This year, we’re partnering with our good friends at Icelantic Skis to bring you an exclusive video series that’ll leave your jaw on the floor. Return to Nature isn’t just about deep days on the hill; it’s about rediscovering the importance of immersing oneself new places, new people and new experiences.
WORDS • SAM WINSHIP
The trip started off jumping right into a 12-passenger van once landing in Santiago, Chile after 20+ hours of travel from the US. Automatic transmissions are a bit of a rarity down in South America and, being the only person who felt comfortable driving stick, it was my responsibility to lug the crew and our gear up the 8,000 vertical feet of sketchy switchbacks to Valle Nevado. It was exhausting, but it put me in the mindset I needed for the rest of the trip: Diving headfirst into situations with many unknowns and with an open attitude.
We were in South America for around five weeks, but with less than ideal conditions in Las Leñas and one of the worst winters South America has had in a long time, the majority of the video was shot in four or five days. Needless to say, there is some serious hair pulling when you’re stuck somewhere like Las Leñas for weeks without skiing. For those who don’t know the area: you’re about 5 hours from the next “town”, there’s very little fresh produce and even less access to WiFi and other distractions.
That said, it would have been ten times worse if I weren’t with Aiden Ulrich, a veteran filming in this area. We grew up making ski videos together and we aren’t strangers to making our days count, creating poppin’ ski videos with only a few days of clips. I owe him a lot when it comes to my skiing and motivation.
To prove a point, the ending trick of the video was a struggle. It was one of our last days on snow and the sun came out strong. We knew there was a cool natural take off feature, but we weren’t sure of its potential. After battling this trick and getting beat up on landings as well as the hike up, I was losing steam. Aiden met me at the jump with a squeeze packet of applesauce—essentially baby food—and his headphones. He told me to listen to Suicidal Tendencies on full volume and give it one more go. Watch the video and you’ll see what happened from there.
“DEL SUR” is the third short film of the Return to Nature series from Icelantic Skis.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photography by Eric Sales
