Pisco & Powder – The Chile DreamTrip Story
We cooked eggs, skied powder, drank pisco sours and ended each day with a sunset that was more incredible than the last.
Trip Dates Aug 2-11, 2024
It was early June and the word all over the internet was that the snow was falling hard in South America. A record year was unfolding before the season even started. Meanwhile in North America, we were at Mahre Camp on Mt. Hood and our Saturday session got snowed out. Seems it was snowing simultaneously on both sides of the equator. The news spurred us into action. Former American Downhiller speed coach Scotty Veenis was summoned, for all his contacts and expertise, gleaned from years of coordinating the US Teams training sessions at La Parva/Valle Nevado. Quickly he set us up with the right people to make an epic last-minute powder trip to Chile a quick reality.
Scotty always comes through for the club and this time was no different. We secured a 6-bedroom ski in ski out townhouse a stone’s throw from the Poma lift at La Parva and more importantly, La Marmita, the ultimate gemutlich bar/restaurant/hutte in the valley. He also connected us with the chef, Kris Swanson. Kris and his team of chefs cook up hundreds of high-quality meals every day for the many World Cup Teams that come from Europe and the USA to the Valley to train in the summer. The food was incredible and made for super relaxing evenings at home by the fire. We secured two crew cab pickup trucks at the airport, which we would use to pilot ourselves and all our gear up the 7054′ mountain road, with 63 switchbacks from Santiago to La Parva.
Above: The rooftop deck of our hotel in Santiago was pretty spectacular.
Rough Beginning
Our trip didn’t start off as smoothly as we would have liked, however. On Friday night the day before our departure I got a text from our landlord with the news that a hurricane like storm, with 100mph winds had battered Santiago and knocked out power to the mountain. Our home had no heat or lights. He advised staying our first night in Santiago to wait for power to come back on. Shortly after receiving that news we got a text straight out of a Seinfeld episode from SIXT rental cars, saying the two crew cab trucks we reserved were no longer available. As Jerry so aptly stated… Anyone can take a reservation, but holding a reservation is the most important part they just can’t seem to understand. Luckily Alamo is better at this and we secured the two trucks and a great hotel downtown. We used the extra time in the city on Sunday to shop for supplies at the JUMBO mega supermarket at the nearby mall. Bottled water is a big thing in Chile and sleeping at ten thousand feet means you need to drink quite a bit of it. We stocked up on 30 liters of water to last the week and 50 liters of Carménère Wine… just in case of lost power.
Carménère (“car-men-nair”) is a medium-bodied red wine that originated in Bordeaux, France, and now grows almost only in Chile. The wine is treasured for its supple red-and-black berry flavors (in a similar style to Merlot) and herbaceous green peppercorn notes.
Originally, Carménère was thought to be Merlot when it was first transplanted into Chile. This case of mistaken identity is perhaps what saved Carménère from extinction when Phylloxera devastated the vineyards of Bordeaux in the late 1800’s. FACT: In 1994, DNA analysis revealed that most of what was thought to be Chilean Merlot was, in fact, the rare Bordeaux grape: Carménère.
The road up to La Parva is open from 8am-1pm to uphill traffic and 2-8pm for downhill. It has over 60 switchbacks and is not a fun road to drive on in a storm. Luckily for us Monday morning brought nice weather and an easy drive. We got checked in and went for leisurely ski at La Parva in the afternoon. However, it wasn’t very leisurely for ADLer Carl Thorgerson (the H is silent everyone). Poor Carl had cheap goggles on instead of our club approved Oakleys. The poor guy blinded by flat light skied right off the main run and off a drop off. Concussed with 5 cracked ribs and a bruised lung he got up and skied to the bottom where he asked where the hell he was for 10 minutes. We got him back to the house where he rested and geared up for the weak ahead. (Warrior). We did get our first Chilean Pisco Sour Monday and it was fine.
