Portillo's Promise: Keeping Skiing Personal in a Corporate World

In this episode the Ski Moms are joined by Ellen Guidera who serves on the board of Portillo Ski Resort and previously oversaw its marketing operations. Ellen's path to Portillo began as a ski instructor fresh out of Middlebury College, then after an impressive corporate career including 11 years with Disney, Ellen returned to Portillo in 1997 to join the company full-time.

In this intimate conversation recorded over tea at Portillo (Chile), Ellen shares the unique story and philosophy behind one of skiing's most distinctive destinations. She discusses the resort's deliberate decision to remain independent of major ski consortiums like Epic and Ikon passes, emphasizing their commitment to maintaining a boutique, personalized experience. 

The conversation explores how Portillo creates different atmospheres throughout the season, from family-focused weeks to more adult-oriented periods in August, while consistently delivering exceptional service and maintaining its authentic character.

Ellen provides fascinating insights into the challenges and rewards of operating an isolated ski resort in Chile, from managing supplies and weather challenges to navigating government relations. The resort's strategic vision is focused on remaining boutique while continuously improving facilities and guest experiences.

Resources and practical information for visitors include details about Portillo's various lodging options, such as The Octagon and Inca facilities, which offer more economical choices for families. The iconic Tio Bob's mountain restaurant is highlighted as a must-visit destination for guests seeking the full Portillo experience.

Notable Quotes:

"We are not big corporate. We don't want to be and we're not... We said no to Epic Pass and we said no to Ikon Pass because that's not who we are."

"I think what I'm most passionate about is maintaining this place, getting the word out to people, keeping it special... I find truth, beauty and authenticity super important."

Junior Lease appointments at Ski Haus are open! Book for each child 16 or under to get skis or a snowboard, boots, and bindings—plus a free Tenney season pass, Cranmore ticket & more. skihaus.com

This autumn, Ulster County is the perfect place for a family-friendly getaway.  Learn more at  visitulstercountyny.com/

Shop the Diamant Weekend Warrior Bag 2.0 at www.diamantskiing.com and use code SKIMOMS to save 10%

Invest in your season with this TSA Approved carry-on boot bag, it's a game changer and built to last. 

Transcript

Nicole: Welcome back to the Ski Moms podcast. It's season five, and we're hitting the slopes. We're sharing real, unfiltered stories of motherhood on the snow. From conquering the bunny hill with toddlers to squeezing in your own powder days, this season celebrates every type of ski mom.

Thanks for joining us. We've got a great season lined up, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Hey, ski moms. This is a special episode. Sarah had to sit this one out, but I want to share this conversation I had over tea at Portillo with Ellen Guidara.

She is.

Oversees the marketing and is on the board at the Portillo Ski Resort. It's incredibly special,

and I try to capture a little bit of its essence and her time there and what led her to this resort in this conversation.

So we've recorded it in the summer, and I want to share it with you now. We have another Portillo episode that you should definitely check out that has more of the nuts and bolts of planning the trip.

But this is about Ellen's history,

her present, and just how incredibly special Portillo is. So enjoy, and Sarah and I will be back together in the podcast booth very soon.

You learned to ski in Wisconsin?

Ellen: Minnesota.

Nicole: Minnesota.

Ellen: Okay. My. My dad was from Long island and my mom was from Boston. They moved to Minnesota when I was in third grade and we started skiing. That's when they started and when I started.

Okay.

Nicole: So everybody is as a family.

Ellen: It was our family sport. Yeah, excellent. Yeah, it was really great. So I do know the family thing, you know, and for my family, I'm. We have. I'm one of seven and my parents.

Nicole: Yeah, it's a lot to afford skiing. I guess things just got passed down. Like, once you outgrew a boot, it went to the next kid and.

Ellen: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Luckily, I was one of the older ones.

Yeah. So we moved there, and that was what they did with us. Like, okay, we're going to learn to ski.

