Words by KC Deane

Photos by Jeff Richmond & Pat King

Video by Pat King

The second session of Evolve Chile just wrapped up here in Valle Nevado, Chile, and with the storms that hit the Andes it proved to be one of the best sessions ever here at Evolve. Things kicked off with the arrival of new campers making it just in time to beat a fast approaching storm that was about to hit.

Arriving in Valle Nevado.

Soon after everyone arrived and got settled into the Tres Puntas Hotel, we got out on the snow for some much needed skiing before the storm began to hit.

Valle Nevado, also known as the home of Evolve Chile.

Camp meeting the first night.

When we awoke in the morning the snow was coming down hard. We chose to have an interlodge day and wait until the skies cleared to head back out since visibility was less than minimal. Around 10am the snow let up and everyone was scrambling to get their ski gear on. Not a bad way to start the first day of camp. We set out to show the campers their new surroundings so they could get familiar with the mountain.

Alex Bellemare with some of the new arrivals. And that Pat King guy even snuck into the photo.

Not a bad first day on the hill.

KC and his crew heading back to the lift. As you can see, not many people out on a pow day.

Just like last session, everyone quickly found that Valle Nevado has amazing natural terrain. The second day after the storm I set out to dig a double line for the campers to learn some tricks on. It was great seeing the campers sessioning the jump line and learning new tricks in the process.

Had to test out the jump for the kids! KC Deane, hand drag 3.

Henry throwing his first right side rodeos as I watch on. Nothing like watching campers stomp new tricks.

Sending the first of the double line.

Another backy send.

KC busting out a flatspin.

After a few days of skiing bluebird pow the clouds came back in with another storm on the way, but not before Alex Bellemare and the crew hit the park for a day.

Alex Bellemare with a little tail tap action.

Another part of camp that I love is coming up with ways for campers to win all the free gear provided by Dakine, Outdoor Technology, Sessions, Armada and all of Evolve Chile’s other great sponsors.

Once again the skies cleared and left us with 18-24 inches of new snow. One of the nice things about being at Valle Nevado, which is considered part of "The 3 Valleys", is that you can access El Colorado and La Parva ski resorts if you decide to venture outside of Valle. So we began our day at Valle Nevado, and at about 11am the backside of El Colorado began turning the t-bars so we headed over to get some of the awesome lines they have to offer. Being a coach for the summer is really satisfying when you can help campers step it up and push their abilities. This day was great because all my kids started dropping cliffs and skiing lines they had been looking at for the past few days. It was awesome seeing the same stoke in the campers that I get from skiing this type of terrain.

A camper dropping his first cliff.

Snowboard Coach Curtis Woodman just hanging out in the white room.

The next day everyone began packing their bags to get ready to head back to Santiago. After the departure of a few of our crew, we continued on to the coastal town of Con Con to get two days of surfing in.

Campers tearing up the surf...

Not a bad way to end a day of surfing, let alone the last day of Session 2 of Evolve Chile.

Surfing marked the end of Session 2 and it was time to head back to Santiago and get everyone on their way back to North America. Stay tuned for more from Evolve Chile!

Evolve Session Tres from Evolve on Vimeo.