After the disappointing white out conditions yesterday, the snow gods left us with more than a foot of fresh Powder. For a day, Valle Nevado was heaven. The sun and blue sky were out in full force, leaving me with a nice racoon tan from my sunglasses at the end of the day. Being a Tuesday, there was absolutely no one on the slopes, so making run after run after run in fresh Pow became a fact of life.
The Andes are absolutely gorgeous! The visibility was great as I´m sure you can see. It was better than usual according to the locals I met. Pollution from the city can get quite bad, although it makes for a great sunset.
I snowboarded from 11am to 5pm straight, eating lunch on the lift chair while begging it to go faster. Valle Nevado is no Vail, but it has some nice terrain in its own right. A few cliff drops, cornices, and natural spines begin to make up for the lack of trees. When it comes to size, Valle Nevado is much smaller than most good US resorts. However, if you include the back country terrain, which is very easy to get to, Nevado is actually bigger than most resorts.
Two of the locals I met know the back country well, and they worked out a deal with our bus driver for next time we come to Valle Nevado to pick us up at the bottom of the back country run. I could see the run they were talking about and it was absolutely unbelievable. Hopefully the future will have me putting down a line in that snow.
No trip to the Andes would be complete without some crazy driving experience. Our bus tried to pass a bunch of cars that were stuck in the ice, and managed to get us stuck on the ice as well blocking traffic in all direct directions. Amid many honking horns, we put our chains on and were on our way again.
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