And our family would ski every weekend,

and I would go with my dad weeknights sometimes because he became a fanatic. He loved to ski. And, yeah, my mom was busy because there were a lot of kids, so I'd go skiing.

So we skied a lot, but I never. I never raced at that time.

Nicole: Were you at Buck Hill or were you at.

Ellen: So my. I went to high school with. Do you know the Stone family? They're the owners of Buck Hill. So Cindy Stone was one of my best friends, and she was already really good.

And I.

I don't know about you. I had done gymnastics and I knew that to be like,

really good, you had to start when you're about 7. So I'm like in 10th or 11th grade and I already think I'm too old to be a racer. And we weren't buck hill skiers anyway,

so. So I didn't start. But I. We skied at a little place that doesn't exist anymore for the first year. So then we along, we'd get seasons passes to Trollhagen.

Nicole: Well, you must have gotten the bug strongly for skiing at some point to be able to want to come to spend your summer in the snow.

Ellen: So even though I didn't race, I was a very good skier. Really strong. I guess gymnastics helped there.

And more of a bump skier, not really a carver.

So I went to school in Colorado State the first two years, and I did go out for the ski team there. Nice. And yeah, I wasn't really very good, but started to learn about racing and, you know, carving a little bit.

And then I transferred to Middlebury,

and at Middlebury, they already had such a good team, so I went on the ski school.

So, you know, skiing was part of my life since we started as a family.

And so at Middlebury, I was on the ski school.

And,

you know, I heard about Portillo and thought that sounds fun. And so I.

And I had seen a picture of it in my, like, seventh grade Spanish book. But anyway, there had been a picture that I remembered because it was skiing in South America.

Right. But I heard about this, that the Sugar Bush Ski School at that time in the year 1980 was the ski school that would come to Port Dieu. So I went and applied for a job with Siggy Grotendorfer, who was the director then.

And I drove over there and they. I think they thought since I was going to Middlebury that I was really good at Spanish if I was an ecom major. So I really wasn't.

I was taking French.

Nicole: Yeah, they really are known for their language programs here.

Ellen: So anyway, I got the job and a week after I graduated, I came here. Wow. Instructor. Yeah, it was really incredible.

Nicole: That's a really big leap for somebody that young.

Ellen: And it was always adventurous. I had taken a year off between CSU and Middlebury and went to Europe.

Nicole: Okay.

Ellen: They had already gone all over Europe, and now Middlebury was ending. I didn't know what to do.

And I heard about that, so, hey, why not?

And it was just one season. I just only did one season here and then traveled around in South America after and got home for Christmas. And then I went and worked at Sugarbush from.

I think I probably showed up New Year's Day after New Year's and stayed till the end of the season, that season. So I had one year of being instructor, then I joined the Real World.

Nicole: Yeah. And then did you pick up a lot of Spanish in that year that you were here and traveling?

Ellen: Well, the way it works is, like, you do learn the ski instructions. Spanish.

Nicole: Yeah. Derecho. Yeah.

Ellen: And pujetus talones.

Yeah. So I did. I learned more,

probably. Probably. I mean, I didn't come home fluent or anything, but I did used to think it was sort of funny. I mean, I was only 22. Right. So. And at the beginning of the season, I.

And the other. There were six women and the rest were men. And at the beginning.

No, sorry, there were eight women. We were divided into two rooms of four.

And at the beginning,

we taught kids and the men taught the adults. Right.

But you can. It would have been like, now there were a lot of kids, so it made sense to.

But during that time of teaching the kids, you know,

it was. I, I. I started to do a thing where I'd be going up the left. Yeah. Like, you could teach them the skiing in Spanish really well. But then you're going up the lift, and the conversation was a little trickier.

And I'd say something like, mia buela tieri una maquina. My grandmother has a machine. Just to say that, to see what they would. And it was just so funny. They'd, like, look at me, like, oh, my God,

what is she talking about? And so I always loved the kind of. To pull it non sequitur on those little kids. It was really cute. That was, like, incredibly fun.