Above: We got our first Pisco “It’s fantastic. I’ll take 14 of them!” Kris provided our first dinner of Lasagna and it was superb. Our living room provided the perfect hangout space with incredible views.
New Snow
Monday evening and the forecast showed 40% chance of new snow. Our balcony table was cleared and dry and at 7pm it started to snow. At 10pm it was supposed to stop but it was still snowing hard. We went to bed hoping for a few inches of fresh, but when we woke up at 7am it was still snowing and it didn’t stop until 8am. Then the sun came out and we knew it was going to be a great week.
The funny thing about Tuesday morning was we couldn’t figure out what time the resort opened. The website seemed to say 830am while other websites said 9am.
Being a powder morning, the excitement level was high. We decided we liked 830am better and skied to the Poma from our doorstep at 825. It was running and a few ski patrollers were heading up, but other than a few employees it was empty. There weren’t any lifties running it, but the entry gate was open and our passes worked, so we went in and 5 of us road up.
We had to switch halfway up to another Poma. Again, nobody was manning it, but it was running. So, we got on again. We got to the top with the sun rising over the top ridge and there was a foot of fresh untouched dry pow as far as the eye could see.
One ski patroller looked at us with a puzzled gaze, but he remained silent. We skied back down to the Poma in formation making Heli-esque turns, whooping all the way down – we were alone, in fresh pow on day 2 and nobody seemed to be awake but us.
We got to the bottom laughing and ready for more when the elusive liftie appeared. “Serado, he said. Nosotros abrimos a las 9.” That explained the empty lifts – they were still closed until 9am.
Above: Rising up the mountain on the Poma and seeing the sunrising over the ridge, alone with nothing but untracked pow in all directions.
Above: Our first tracks before they even opened. The view from the top of the poma and waiting for him to let us back up at 9am.
Watch The Trip Video:
Video Above: The skiing from Tuesday on was epic. It’s so high and dry in La Parva and the Valle that the powder stays nice until it’s all skied out, and that takes at least a week because there is just too much terrain and not enough people. The above video captures days of fresh lines we had.
They opened the mountain gradually on Tuesday and it left us to wander gradually across the vast terrain at a relaxed pace, swooping up untracked pow in a calm almost Zen like state. Unlike the experiences at home, where the fresh lines are gone by 10am. It was 1pm and we were heading back for lunch. Unfortunately, for me and Brian Roberts, we got greedy. We had just scoped out a great side country line that took us out behind the resort border, but easily skied back to the bottom lift. We decided it must be skied before lunch. Brian went first into the top bowl, and I filmed him dropping in alone. (See video above at 1:36) He waited for me at the next rollover, which was above another 2000 feet of dreamy pow. Sadly, as I skied out the run out of the top bowl, I hit an Andes Snow Shark! A hidden rock struck my ski and sent it and me flying in opposite directions. I searched in vain for the ski alone, as Brian was too far below to help. I was getting drained and started worrying I wouldn’t have enough energy to ski down 2000 feet in a foot of pow on one ski – so I headed down. Brian got some fantastic turns and I learned I was capable of skiing on one board in a foot of pow. My right leg is now 10lbs bigger than my left.
We ended the first powder day with incredible sunsets and more great food and wine from Kris and his chefs. Our timing and luck were on fire like the night skies, and we couldn’t wait for tomorrow.
More Pow Wednesday
We headed out to Valle Nevado in search of more clean lines. There was still plenty to be had at La Parva but we wanted to see what the other side offered. The sheer size of these 3 resorts can’t be appreciated until you compare them to resorts back home. Valle Nevado is the largest resort in S. America and has 2500 skiable acres. La Parva boasts about 2300 and El Colorado another 2000. Between the three you will find untracked pow all week after a good storm. On this day the group split up with some staying home at La Parva while me, Scott Lewis and Brian Roberts had a swell time ripping all over the range. One fun run took us out of bounds where we had to navigate lava rocks with our skis off and then this tasty little bowl for the reward.
