Edouard Brochu ‘24 is a member of Northwood’s Men’s FIS Alpine Ski Team. He wrote this guest column from his training camp in Chile.
Chile is the longest country in the world: over 4,200 miles from top to bottom. But other than that, it is a relatively unknown corner of the ski world. Skiers usually think of places like Europe, the Rockies, or Japan when going on a ski vacation, but the beautiful Andes mountains in the east of Chile are a magnificent, yet incredibly underrated, ski destination.
While not very popular with tourists, the Chilian Andes are a haven for ski teams for two reasons: First, the terrain is great for training for ski racing. Second, and most important, they are in the southern hemisphere. This means skiers can train during the summer in the North while it is winter in South America. This is precisely why the U18 Northwood ski teams ended up in Valle Nevado de Chile.
Lots of people have asked me, “Why so early in the school year, though?” The ski team left Northwood on September 9th, after just a single day of classes. It might seem a little extreme to leave for two and a half weeks after just one day of school, but no athlete here regrets coming, and none is falling behind academically. We have some time every day to keep up with our classes. School definitely isn’t as easy 4,000 miles away, but the extra bit of work is worth it for our skiers.
“We skiers have to make sacrifices to be the best we can be”, says Elléanore Pelletier ‘25, one of our U18 racers. All of the skiers I have spoken to agree, and no one regrets it. The training quality is simply undeniable.
The training has been top-notch. Since it’s the end of the season in Chile, there is abundant snow, and the whole mountain is skiable. The conditions allow the skiers to train on different terrains. Our coach Seppi Steigler chose this location because of the amount of snow it gets annually and the absolutely huge skiing area. And speaking of snow, the snow conditions here are quite near perfect for racing. All in all, this place checks all the boxes for a great training venue for ski racing.
“Five Stars!” That’s the only thing our skiers have to say about the Chile camp. From the magnificent scenery to the practically unmatched training quality, there aren’t many words that describe how near-perfect this trip has been so far. It sure isn’t the typical skiing trip, but Chile is definitely a place I will visit again, and I am sure I am not alone.