The remains of one of these trucks lies strewn across the road. The trailer has been snapped in half like a twig, the cabin crushed and wheel axles are all over place. After a few moments of "Man this must have been a something to see" we realise the convoys are backed up and we may be even later to get our ski day in Portillo started. Our mini-van is our salvation; we're able to pass the convoy of trucks and just fit through the gap between the wreckage and the snow bank.

The day is back on schedule and we have our faces plastered against the glass on the last few switchbacks up to the base. They do have some formidable terrain here. They also have one funky coloured hotel. The Hotel Portillo is a painted a garish blue and yellow, probably left over from a refurbish in the 1970's. Relics are still herefrom when the resort was first opened in 1949, such as the remains of the Transandine Railway which used to serve as a connection between Mendoza in Argentina and Los Andes in Chile.

It's mid September and the snow is has been baking in the spring heat for a few weeks now. We knew the conditions would be a bit of melt/freeze, but instead of bitching about how we missed the powder we just want to see how many of these crazy chutes we can ski today. Our party consists of myself, my kiwi friend Chris from Whistler, pro Australian skier Anna Segal and pro photographer Erik Seo from Park City.

We immediately head for the highest lift we can find, the Rockerjack drag lift. This is one of those weird 5 person poma lifts, there’s no unload ramp and they run surprisingly fast. As we get on we make sure to ask the young Canadian racer beside us on the correct unload procedure. "The middle 3 unload first, then the outside two." After a few goes we get the hang of it and manage to dismount without falling all over each other.

Portillo sits in an extremely steep valley, the tops of the peaks are all inaccessible by regular hiking and it would require some serious mountaineering equipment to scale them. From the top of the draglifts you can traverse or boot pack into literally hundreds of chutes and couloirs. First timers to Portillo would be advised to proceed with caution and scope all lines from the bottom before skiing them. Many end with nothing but rocks, mandatory drops and sketchy exits. The spring warmth has also receded the snow base, so it is very easy to damage your skis or yourself if one were to go big at this time of year.

We had heard about the famed 'Super C' Couloir well before we got here. We were eager to ski it, but weren't so sure after the patroller looks up at it and shakes his head at us. We scope it multiple times from the chair and decide it's a bit of excessive risk to have to jump those rocks just before a dog leg in the chute. Probably a run more suited to skiing after one of Portillo’s famous big dumps. We pass on Super C, vowing to redeem ourselves the next time we visit Portillo.

Even with the recent warm weather and slushy snow, the Laguna del Inca (Lake of the Inca, which sits right next to the Hotel) is still frozen. The lake runs are all still open, all with no shortage of steep and scary terrain. The traverse back to the resort across the lake is a fun excursion and doesn’t take many minutes out of your ski day.

With some of the burliest terrain in South America and only being two hours from Santiago, Portillo is well worth visiting on your next ski trip down south. The best time to visit is in August during the heavy snow storms. Leave yourself plenty of time and be prepared to wait out a multi day blizzard, once the chairs open you'll be one of the few skiers ripping it up in the expert terrain. And the September spring skiing isn't bad either, sun and slush and a whole lot of steeps.