We skied back to La Parva and our final run from the top to the bottom was another 3000′ of fun pow at 330pm. It was one of the best days of the year for pure fun and adventure and we still had more days ahead. Post day celebrations with Piscos and beers… don’t judge we were thirsty.
ROAD LAPS
Thursday it was time to use our pickup trucks and ski El Colorado. They have an incredible off-piste zone that has a perfect South facing aspect (Remember everything is opposite down here, including the direction the toilet water swirls) that holds dry powder for days. It’s also steep and long with many cliff drops and other hazards to navigate. You ski down about 1800′ to the road that connects to Valle Nevado thus they are called “Road Laps” and to lap them you either need to hitch hike back to El Colorado or if your smart like us, you have two trucks. We waited until noon to ski our first lap and if it was so so, we were going to head back but, it was epic, so we did another. Then we kicked ourselves for not starting earlier and doing three. Next Year.
Above: El Colorado Road Laps – Pictures from above and below. This picture bottom left shows the whole zone – its huge and provides days of different lines. Have to say one of the best side country runs in the world. Pictured R-L Kyle Watson, Scott Lewis, Megan Lewis & Brian Roberts.
Sunsets
Our home for the week was perfectly situated for ski in ski out. It also had incredible views out the main window off the living room, with Kris providing all our meals all we had to do was come home and relax and enjoy the fire shows each night. All of these photos are unedited. The view is out towards Santiago. At 9000′ we were above the clouds and our views were… stunning.
Fun Nights
One night after dinner we walked over to La Marmita for chocolate fundue dessert. We also celebrated Brian Roberts big 50 birthday. The owner of the place has a fun tradition when its somebody’s birthday. He goes outside with a shovel and scopes up fresh snow. Then while the staff is singing feliz cumpleanos to the bday boy or girl, he showers all the guests in the place with snow – saving a final bigger dusting for the special one. There is a bent DH board hanging from the ceiling. It was a gift from the gal who bent it… her initials are LV. It was a super fun night and La Marmita is the place to party.
FINAL DAYS
We skied La Parva and Valle Nevado are final days. You could still find untracked on Day 5 & 6 if you wanted. There was so much terrain it was mind boggling. The groomers were world class as well, with long fast runs on hero snow… there is a reason the Euro teams come to train here.
CHILEAN FOOD
The food was really affordable and tasty. We had lunches of tuna poke, steak tartar, ceviche and bbq ribs and steak. Then there was the Piscos… you gotta be careful with those, but dang if they don’t go down well.
HOW TO MAKE A PISCO SOUR
A pisco sour is an alcoholic cocktail of Peruvian origin that is traditional to both Peruvian and Chilean cuisine. The drink’s name comes from pisco, a brandy which is its base liquor, and the cocktail term sour, implying sour citrus juice and sweetener components. Wikipedia
Main alcohol: Pisco
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz Pisco, 1 Egg white, 1 oz Lemon Juice, 3/4 oz Simple syrup
Preparation: Vigorously shake and strain contents in a cocktail shaker with ice cubes, then pour into glass and garnish with bitters.
Served: Straight up; without ice
Standard garnish: Angostura bitters
Drinkware: Old Fashioned glass or Champagne flute
Above: The whole Chile DreamTrip Gang pictured L to R – Carl Thorgerson, Stacy Crites, Jay Sorenson, Brian Roberts, Megan Lewis, Scott Lewis & Anna Lewis. A great group of passionate skier and egg cookers. We had eggs every morning and many took their turn at the skillet. It was one of the best trips of the year with one of the best groups.
It was a good week.
We will have two trips back to back next year.
Get a group of 7 friends and book it out – there is nothing more fun than skiing Chile during the N. American summer.
Next years dates:
Trip 1: July 26 – 3AUG
Trip 2: Aug 2 – 10th, 2025
Get all the details here: Chilean DreamTrip 2025