Actually, the d. School life was ridiculous. I mean, you know, I was pretty innocent when I came here. And the other instructors, they always have been a professional ski school, so I was like, the lowest.

Right.

Right out of school. A lot of them were in their 30s, even young 30s. But that seemed really old to me,

you know, and they were really good skiers. And they taught. They'd been teaching at Sugarbush for a long time, so. And they were more advanced, like partiers, eye opening.

Nicole: So you went. You went back to work, a job that you required, like, no ski boots on your feet.

Ellen: Right. I was thinking about coming back for a season, but at the same time,

I had interviewed for a job with a congressman from Minnesota.

And my mom being a mom, you know, since this is a mom's thing,

I got mommed because the phone call came. You know, it was when the phone's in the kitchen on the wall, right? And I'm in the kitchen, and it's.

It's the congressman's office,

and they're offering me a job, right? And I. And I'm still waiting to hear a little bit about coming back to Portillo.

And my mother is like, she knows that it's the congressman and getting a job offer, right. And she also knows I am being pulled to go back to that. And she's like, you know, just like the eyeballs.

Nicole: Are you crazy? Yeah.

Ellen: I don't know.

So I took that job, and it was fabulous. I mean, that really. That. That was the bend in the road that led to my life, really. I mean,

it all adds up, right? But that. That was really good. So I went and I worked for three years for this great moderate congressman. He was a Republican, but sort of like the first George Bush.

They were friends. I mean, it was. He was a lot like that, sort of moderate, center Republican,

and a great. A really good man. His name is Bill Frenzel. He wasn't well known. He always liked to say, there are workhorses and show horses.

So.

And I got to do.

I was the first of three knew people who showed up.

And so I got to pick my assignments first, and I picked the Budget Committee, which probably he had in mind for, you know, the guy who was coming two weeks later.

But I got it, and it was. That was really amazing. I mean, Ronald Reagan was president, and Bill Frenzel was, like, the number two Republican on the Budget Committee. And he and I.

I got to do his Budget Committee work. And so.

Nicole: So we were going back and forth to D.C. i lived in D.C. you lived in D.C. i moved to D.C.

Ellen: So I moved to D.C. like, a couple weeks after Reagan got shot, and did that for three years as a legislative assistant.

And then I applied to business school. I went to Harvard Business School, but when I got in, then took another job for a few months in Massachusetts working on a Senate campaign for Elliot Richardson.

I think they liked that I had taught skiing in Chile, you know,

and that was a whole essay I wrote about teaching skiing and being an ambassador and,

you know, taking care of guests and blah, blah, blah.

Nicole: Yeah. And I think there. I don't know what it is now. It's probably still not even 50, 50 women, but.

Ellen: No, it's not.

Nicole: I think that you were a very interesting case.

Ellen: I think so.

Nicole: And really added to the conversation there.

Ellen: But I think I. I was a unique customer.

Nicole: And I do, I think that from my understanding, you know, Harvard is a real. It's not necessarily like one of the more entrepreneurial business schools. It's not necessarily more. One of the.

More like finance oriented. You can really find your passion and your people there.

I opened the office in it for.

Nicole: In.

Ellen: For Disney in India.

Nicole: So after business school you took a job with Disney?

Ellen: Yeah, I went to Disney, moved to California.

Nicole: Big company.

Ellen: Yeah, I was in the consumer products area. So I was doing licensing and I did that three years and then I moved to Hong Kong. And that would have been 88 or 89.

Well, 89 it would have been, I think.

And Disney at that time was internalizing, taking back its own offices because Walt had done the deal with like franchise.

So we were becoming,

we were taking it back.

And so I went over as the experienced one who knew how to do the work. And, and, and we set up an office. And so I lived in Hong Kong for just about three years and then moved to India and opened our Disney office there.

So. And that was only six months that I was there.

And then I went back to Burbank for three more years. So I was at Disney altogether 11 years.

Nicole: Wow. So this is the smallest business you've been associated with.

