The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“The group flew over as a team and came out as family”
By Than Acuff
While visions of South American powder skiing in July and August fill the heads of most skiers and snowboarders in North America, ski coaches Montana Wiggins, Emma Latta and assistant coach Marin Gardner brought those visions to reality for nine Gunnison Valley kids in the first trip of West Elk Ski Camps.
The idea came to Wiggins and Latta midway through the 2024/2025 ski season. Wiggins and Latta both coach for the Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST) and knew about freeride comps in South America and wanted to keep the energy going from winter training and competing into the summer while exposing their athletes to something more.
“We wanted to bring a group of CBMST athletes to compete, ski and enjoy South American culture,” says Wiggins. “Emma and I were thinking how much of an amazing opportunity and experience it would be to travel to the southern hemisphere to compete, ski and travel internationally with the same athletes we coach throughout the season.”
As a result, Wiggins and Latta created West Elk Ski Camps separate of CBMST and used some knowledge of the ski competition circuit and some contacts in the industry to help develop a ski trip south.
“We’ve always known about the IFSA (International Freeskiers and Snowboarders Association) competitions they have there,” explains Wiggins. “Also, Ski Club Vail coach and Western alumni Matias Doherty is a local to Farellones, Chile and had tremendous input and help with transportation and local knowledge. Without him the trip would have been not nearly as smooth.”
Wiggins and Latta put the offer out to the CBMST families and Sam Anderson, Atalaya Hausdoerffer, Liam Hadley, Brie Polster, Alyssa Lodovico, Maryn Pritchett, Brooks Miller, Tor Jennison and Phoebe Cahir all signed up to make the trip to ski in South America.
They started out their trip flying into Santiago, Chile and then set up their base camp housing 30 minutes outside of Santiago to ski at Valle Nevado.
“Our first destination we call the compound/home base is at the base of the 42’s (the locals call it), which is at the base of the 42 switchbacks,” says Wiggins. “We had this spot for the entirety of the trip.”
Once settled in, they got to skiing and were treated to less than stellar conditions and a totally unique resort skiing experience.
“During the month of June, the Andes received a couple big storms. The base was made, but unfortunately it didn’t snow at all during the month of July, hence the Headwall bulletproof conditions,” says Wiggins. “The ski resorts did not have one single tree. Not one. The terrain was all high alpine low visibility unless the sun was out. We also noticed that the ski resorts there have fewer resources for avalanche mitigation and for getting terrain opened efficiently. When a big storm comes, it can take a few days to get the full resort opened. It can also be dangerous in the flat light/fog when skiing because patrol doesn’t always mark dangerous terrain/boulders/ditches.”
Following some freeskiing, the camp then headed to Fallerones to ski at El Colorado and prepare for the upcoming freeride competition there on firm snow conditions. It started with an adult competition on July 25 in which Latta placed third in the 3-star event and Wiggins chose to go for a large air at the bottom of his run and ended up breaking a ski on the landing.
The kids kept their skiing in check finding the right mix of pushing their limits without pushing too far. As a result, four of the West Elk Camps placed top five with Cahir, and Polster placing second and Hausdoerffer and Hadley taking fourth with their runs.
“The athletes all had successful and somewhat successful runs,” says Wiggins. “The conditions were difficult, however we adapted and adjusted to the best of each athlete’s ability.”
Fortunately for the coaches and the athletes, a storm did finally roll in and they ended their trip skiing soft snow before flying back to Denver on August 5.
“It finally snowed the last few days before leaving so in fact we did get August pow and face shots,” says Wiggins. “A first for all of us.”
Ultimately, the coaches and athletes were stoked on the experience and Wiggins and Latta are already looking ahead to a similar adventure next summer.
“This was an unforgettable trip that forced us all out of our comfort zones, gave us the opportunity to compete internationally, and gave me confidence in my coaching ability,” says Latta.
“This trip not only helped me with my confidence in my skiing but confidence in who I am,” adds Hausdoerffer.
“The group flew over as a team and came out as family,” says Wiggins. “Where, who and when we will go next is unknown. New Zealand, Argentina or maybe back to Chile. Advice to those that are interested, Santa is always watching.”
