Valle Nevado, Chile
Dan Wakeham
British Olympic Superpiper
I went there for a world cup September 05. It is a strange resort, the kind of resort that you feel a little trapped. When you are in Santiago it feels like a poor country and it is highly polluted. Beware because it can be quite dangerous at night, a lot of pimps, prostitutes and thief’s. One of the Swedish guys we were with got stabbed with a broken bottle but was chased off by Mike Michalchuck (a crazy Canadian) but when you drive up the tedious switch backs up in to the resort you go through a security gate and in to the resort.
In the resort you feel safe and guarded from the city. It is quite a nice little village with nice hotels and clean air; you can look down to the city and see the pollution in the air. When we were there, I had never seen as much snow in front of my eyes. I was hitting a powder kicker and when I landed I would sink down to my neck in the snow.
There is a lot of different terrain and some good steeps. A lot of pros head there to finish off their video sections because heli-time is cheap and I believe they often have unbelievable amounts of snow.
