These mountains are huge, above treeline and the air pollution from Santiago in the valley down below gave us some of the most colorful sunsets that we could hope for.

This was taken from the Heli-Pad Yes they had Heli-Skiing here. In fact the ridgeline behind the hotels gave us some of the most breathtaking turns and scenery I have ever seen. A half day counting the pocket rockets was $215 US dollars. I think its gone up since 2003 though.

This was our Heli-Guide having a Crystal (Beer) with us after the heli day. This same deck served us well for lunches and seeing folks buzz it from above on hang-gliders . My wife and a girlfriend were the brave ones here. None of the men in our group tried to jump off a cliff with a kite.

VALLEE-NEVADO-1

Dawn-1

SWITCHBACKS-N-SNOW

There were 69 switchback turns to get from the valley to the hotels at valle Nevado. These were tight, steep turns with big mirrors mounted into the hillsides on the turns and lots of makeshift memorials along the sides. There were not too many guardrails that I saw. I shot this from a neighboring peak that is part of the ski area.

NEAR-THE-EDGE

VALLEE-NEVADO-AFAR

The horizon is quite evident in this shot. Similar in makeup Chile has coastal mountains by the ocean and the Andes along the interior spine. This reminded me of Whistler and the Cascades of Washington state and their own relationship with their coastal mountains.

ANDES-SUNSET-BEAUTY

The hotels as seen from another peak.

This is a shot of the oldest Catholic Church in Chile. Located in Santiago. There was some political unrest going on when we were in Santiago so we were captive guests at the hotel for a short time.

This arched outside hallway to the cross is part of the oldest church in CHILE.

DUSK-ANDES

The motto of our small group was this: ( If you are not living on the edge, you aretaking up too much space) The hotel was even on the edge on this trip.

More of the stairway to heaven from a little further out.

SOUTHERN-SNOW

AUGUST-LIFT

The hotels at Valle Nevado sit on the edge of a mountain. remote and Beautiful!

This is the neighborhood that we were taken to get some knee-deep powder turns.

No Trees, Lots of snow, Huge area

The deep crevaces of snow and black rock give the Andes a beauty not duplicated very often.

Pre dawn Pinks and Blues