Ellen: Yeah, it was a real change because I came from corporate.

Lots of meetings, lots of standard operating procedure type of things and had learned a lot.

So I, I came here in 97 full time and I joined the company and did the marketing for Portillo. And so that change was really big. I mean, the biggest, hardest part was I didn't have a secretary anymore.

And you know, you don't have an IT department,

so anything with the computer,

somebody,

it was more difficult. And all those, all the support that you get from a corporation we didn't have then.

Nicole: I just don't notice a lot of computers around.

It seems to Be, you know, a lot of the communication is done person to person, and then maybe they take something back to an office, you know, even, you know, Katie was basically, when she's signing the students in, in the morning, she was working off paper.

And then the ladies in the spa were, you know, writing things in notebooks. And the front desk is, you know, you're looking people in the eye. There's not. I don't know if you notice that, but a lot of hotels now, you're looking at a screen.

It's kind of between you and the person checking you in. It's a very different. You sort of get the tone immediately at Portillo, because you're right talking to a person almost immediately.

Ellen: I think that that's what's really different about Portillo is, is that we are not big corporate. We don't want to be and we're not. And like I told you the other day, we said no to Epic Pass and we said no to Icon Pass because that's not who we are.

And that was, what, 10 years ago that, I mean, we were one of the first ones that Vail was coming after to join Epic Pass so that they could be all calendar year skiing.

And we just knew it wasn't who we are or who our guests want us to be. And so we really stick to that. I think that's the message that I really want to pass on to you is you asked about, you know, our long term plans, and what we want to say is just that we want to keep doing what we're doing and just do it,

keep doing it really well because the market for what we offer is growing and these big corporate ski areas are facing issues of crowds and that impersonality. Like, we're not.

You're not anonymous here.

You've probably met a lot of our other guests, right? Yeah, yeah. And so you become part of the show, right? It's a week and you become part of it. And we get to see who's who and know what's going on.

We sit at that table where we can see the people coming into the dining room and you can get a feel if they're happy or they're not happy. You can see if somebody's angry and then find out why and get that fixed.

So, I mean, that's really different.

We want to keep doing,

doing it the way we are. We're a boutique, we're small,

we're special.

And yet on the other hand, we gotta keep investing in the quality and the decor and the facilities and I.

Nicole: Feel, of course, a little entitled saying this, but it is really affordable with what you get.

Ellen: Don't you think so?

Nicole: Absolutely. I mean, David and I were talking about the pricing structure and you know, we've certainly added things like we bought a bottle of wine and, you know, lunch and tubobs and all of these things.

They're, you know, going to add an extra portion to the bill. But it's incredibly affordable. You have the plane ticket, you know, for.

Ellen: That's expensive.

Nicole: But I do think from, from a lot of the Americans we've talked to down here, they're, they're, they're combining it with Machu Picchu or they're combining it with going to see something in Patagonia or they're, they're doing something else in so the big flight.

They're kind of rationalizing that by saying we're going to go to two destinations in South America on.

Ellen: But that's,

that's interesting actually,

because in August, when we have so many Americans, it's mostly American,

those that then you get a lot of. A surprising number of people just come just for this.

Nicole: Yeah.

Ellen: But like, I think that that whole pricing thing is sort of interesting because what,

our family runs this business. Right. I'm on the board. I'm not doing the marketing anymore. I just did it for three years. But I'm always like, I'm sort of the one who looks over the marketing or if there's something that we'd like, we like, let's say bird flu happens and we lose all of Brazil because they're afraid of.

They're more sensitive and that kind of thing.

And now you have to go get the Americans or the Argentine.

Then all of a sudden I have a lot of work.

Nicole: But what do you think are the projects you are most passionate about or the aspects of it?

Ellen: Yeah, I think the thing I'm really best at is being one of the people who receives the guests. You know, I talk to everybody and. Or I'm good at that when I do it.

I think what I'm most passionate about is the quality, maintaining this place,

getting the word out to people,

keeping it special.

