How To Ride Ski Portillo's Iconic "Slingshot" Ski Lifts

Ski Portillo, Chile, perhaps the most famous ski resort in South America, is known for numerous defining characteristics: the bright yellow hotel, the beautiful Inca Lake, and its one-of-a-kind Va et Vient ski lifts (translated from French as “coming and going”).

These one-of-a-kind ski lifts were built in the 1960s by the Poma Company to address a unique problem in avalanche terrain. Much of Ski Portillo’s skiable terrain lies on massive aprons beneath towering, sometimes 15,000’+ cliffs (image below). Avalanches are common on these aprons, and the first chairlifts built at Portillo were constantly taken out during slides.

So, the Poma Company developed an entirely new lift system for Portillo. These lifts, affectionally called “slingshots” by American skiers, are similar to a regular surface Poma lift, but with a twist. Instead of riding up the lift line single file, four skiers stand shoulder-to-shoulder and are whisked up the slope by an overhead cable at high speeds.

There are four of these slingshot lifts at Ski Portillo today: Caracara, Roca Jack, Condor, and Laz Vizcachas. Some skiers incorrectly refer to all of them as Roca Jack, since it’s the most famous of the four.

Tap or click below to watch my quick video on the proper way to ride a Va et Vient/slingshot lift at Ski Portillo. The video is sped up for effect and was recorded on the Condor lift.

How To Ride Ski Portillo’s Va et Vient/Slingshot Lifts

• Step 1: Pull the rope down.
• Step 2: Place the platter between your legs like a regular Poma lift.
• Step 3: Check that the rest of your group is ready.
• Step 4: Tell the lift operator that you’re ready. Yell “listo!”
• Step 5: Hold on to the top bar with your left hand and the bar between your legs with your right hand. Bend your knees to absorb the bumps as you zoom up the slope.
• Step 6: Wait for the lift to stop at the top. You’ll feel it roll back slightly before coming to a halt.
• Step 7: Coordinate within your group to determine which outside skier will disembark first and then follow single file.
• Step 8: Go skiing!

Is Riding a Slingshot Lift at Ski Portillo Difficult?

In short, no, but it takes some getting used to. The video above was of the Condor lift, the shortest and easiest of the four slingshot lifts at Ski Portillo. The pitch is fairly mellow, and the speed isn’t too fast, but make sure to still bend your knees to absorb the impacts on the way up.

The Caracara and Roca Jack lifts are a bit more challenging. The lifts ferry skiers up steeper slopes at a higher speed. I accidentally fell during one of my laps up Caracara and took out the entire group riding up with me.

Everybody was fine, but a quick lapse in my attention caused me to catch an edge with my left ski. I learned my lesson.

Why Would Anybody Ride The Slingshots Lifts at Ski Portillo?

You know, that’s a great question. From a distance, these lifts seem like the sketchiest, most dangerous non-human-powered way to rip up a slope, but in reality, they’re not that bad.

Beginner and intermediate skiers should avoid these lifts as they serve ungroomed terrain, but that’s exactly what makes them so popular.

Vizcacha and Condor are a bit tame, but Roca Jack and Caracara serve the steepest, deepest, and best terrain at the resort. Some of this terrain requires a short sidestep or boot pack to access after riding up Caracara or Roca Jack, but it’s worth it.

Check out my video below of scoring fresh powder turns in the area known as Kilómetro Lanzado (Flying Kilometer) after riding Caracara and then side-stepping for about 10 minutes. It was one of the best in-bounds runs of my life.

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If you’re nervous about riding a slingshot lift at Ski Portillo, that’s okay. Just ask a lift operator, ski instructor, ski patroller, or even another fellow skier for help. Everybody is friendly at Ski Portillo, Chile!

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