not go forward. Renee could traverse but had to steady herself on the attendant. We then saw a magic show (in Spanish, so it was a little bit hard to follow, but the general concepts are the same), the "early dinner" and then went back down for pool (Renee is getting pretty good) and some rock climbing.

Tomorrow - the Roca Jack awaits! Best to do it around 11-12 when the sun has warmed the slope enough. Its amazing how quickly it goes to shade in the afternoon.

Renee has reminded me that I forgot to tell the story about the first day, when I had a tough time finding my ski pants in all of our baggage. I found the pants, but thought it was strange because it wasn't the brand that I thought they were. Started to put them on and thought I had put on too much weight - they were way too difficult to strap. Turns out they were Renee's (who likes to buy her snowboard pants big). When we play the "laughing game" where we try to make each other laugh, retelling the story is one of the winners.