I have completely bought into the plan of that. This is a unique ski area and we are offering something like what we really want to do is see people having really good vacation.

And that's what we sell, our vacations. It's a ski vacation here. And so I am a marketer, so I'm about the communicating of it. I find truth, beauty and authenticity super important.

And I think that's what we are. And I'm really proud of that. And I just, we all, our whole team is on board with it. So it's kind of not even that hard to do because we like what we do.

Nicole: Yeah, you can tell that.

Ellen: But apart from that, I don't know, like the things about running the lifts and stuff, I mean I'll participate in those decisions, but that's more.

That's not my area so much.

Nicole: It doesn't seem like you, Henry, Miguel or Tim and any really compare yourself to any of the other resorts in Chile, number one or really anything in North America. So you're a real one of a unicorn.

Ellen: We're a very unique place.

So when I first came here to do the marketing and started doing marketing here,

you know, the first thing you do is what are the comparables? So I start looking at comparables. There really aren't comparables. You look for it and you could come up with maybe the Rustler or the Alta Lodge.

In Alta, that's about the closest thing there are.

You know, places like Aspen, Jackson Hole, Ulta, those are a little more organicky of the bigger ski areas, sort of a little more similar to us.

So we do work with them. But I think that we are a completely separate, unique place.

Maybe a little bit.

Nicole: Maybe a little bit, you know, like the Tio Bob's vibe, you would find that in San Marin and you would find a lot of families, you would find, you know, very similar, the happy kids playing in snow and it's very family friendly.

So that's.

Ellen: But you're seeing Portillo in a family time and you come back in August and you don't see all the kids, you see all the adults and that, that's when the bar's on fire.

And you know, and each week actually has its own personality. I think the family is really the family weeks like we have right now with the little kids. It's really kind of nice.

Well, the powder comes and goes sometimes. These weeks are great powder and if you're lucky enough to get that, you're really lucky because the Brazilians and Argentines don't ski it.

Nicole: No.

Ellen: So you have the whole thing. Yeah, powder, powder, powder.

Nicole: Yeah. And we've noticed like the, the bits of off piste we've done, nobody's in there.

Ellen: Nobody's in there.

Nicole: When you are hiring for obviously for some somebody's role like Katie, who's your, your head of ski school and I had a really nice chat with her.

Really forward front facing position, you know, she's meeting literally hundreds of people every day, and they're rushing around. They're maybe nervous about their kids.

I know you were looking for a certain certification level, but what are some of the. The kind of intangibles when you're looking for somebody to. To work here?

Ellen: Well,

obviously getting along with people.

And in Katie's case, what we like about her is that she does get along with people, but she's also a good leader. You know, I mean, that's not an easy job, that job.

Because those instructors, some of them have been here a long time,

and you gotta control them. And they're spirited, and we want them to be spirited. Because the instructors. Now, I'm not talking about the director, I'm talking about the instructors. They bring in a lot of energy into the guest experience.

Like, not just in their lessons, but also in the nightlife.

And so you want lively people, but the director also has to find that balance of letting them loose or keeping them showing up to work. But I think all of our hires,

what we look for is,

you know, healthy person,

interested in skiing and outdoors,

good team player. Because we're living together here. They have to live here, so they have to get along with the team.

There's no arrogance here, so you wouldn't want an arrogant person and,

you know, just nice people who have people skills to deal with guests, because guests can be.

Our guests are amazing,

but if something goes wrong, they can be upset, and you gotta deal with it. It's just like being at an airline counter, you know?

Nicole: Yeah. There's a lot of trouble.

Ellen: You have to have a lot of patience. And Katie has that, too. Katie. Katie's just amazing because she really deals with people incredibly well.

Nicole: Yeah. From the littlest to the, you know, the oldest people getting lessons. I definitely was observing her, and it's.

Ellen: Been that way since she started, which is incredible. Like, her learning curve, she. She's sort of. I'm just so impressed with her, actually.

