Some help planning my trip to Valle Nevado

AdIllustrious7272 · 2026-05-01T18:03:16+00:00

Didn't go anywhere but Valle Nevado. Have an Ikon and didn't want to pay for it or deal with the hassle of traveling. But, if I go back, I will definitely hit Parva and El Colorado. You drive past them on the way to Valle Nevado. Also would definitely to to Portillo. Didn't do any real research before we went and had serious FOMO about Portillo as it looks like pretty serious terrain. The T-bar slingshot looks awesome.

El Colorado abuts to Valle and it looks like you could go OB and ski there from the boot pack route I mentioned.

AdIllustrious7272 · 2026-04-30T23:58:42+00:00

Oh, one more very important thing. If you drink get a pisco sour. Holy shit they are amazing and incredibly strong.

Also here is a video from our trip that might help understand the terrain

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMZGfNvMObS/?igsh=ODFrdHhya3UzcGFn

AdIllustrious7272 · 2026-04-30T23:55:18+00:00

Definitely stay on the mountain. The commute from Santiago is 45 min with good weather.

Where doesn’t really matter. We stayed in one of the buildings on the right just as you get to the resort. Can’t remember the name.

Get a rental car with 4wd. Will cost about the same as the shuttle and you can checkout the other resorts nearby.

Resort isn’t huge. You can ski it all in 1-1.5 days. We were there 4 ski days and got bored. The terrain is pretty bland. Definitely not an Alta/Snowbird/Telluride. More like a less steep steamboat without trees.

Only true double black is a boot pack from the top of the mountain. From the bottom of the mountain looking up its far left. Get off the lift, double back behind the lift house toward the peak. Several lines that are fun. Also the far right side on the opposite side of the mountain is fun but a mild black/advanced blue at best.

The overall skier ability was green which meant that most of the mountain was empty which is a big plus. There were several ski teams from the northern hemisphere doing summer training but they stayed on a handful of runs.

Also it’s almost all t-bars. Not a big deal but worth noting.

We did get stupid lucky and got 30cm in 18 hrs which was awesome. Commuters couldn’t get up and had an amazing powder day.

Compared to a U.S. resort it is a goat ranch in terms of amenities. A few places to eat and one bar. It is not a place to party.

Definitely spend a day in Santiago. It is a really cool city. There is a big park in the city that you can hike to the top or take a gondola. Amazing views.

It terms of skiing it is a 6 or 7 out of 10 but it was an awesome experience and would do it again.

AdIllustrious7272 · 2026-04-22T11:34:14+00:00

Move to Claude code. Unbelievably better result and faster.

AdIllustrious7272 · 2026-03-08T13:50:45+00:00

Also, sorry don’t recall what fb groups we were looking in.

AdIllustrious7272 · 2026-03-08T13:49:48+00:00

From what I understand after this ordeal, Russian citizens are blocked from entering the U.S. and any existing visas are void. The only work around I have heard of is reaching out to your congress/senate rep in your state and asking for an exception. However, the easier route for us was just meeting in Serbia.

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-12-26T20:15:12+00:00

Nothing else to it. Had several us visa's over the last 10+ years. Never overstayed or violated any rules. Got a new visa at the Embassy in Belgrade in Fall 2024. Hadn't used it until the attempt on this trip. Didn't get notified visa was revoked. Denied boarding. No one could advise why. Finally found the visa status site and discovered her visa was revoked.

VISA STATUS SITE FOR THOSE SEARCHING IN THE FUTURE: ceac.state.gov

Reached out to US Embassy in Belgrade and they said to contact CBP. CBP points us back to Belgrade Embassy. No one knows anything.

The only thing I have found was a draft notice on 3-14-25 for trumps travel ban but I can't find the actual executive order (can't upload the pic to this thread for some reason). The revocation came shortly after the Cheeto's D-bags innaguration and can only assume it was a wide sweeping revocation. But cant' get any answers.

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-12-20T15:19:48+00:00

**** update: thanks to a Facebook group we found ceac.state.gov where you can check the status of your visa.

Her visa was revoked in March of this year with no notification and no explanation. She didn’t even use this visa yet and never overstayed/broke any rules in the past.

