Gomez’s reputation in the ski community as an all-star guide, skier and dirtbag gave me a starting point when it came to forging a predisposition. It seemed like every time I mentioned my upcoming trip to Chile, somebody would ask if I had plans to meet up with Gomez and was excited to learn that I did. About a week prior to my departure, Gomez called me to go over logistics, and wrapped the conversation up by politely requesting that I pick up two pouches of Bali Shag and a pound of American coffee, which reassured me we’d get along just fine. 

Gomez showed up to the Santiago hotel’s lobby exactly when he said he would. We had exchanged abbreviated versions of our personal histories over the phone before the trip, so I knew that before moving to Bozeman in 1996, Gomez had gone to University of Colorado Boulder. During his time there, he went by David Johnson, the name his parents gave him in Connecticut, where he grew up. The nickname “Gomez” was given to him shortly after arriving in Montana. He had just applied for a job at a pizza shop in Bozeman to support his ski habit, where he was hired immediately because the guy who had just quit was also named David Johnson, and the schedule was already made…

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