I witnessed The Santa Rosa in Portillo last year. She buried my building. Maintenance had to come and dig a corridor down to the front door in order to let us out. This year we have seen little snow, no Santa Rosa, and it has been quite disappointing for us resident ski bums. We are not even close to approaching Portillo’s 480 inch seasonal average and we have been disappointed by multiple weaker-than-expected-storms. Then, about a week ago, people started talking about massive systems gathering strength far out in the Pacific Ocean. They said that the real storms were coming; the mythical Santa Rosa and her friends, pacific storms that pound the Andes in August.
But after so many disappointments this season, I was skeptical. I have only seen one condor in the past few days. Condors, who have lived in Portillo far longer than our weather forecaster, can sense storms coming. They bajan (they come down) to hunt and feed before they take shelter from the storm. The result is a spectacle of condors soaring overhead with their 9 foot wingspans in plain view. I guess the condors are going to go hungry this time because it seems that they forgot to come down to hunt and the storm is definitely here.
Earlier today, accompanied by my buddy Nick and ski greats Chris Davenport, and Ingrid Backstrom, I was stuck on the chair lift for a good 5 minutes due to extreme winds from the approaching storm. Then, when I got back to my room, I discovered that my window had been shattered from being slammed by the wind. Actually, the storm is getting so fierce at the moment that I am going to have to stop writing and brave the 200 yard trek from my building to the hotel before it gets too intense to cross. The whiteouts can be so thick that it is dangerous even to walk a couple hundred feet.
I have to make the crossing to the hotel now or like the condors, I’ll have to go hungry tonight. If the storm is too fierce to walk back to our living quarters, we may be lucky enough to stay in the hotel or catch a ride back across with a snowcat. I will give an update when these storms are over. Forecasts for Friday and Saturday’s storm predict 3 to 4 feet and a bigger storm is in the pacific lineup, scheduled to hit Monday, Tuesday, and roll out on Wednesday.
Congratulations to Portillo for creating this blog. The website also seems pretty updated. I always try to keep myself updated, but the south american resorts' websites don't seem to really care about the internet. The blog is great, and I can see there's been a post every day or so. I've never been to Portillo, but this is definetly a step up from what the other resorts are doing. Keep it up!
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