I mean, I think that the personalities here are one of the. Again, differentiating points because.

Well, and it really starts with the Purcell family, not including me, but Henry and then Miguel. And they are very nice people. They're very humble and real, and they really are outdoors people.

Like, for Henry, the mountains are his Life. Miguel climbed K2, and he. He's just like his dad. So they're both really outdoors. They love it here.

Nicole: To add the other challenges, because it is a. One of it is pretty isolated, and then you're dealing with a government that is, you know, the US has its issues as well.

But the government is always maybe a little bit more dynamic than an American government.

So do they just kind of look at Portillo and just think it's like its own little universe and they don't give you much attention?

Ellen: Well, starting with the tourism industry,

they. Chile as an American looking at it, I believe they don't fully recognize the jewel of a country, a beautiful country that they have.

And so they don't really spend enough on promoting tourism. They try to. I've participated as the person participating in.

Nicole: Those tourism meetings for it ebbs and flows.

Ellen: Probably they don't have a lot of budget budgeted towards it, but that's the tourism infrastructure and then the government itself.

Our problem there is that they don't understand the roads. They don't manage the roads very well. So we have to constantly struggle there.

And that's really difficult. And then this is sort of more the socialist type of government. And so there's a lot of rules about how we manage our employees that also are really difficult.

So yeah, it's a headache, a constant headache.

Nicole: Also getting supplies here, because it is. I mean, I guess you're pretty close to Santiago, pretty good at that.

Ellen: We have a truck, it's ours. And we have a big bodega warehouse thing and we buy the food down there and Losandes. And the truck brings it up and the truck comes up almost every night and.

But if we do get snowed in,

we have enough stock for. To get through what it would take. In the old days, they would be really snowed in. And there's some really cool memories of.

Nicole: That, having to get creative.

Ellen: They run out of salad, but they never have really run out of proteins or anything like that. They run out of lettuce.

Nicole: I saw a lot of flour in the bakery.

Ellen: Oh yeah. So back when in the. I guess it was the 60s and maybe probably the 70s too. I think since the 80s and 90s hasn't been as bad. Maybe the 80s,

they would really be snowed in up here. Right. Because they couldn't plow the roads fast enough. And a lot of snow fell some of those years when these incidences happen.

So they're really, really, really snowed in. And I think it's the second week or whatever and maybe going into the third and finally it's clear enough and the helicopter had to come and actually drop some.

I think it was food down and they put big long red ribbons and they go out and go and get it. Wow, that's kind of funny. That never Happens anymore?

No, nothing. No. There were lots of adventure stories.

Nicole: What does your outdoor time look like? Are you skiing every day or.

Ellen: I ski every day. Okay. I ski today early. Usually, though, I go out at like, noon to 1:30 because no one's out there.

Nicole: Yeah. Agree.

Ellen: They're all eating.

Nicole: Yeah, everybody's eating.

Ellen: Yep.

Nicole: That's what we've been doing too.

Ellen: What the other part that's hard about being a small, unique company like this is we're only open for the ski season. We only have 450 pillows. It's tough. You have to be really careful.

You know, we have to really.

We can't do everything.

That's one thing that's frustrating for all of us is, like, we know, we know what our,

our list of things to do is,

but you have to pick and choose what you can,

what you can do because we, we only have so much of a budget.

Nicole: Yeah.

So we always, when, when we're on the podcast, we always talk about, like, what you love to do after skiing. Are you like a, to Bob's person or you just like to come back here?

I, I would come here and do exactly what we're doing now.

Ellen: Exactly. It depends, like, it depends on the week in August, I, and if I have, like, in August, a lot of my friends come and they coming for years, so they tend to go to Bob's, so I do too.

Then I'll be hanging out at T o Bob's. But right now, in these weeks, I tend to come back here and I have my own stuff that I gotta do on my computer or maybe I might read.

And then,

and then, as I said, when Hanka Leo's open, if it's a really nice day, I'll go do some labs on Hank a Leo.

