High on a 10,000 ft. plateau sits the resort of Valle Nevado, less than 2 hours straight up from downtown Santiago de Chile. For those who have hiked steep mountains, you'll appreciate the switchback trail they call a road. It's one-way traffic on winter weekends - up in the morning, down in the late afternoon. Our bus drivers were brave souls. We hung on and trusted them, as we hadn't heard of any cars falling off this road...but we don't read Spanish... regardless we'll have no 15 minutes of fame with posthumous headlines "NJ couple plunge to death in Andes".

Spring skiing conditions so warm and sunny that Sue, who didn't wear her usual hat or headband, suffered from blistered ears! Plenty of snow, but soft at the bottom. Trails were well covered, but the Andes are loose rock, rubble and black sand. All this loose stuff gets mixed into the soft spring snowpack and the skis feel it.

Like spring skiing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the U.S. Rockies or the European Alps, the conditions varied from the soft to crusty to icy to smooth. We were lucky to have 4 days of sun. The last day was cloudy, but we were tired anyway, so it was a good excuse to quit early and do some souvenir shopping.

We enjoyed exploring several valleys and peaks, lots of pomas and T-bars on the higher peaks, great views. You can ski over to El Colorado and La Parva for an additional fee. Everything is above tree-line. Well, there aren't really any trees - lots of scrub and, on that precipitous switchback road on the way up, we saw cactus as high as 8,000 ft. as well as horses, mules (or donkeys?) and grazing cattle who looked as if they may tumble down the steeps at any moment and land in front of the bus.

It was a real treat to meet several skiiers and coaches from the German and Canadian women's national ski teams who summer train in Valle Nevado. Hilde Gerg was on the mountain, but unfortunately we didn't meet her. That's Frank in the picture getting ready to train with the German skiiers ;-)

The Austrian men's snowboarding team also trains there. The evening bar scene between the serious Canadian and German skiiers and the laid-back, tatooed snowboarders - well there was a lot of "hey guys, I've got a race in the morning", "So what, we do too! Have a beer! " banter back and forth.

Heli-skiing is available. Every morning the helicopter circled the resort checking the conditions and, like an alarm clock, it returned to the helipad not far from our window. That was good, because there were no alarm clocks in any of the hotels in Chile. We overheard several backcountry skiiers complain that most helitrips were cancelled due to avalanche danger (one can tell backcountry skiiers by their dress, demeanor and the fact that they carry their avalanche shovels with them everywhere they go).

During one evening walk under a starry sky with a bright moon shining on the snowy, towering peaks, beautiful flute music floated out from the helipad - we looked up and saw a group of resort workers making music. A guitar joined the flute* to complete the evening concert under the stars. We applauded them and an invitation was extended to join, but neither of us is musically inclined, so we called out "muchas gracias" and continued our walk. The 250+ resort workers live on the plateau in barracks alongside the 3 hotels and one condominium. Makes sense - you certainly couldn't commute here daily!

We stayed in Puerta del Sol, a high-rise hotel, our room was on the 5th floor, which is really the 8th floor because the lobby is the -3th floor, the bar is -2 and the restaurants -1. It's full pension - a European style breakfast buffet, cheeses, meats, granola, yogurts, fruit with the addition of scrambled eggs and bacon; lunch vouchers for off or on-mountain restaurants; dinner choice is 5 different restaurants.

Amenities included a convenient, friendly ski check next to the front lobby, a health club/gym, outdoor pool, an internet room, activities for children and adults every day in the lounge area. The room had a living room, bedroom, mini-bar, full bathroom and balcony. The photo is the view from the living room out the balcony. The surrounding peaks are 14,000 ft, so it's a bit dizzying to stand out on the balcony 8 stories high with such view.

Other stuff that happened:

• *The flute may have been the Peruvian panpipe or a wooden Peruvian flute that we hear on the streets of New York City. It's a wonderful sound and felt more alive in the atmosphere of the mountain valley.
• We had a funny exchange with a German couple one evening. There was an on-slope party with music, lites, dancing and we were watching from a distance. A German-speaking couple walked by on their way to the party and Frank started conversing with them, auf Deutsch. After a bit of conversation it turns out they actually live in Miami!
• Next, one of the hotel staff came by, heard us speaking in English, greeted us and wanted to know if we knew anyone in Utah who could help him get a job at a ski resort there. Then he solved the "Montel Mystery"...
• The evening before there was an obvious celebrity in the bar - obvious to everyone but us. We had met an 11 year old kid earlier in the day trying to buy a candy bar, in English, from a Spanish-speaking clerk out near the pool. She was in the lounge with her mom and this celebrity guy. We said hi to the kid, then the guy started up a conversation about snowboarding, Utah, New York City, skiing Europe, snow conditions, etc. Who was he? We didn't have a clue and he wouldn't tell us when I asked what he did for a living. I guess if you are Montel Williams, you expect people to know you?
• One evening, a huge tour group of Japanese skiiers arrived in the bar for the free welcome drink - a Pisco Sour or a beer. Only the tour leader spoke English and said they had just arrived after a 30 hour flight from Tokyo via Toronto for 5 days of skiing here, then a week of site-seeing in Peru. They were ready for their welcome drink!
• After checking out, there was quite a commotion in the hotel lobby that had me triple-checking passports for the rest of the trip. A guy from the U.S. had lost his passport and $700. He claimed it was stolen out of the room, but how can you prove that? Anyway, a long futile search emptying luggage - there were clothes everywhere, but no passport. We offered the phone number of the U.S. Embassy in Santiago and wished him good luck.