Portillo’s Ski School has earned an impressive reputation over the last 50 years. The School’s excellence continues today under the direction of Jesús Puente, a year-round ski professional and member of the elite Spanish Ski Demonstration Team. Four of the School’s directors in the past were Olympic Gold Medal winners. Portillo’s first director was the famous Emile Allais, French Champion of the 1930s. Emile was followed by other greats such as Othmar Schneider, gold medallist in the 1952 Olympics in Oslo; Stein Eriksen, Olympic gold medal winner also in 1952; and Pepi Stiegler, a silver medallist in the games at Squaw Valley, and gold and bronze medal winner in the Olympic games of Innsbruck.

Among our other great ski school directors, Sigi Grottendorfer stands out as the man whose bridging influence is still felt today. Having learned from Othmar, Sigi trained his successors, Hartmut Helmstreit, Jimmy Ackerson, and Michael Rogan whose Portillo Ski Schools were a training ground for current director Jesús Puente. Ski sports professionals have found in Chile an excellent place for practicing.

Today’s Ski & Snowboard School is composed of 35 skiing and snowboard professionals from 10 different countries. The following are some notable facts about our Portillo Ski School professionals:

• 98% work year-round teaching skiing and snowboarding.
• 95% are certified at the highest level in their respective countries.
• 4 instructors are members of the National Demonstration Ski Teams of their respective countries (1 from the USA, 1 from Spain, 1 from Slovenia and 1 from Chile), including Jesús Puente, our Ski School Director.
• 15% are members of regional Demonstration Teams and have been invited to participate in the selection processes to become members of their national teams.
• Many of our instructors are national free skiing competitors, certified race coaches and mountain guides.