Puerto Montt & Chiloe, Chile

Traveling is what we love to do. A country like Chile is very remote. We decided to go far to the southern tip of Chile and visit Chiloe, an Island. We had to pass through a bigger town called Puerto Montt on our way. The next day we took a ferry onto the island city of Ancud, Chiloe. There we explored the beaches, graffiti, animals, and markets. This was such an amazing road trip, I can't wait to go back again. It feels so strange to get that close to Antartica, check out the Chiloe penguins on the rock in one of the shots.

Win a Free Trip to Snowboard at Valle Nevado

Win a Free Trip to Snowboard at Valle Nevado for the 2011 season. LAN Airlines and Valle Nevado Ski Resort are linking up to offer you the chance to have a free Chilean ski vacation on them. Win free airfare, hotel stay at Valle Nevado and Lift tickets for you and three of your friends and family. This is an amazing chance to stay at one of the best places in the world to ski or snowboard. Valle Nevado is located in the mountains just outside of Santiago, Chile. People from all over the world come to enjoy the breathtaking views atop the Andes Mountains. The best thing about all of this is that the Chilean winter is between June-September, so its a great chance to ski or board during the Northern Hemisphere summer. Chileloco has spent some serious time at Valle Nevado riding the inbounds terrain, the backcountry, and the Snowpark. The staff at Valle Nevado is always striving to make the experience better for their guests and they are serious about providing a world-class experience. One of our favorite spots is the pool on the deck, where you can watch the public riding down the slopes while enjoying it from a hot soak in the tub. Valle offers excellent dining options and some crazy nightlife parties. As of June 2011, Valle Nevado was already receiving significant snowfall, so it looks to be a good season.

Spiro Razis Heli Los Andes Centrales de Chile. from spiro Razis on Vimeo.

Get Stoked with this Heli footage from the Andes shot by Marcelo Flores and Starring Snowboarder Spiro Razis.

Hope you win this contest. !Vamos a la montaña!

Snowboard Chile

Words By Jeremy Dubs

When snowboarding in Chile, you never know what to expect. After last season started with a blast just after Memorial Day 2008, everyone was hoping for a repeat. Whether due to global warming (a large hole in the ozone layer is over South America) or simply a seasonal draught, the slopes down in Chile remained sunny and dry through most of June this year. 70 degree plus days in Santiago made for better skating and bbq weather than early winter storms. The weather forecasters were predicting an unusually dry year and the people were wondering if they should trade in their snowboard for a surfboard.

Then a switch from the heavens must have been flipped. The rains started in the South of Chile and spread fast to the Northern regions. As they reached the Andes, the first snowfalls started to form dropping 3 feet of powder. If that wasn't enough, during the last weekend 47 inches dropped in about 30 hours, with sun the following day. Now the mountains are drenched in white fluff so deep, you can get lost underneath it all. When you fall over you are literally swimming in snow.

Here are some updates on Chilean happenings.

At El Colorado ski resort they've made some big changes adding a new t-bar to access further zones and park rats can purchase a Snowpark-only season's pass. They have added new terrain in Farellones with the first lighted night riding in South America. Look out for the weekly night rail jams and contests. Valle Nevado announced that they are discontinuing their halfpipe as of this year, which is sad because it was formerly host to the first snowboarding World Cup event each year in September. In lighter news, sounds like Valle Nevado will host the 2nd Annual Pink Sessions, the first all day Girls-only contest in Chile. Portillo has plenty of snow and it looks to be a good time over there if you have the $1000+ to drop on a week at a private resort with a limit on lift ticket sales of 400 tickets per day. In the south, Termas de Chillan has changed its name to Nevados de Chillan after an ownership change. In addition they are focusing additonal resources on building a snowpark after years of catering exclusively to building exclusive slopes for touring slalom ski teams and ignoring the growing snowboard community. In Pucon the crew at Beanies and Bikinis (the restaurant, snowboard shop and local riders mecca) have been busy developing the Piedra Azul Freestyle Riding Club to get local riders together to progress themselves and build new features. This is the same crew behind the Big Bang Contest, which boasts the only Backcountry snowboard contest to go down in the month of October each year.

As these words are being written, yet another storm has ripped into the Andes and the forecasts are looking excellent for a season of deep dry pow-pow in Chile. Plane tickets are cheaper than ever, so take a break from working this summer and drop some loot on the trip of a lifetime. For those that have to see to believe, El Colorado has added a collection of webcams to get an up-to the minute view of conditions on the slopes at http://www.elcolorado.yx.cl.

Manuel Diaz Snowboarding from Chile to Stevens Pass in this Video

A look inside the Chilean connection at Stevens Pass, WA. Cinematographer Jeremy Dubs takes you behind the scenes of filming How The Northwest Was One to talk about the Chilean invasion at Stevens Pass and how it all started. Get the scoop on Chilean ripper Manuel Diaz, as he blasts new lines at Stevens Pass.


Learn more about Manuel Diaz and the Wildcard Snowboard Crew:
www.wildcardmovies.com
www.funner.us

Pucon BigBang 2009

Last Year's BigBang Video


Subject: BigBang 2009


Big Bangers! The official expected date will be the 10th, 11th, and 12th of October (12th is a holiday). This year the new administration isn't showing much interest in supporting the Big Bang, which is a shame. Thankfully the contest is organized by riders for riders so the mountain will be there and there we will be. The selected spots will be close to the cafeteria so you will all be able to walk and have support of the snowmobiles.


Fees: $20.000 Chilean pesos
Includes 3 days of epic sessions and BBQ.


Ensure your participation by sending us a message with your info.


Thanks,
The BigBang Crew


Asunto: BigBang 2009

Big Banggers! Oficialmente el esperado contest sera los dias 10, 11 y 12 de Octubre (12 Lunes Feriado) . Este año la nueva administracion no presentó mayor interes en el apoyo al Big Bang es una pena, pero la gracvia de esto es que es organizado por riders para riders asi que la montaña estará ahi y ahi lo haremos. Los spots seleccionados seran cerca de la cafeteria por lo que sera todo caminando y con el soporte de algunas motos de nieve.

Inscripcion $20.000
Incluye 3 dias de sesiones epicas y asado.

Asegura tu participacion enviandonos un mensaje de vuelta con tus datos.

Saludos

BigBang Crew