Portillo — Portillo, Chile
A glacial lake below the lodge, 3°C (37°F) and clear at 3,200 metres.
Laguna del Inca lies in the valley directly below the hotel, a short walk down from the terrace. It is a glacial lake at 3,200 metres, held between bare rock and snow for most of the year, and the water sits at around 3°C (37°F). Open-water races have been held here over one, two and three kilometres, and the organisers of the first noted that it was the altitude, not the cold, that caught swimmers out. Portillo itself is a landmark of the Andes, a yellow 1960s lodge that still fills with national ski teams each winter.