Nicole: Yeah. So. And what is your cocktail of choice here?

Ellen: Mine is,

of course, I have to say pisco sour, but I actually try not to have too many pisco sour.

It's a lot of sugar and it kind of gives me a headache. So I, I actually,

I, I'm trying not to drink that much.

Nicole: I'm, I'm right there with you. I, I think the older we get, the less it is a benefit.

Ellen: I mean, and I just need to cut the calories. I mean, it's like living here all season,

you sort of want to not get into the pisco sour habit. Even though I, you know, I think the guests should have them because they're delicious.

Nicole: It's different because they're on vacation.

Ellen: You're here, we're not. So I,

I, I try. I haven't had a dessert yet.

I,

you know, I'll get fruit. But if you start and then you think you're on vacation and you start eating that thing like sometimes with the brownie. I don't know if we've had them this week, but they're really good.

Nicole: Really hard to turn away.

Ellen: Yeah, sometimes you can't snit.

Nicole: The carrot cake was my favorite thing we've had.

Ellen: It's so good, isn't it?

Nicole: It's so good.

Ellen: Oh, it. Tea.

Nicole: Yeah.

Ellen: Oh, yeah. See, I, I don't go to tea.

Nicole: Because, yeah, if you don't go to tea.

Ellen: All too good.

Nicole: Yeah, all too good.

Ellen: And the bread, I try not to start, but yeah, it's really good food.

Nicole: Yeah,

completely agree. And I do think the, the yoga is fantastic. You have really nice instructor, the young girl who's doing it now,

and that's, I think, really important. It was packed.

Ellen: Oh, it was packed.

Nicole: Absolutely packed yesterday.

Ellen: See, I,

one of the disadvantages of having this beautiful house is that I do get down here. If I come down the afternoon, I don't go back up until dinner. And so yoga and I haven't been so good.

Nicole: Well, it is, it's, it's good stuff.

Ellen: I did want to say a couple things, though, because you are talking about the mom thing,

and I think that for moms that, you know,

well, you're seeing how free the kids are,

but you're not seeing as many teen. There's a few teenagers here, but when the families with teenagers come, it's also really good because those teens go and do their own thing and they have dinner at night together.

And I think it really works for families. So that's very nice.

And then the other is that we always have had a sprinkling of American families who would come here with racer kids,

and they might bring their racer kids to be free skiers. Right.

Nicole: I mean, I do think, you know, that we've got a racer too, who got a little burnt out of, like, being in the lanes. Yeah.

Ellen: Yeah. So they come here and have enjoy skiing.

Nicole: Fall in love with skiing again.

Ellen: That's what that, that's a nice thing for the racers. Another thing is I asked Alejandro to show you the Octagon and the Inca. We renovated them, and they're really nice now, and you save a lot of money by staying there.

And they're good places for kids.

So if, like,

like some,

like, if a family came and had a, and brought the kids and the kids friends or whatever, those are really nice options.

Nicole: Thank you so much for sharing your tips and your passion for this wonderful resort here at Portillo,

and I'm really appreciative of your time and for what you've created here.

Ellen: I think it has been the passion for Henry and for Miguel. They really love it. It's been fun for me to put my little caboose on the crane. But you're enjoyed it.

Yeah. And to put a stamp on it, I've helped. Yeah, for sure.

Nicole: A quick end note. Ellen and I recorded this from her gorgeous home that overlooked the lake at Portillo. I was so grateful for her the time that both she and Henry gave me to share their story and the story of Portillo.

There are so many more details that I want to share. So if you are a Substack reader,

head to the Ski Moms substack and you will see all of the great coverage of Portillo. And if you're not a Substack follower, you should definitely become one because it's a great way to read articles without ads.

So again, thank you so much to Ellen and to Henry for the trip and I hope that you listeners get a chance to ski a summer trip to Portillo.

Speaker C: Hey ski moms. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and got some great tips for your next family ski adventure.

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