We landed in Santiago after a breezy flight from Atlanta. We arrived to find we were sans 2 bags. We had a driver waiting outside baggage claim so we headed to Valle Nevado with what we had. The rest would come the next morning.
The drive to Valle was super short and before we knew it we were checking into the Puerta del Sol Hotel. We headed straight in to lunch and dug into a Barros Jarpa and a Barros Luca. We decided to chill for the rest of the afternoon and ski the next day. After a short Siesta we went down to the bar and game room to see “Que onda hay”. We were greeted immediately by Reggie Crist, ex US Ski Team Member and adventurer extraordinaire and part owner of Stellar Media who began to introduce us to his crew. He began by introducing me to his partner in Stellar Media, top ski photog Will Wissmam. Turns out I knew Will from the Tordrillo Mountain Lodge where we’d been there at the same time in 2007. We were shooting a feature on Laird Hamilton with top cinematographer Sonny Miller and he was shooting with Warren Miller. Will is one of the best ski photographers in the world, I am constantly Wowed by his work. Next was Julian Carr, who is a superstar skier, as well as the owner of Discrete. I met the rest of the crew and ordered my first Pisco Sour of the trip. We were interrupted by a phenomenal sunset and were compelled to run for cameras to capture the beauty!
We met Reggie and crew for dinner later at La Fouchette, the French restaurant in Hotel Valle Nevado. They shared stories of their week heli skiing and skiing at the resort. The food was superb, but as it was our first night, we bid the crew good night and sauntered off for some much needed Z’s.