Manuel Diaz Chilean Snowboarder

What is it like to Snowboard in Chile? Watch as Pro Snowboarder Manuel Diaz shows us what its like to spend a day snowboarding the Andes. A complete day exploring the mountains, and shredding the backcountry.
We meet up with Manuel at his house in Farellones. I was traveling with the television crew from 24/7 TV Chile. We were on a mission to show exactly what a day in the life of a snowboarder in Chile is like. Manuel Diaz was the perfect candidate because he is truly the best Chilean freestyle rider out there. He's able to build and destroy big jumps and he's got a good style. His sponsors include Nitro Snowboards, Billabong Clothing, Bern Helmets, Spacecraft, and POW gloves.
So we met with Manuel and proceeded to fill up gas at the local gas station, which has gallons of gas at over $5.00 USD each. Ouch! Products are always more expensive up in the mountains. Then we get the gas and head up to the top, where we dropped the snowmobiles and took off for the upper backcountry. The powder was deep and it took us a while to get out there, but when we finally did, we realized that there was a perfect spot to build a jump out in the middle of nowhere, with a nice steep landing. In snowboarding you really can't ask for much else, so we were very happy that we found this place. The snow was deep and dry and the sun was shining. Classic Andes mountain riding.
We did a little interviewing, where I got interviewed for 24/7 about my recent dvd Sentimental Values and we did an interview with Manuel about building jumps. Then all the camera guys got into position across the valley and got ready to get some shots. Manuel went to hit the jump with Vicho, another local rider. Manuel proceeded to land trick after trick, including fs360, swbs540, fs540, fs720, cab9, bs180, and almost a fs1080. Vicho had some trouble since it was his first jump in a few months and let Manuel take over session. It was an incredible moment to see. Manuel was unstoppable and everything worked out great. The hardest part of the day was snowmobiling out of the area doubling with the sleds in some very steep terrain. It was a great start to June snowboarding in Chile. Thanks to Manuel, Felipe Costa, and Marcello Flores for getting this day organized for us.