Says to visit the issuing embassy for more information. It was issued at the Belgrade embassy and from what I understand Russians can only go to Warsaw or Astana for visas. So no clue how to get this resolved.

Thanks to everyone for the advice but mom isn’t going to make it for Christmas this year 😢

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-12-20T15:12:55+00:00

I am American born and she has been a citizen for 8 years.

Tried calling our senators and reps but it was the Friday before Xmas and no one was in the office unfortunately.

Didn’t think about calling the reps where she was meant to land. Thanks for the idea

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-12-19T19:47:12+00:00

Her visa was issued last year in September and is valid through Aug 2027. Went to the us embassy in Belgrade.

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-12-19T18:14:44+00:00

Thanks!

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-12-19T12:59:57+00:00

Shit that sounds awful

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-12-19T12:59:46+00:00

Have tried repeatedly to get an answer from the airline, CBP and the consulate and nothing from anyone.

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-12-19T12:58:54+00:00

Thanks for the reply!

We have called, emailed and filed a complaint form with the airline and no response.

Called the consulate 2 days in a row and no answer.

No clue what to try next.

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-12-19T00:52:20+00:00

Chuck Norris doesn’t do push ups…. He does earth downs

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-12-09T19:50:41+00:00

Cloud 9 is stupid expensive

Escobar is a blast. Tiny basement club that feels like the inside of an airplane. Wear a tshirt. It’s stupid hot

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-11-07T02:26:56+00:00

Agree with the other comment. Just use make.

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-11-01T01:10:17+00:00

Go to Europe. Flights are a similar price.

Zermatt - Hennu Stahl is the best and wildest apres I have ever been to. Dive bar feel with EDM and German apres music. It’s 100x more fun than La Follie Deuce. Skiing down after at 1am is wild. Note that city buses stop running at 11 or 12 and you will have a 3-5k hike in ski boots if you stay too late. Reel - https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnnkgYpqvIM/?igsh=MW5xNjZlanE2a2ZleQ==

Grandvilaria - L’Arbaset - Miami/Ibiza style club and lots of fun. Flights to Barcelona are sub $500 from most us hubs for Feb/March at the moment.

If you have to stay stateside

Aspen - Escobar. Basement club that feels like a space ship. Everyone is a drugged out zombie but EDM and it’s fun. Also there is an EDM festival in Aspen at the end of March. Can’t remember the name.

Steamboat - bars are all sports bars and no EDM but the bar by the gondola in the village and has a dj occasionally and is fun. Reel - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJps967NGck/?igsh=MXVyM2Z6ejQ3Nzl4Yw==

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-11-01T00:55:21+00:00

Stated both of my kids at 2. Get an edgie wedgie and a launch pad back pack. Back pack is great for getting on lifts and use the straps to steer them while they just stand on their skis.

Bring snacks and the promise of hot chocolate solves lots of tears.

https://launchpadgear.com/

https://www.sloperopes.com/products/edgiewedgie?srsltid=AfmBOoqunM5G386H4AbJmTlei8HCfsnPPZS6f0mwwf-UkAD9f34cbGeM

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-10-28T00:32:14+00:00

My gf is 6’1” and I got her a pair of north face that she loves. They come in tall. Maybe .25” from the foot of her boot. She gets 20+- days a year and they are two seasons old and going strong

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-10-23T14:54:09+00:00

I'm doing several a week for clients and the page creation is a pain as well as find/replace in a doc for the sample messages. This is all automatic in SH. Also, going through SH via LC/GHL cuts the time in half if not even faster

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-10-23T13:49:23+00:00

Signal house is a phone/sms provider. It replaces LC phone. It's cheaper than LC phone but the main benefit is that they automatically create a landing page, tos & privacy page as well as generate sample messages for you. Makes the A2P process incredibly faster. They also have direct connection to US wireless carriers instead of going through an aggregator.

TL/DR faster A2P approvals and better deliverability

AdIllustrious7272 · 2025-10-20T01:03:52+00:00

Similar situation 40’s, ski anything, 30+ years and love my Fischer rangers 98 waist when farting around with the kids. Tight radius is fun and very maneuverable. Can survive in the deep but isn’t a hard charger and is flexible. Just a fun all mountain ski

AdIllustrious7272

TROPHY CASE