Las Leñas - Post Numero Uno

I’m not sure how I made all those long ass flights in coach over the years traveling to far flung corners of the world. I guess youth makes us tolerant. It seems I lack some of both these days. The only thing that made the 13-hour flight to Santiago tolerable was the easy access to movies. I think I watched five. Good to catch up on cinema, you know. But the airline industry has us by the balls and they can pretty much do whatever they want. Witness the complete stuffing of most flights and the gradual squeeze on our personal space. I had one centimeter between my knees and the tray table. Is extra room worth thousands of dollars? Maybe.

The painful reality of coachI completely lost track of my body clock not knowing whether I should be sleeping at any given point. I was sitting in an aisle seat and they keep the windows shaded so I never really knew if the sun was up or not. They fed us three times along the way. The food was fine. Foreign carriers are much better than domestic ones, I think, when it comes to meals. LAN is a Chile-based airline so the red wine was plentiful.

LAX International looking quiet early in the morningI felt pretty tired in Santiago where I suffered through a 90-minute layover prior to the short one-hour bump over the Andes to Mendoza. I arrived in the morning and took a taxi to my hotel about a kilometer from the central bus station. Hoping not to get robbed in the bus station at 2amThere’s a daily ski bus (CATA) from Mendoza to Las Leñas and it leaves at the crack of ass 2am. It’s six hours and runs about $28. But buses in South America are a special breed of mass transit and the cama or semi cama rides allow you to recline pretty far back and sleep.

Deluxe bussing in South AmericaThere was little snow to see as the sky lightened but as we finished the trip up the long, desolate mountain valley, some white stuff started appearing. By the time we got to Las Leñas, there was plenty to be seen although the stiff winds had their way on the windward sides of some of the hills and there was plenty of bare ground to see. It was also oddly warm for the middle of winter at 7,000 feet above sea level.

A short walk from the bus station brought me to Hotel Escorpio, my home for the next 12 days. I hadn’t eaten much over the last 24 hours so I went right in to the breakfast thing in the hotel restaurant. It was a little disappointing with only ham and cheese as the primary proteins and the rest was marginal bread and croissants, sweetened cereals, bad coffee and hot milk. I made the most of it. During the meal, I met a couple from Canada who were also booked in the hotel by the same agency I used. Mark Lasseter from southamericaski.com, who made all of my arrangements, had forwarded all contact info from his clients so we could hook up with other English speakers if we wanted. Tony, Nancy and I hit it off and they offered to show me around, as they were two days ahead of me.Me and new friends Nancy and Tony enjoying some proper Argentine apres ski

The Goods

The main peak above the resortThe weather the first two days was mostly fine with only some occasional stiff wind to deal with. The famous Marte chair was not open until mid day and the lines precluded us from trying to get on.  First of all, let’s be clear. Skiing in South America resembles nothing of skiing in the states or Canada. The chairs are mostly doubles and are of the painfully slow kind. No high speed, detachable quads down here. So, the long lines are followed by long rides. From what I could see, however, the Marte chair accesses an insane amount of alpine terrain of just the sort I love.

Lines are shorter on the Pomas

One additional chair (to the left) takes you to Marte (labeled)Most storms seem to come with or are followed by a lot of wind so the snow pack is wind buffed to wind hammered. This makes for fairly stable and edgy skiing, which I love. By riding the other lifts, including a couple of Pomas, we were able to access some steeper 1,200-foot shots of lovely Styrofoam. We lapped it all day. "You must sign zee papah here, bitte"The one curious thing about this particular run is that they have a gate sort of thing that is manned by a patroller who has you fill out a waiver before you ski this particular stretch of snow.  I’ve certainly been on steeper and more exposed “runs” elsewhere and signed no waiver but they roll a little differently down here. Once the paper work is complete, they give you a little ribbon to stick on your jacket.

The second day I decided that I couldn’t handle the lift line thing. After standing at the back of one of two lifts that would take me to Marte, I cracked, pulled out of the line and went back to the hotel. Looking back at the resort from low on the ridge across from the area

Some of the tasty menu options

Can't wait to tour to this stuff. Holy shit!I changed into some more skimo-appropriate kit (read tight and stretchy) and took a short surface Poma to the base of a ridge that looks across at Marte. I skinned then booted then skinned for nearly 2 hours, fighting some ridge top gusts near 50mph. I clicked in at the top and made my way down the couloir I spied the day before. It was chalk at the top and transitioned to corn and then glop near the bottom. I was 2:09 door to door. The altitude kicked my ass as I topped out at 10,500’. But what was amazing was that the run was 4,000’ long. Holy crap. This is what I came for.

Believe it or not this thing is nearly 4K!After a refuel, I headed back out, this time up a lift to the base of a ridge that would take me to the face that looms over the resort. I was amazed at how complex the various couloirs were that laced this large feature. It is easily accessed from the top of the Marte chair although I encountered no one on my 90-minute tour. The run down was variable but the ambiance was fantastic. After a refresh from the next storm, I’ll explore it further.

Right now the temps are sitting at just above freezing and the wet snow is ripping sideways. Really nasty. But the hard core are out slogging up the Pomas and getting it done. I’d say that the average skier here is beginner to low intermediate so they’re psyched just to have snow. I remember those days when I was a kid. Weather be damned. But it looks like I may regret having pre-purchased lift tickets as this storm might last a few days. Word to the wise.

My friends and I were talking at breakfast about what would make Las Leñas a world-class resort for advanced skiers. Infrastructure. But the likelihood of them building a tram, gondola or even high speed detachable lifts is probably nil. I can’t imagine the cost of bringing in Euro expertise to build the thing and then getting the hardware here in the first place. I have no idea where the money would come from. But if they ran a cable from the base to the top of the main peak this place would truly rival Chamonix in some ways. They don’t have the breadth of the Alps and certainly not the “scene” but the scale is there and it seems tighter. Oh well. That’s just a pipe dream. For now, you have to suffer the huge lines and slow lifts. Or, like me, you use the lower lifts to put you in position to hike and climb to the lines you want. 

Sleep

One thing is clear, Las Leñas is not cheap.  I’m staying at Hotel Escorpio, which is medium quality. It’s about right for me but runs about $2,300 a week including lift pass and breakfast. To be clear, I’m right on the ski hill. Truly ski in, ski out. A dude keeps your skis and boots overnight and holds onto your walking shoes during the day. Cheaper options exist further away from the mountain but transportation hassle goes up with that and you’re further away from restaurants. You can find rentals further down valley but you’ll likely want a rental car for that kind of set up. It all depends on what you’re willing to spend. Although this doesn’t feel like Aspen or Vail it likely is Argentina’s version of the same so it’s mostly well-heeled families at play here along with their douche bag kids living large and drinking hard.

Food

As for food, there’re many restaurants to choose from all of varying quality. Each hotel has its flavor and sometimes more than one venue. There's a general store (Supermercado) with the basics. If you get a place with a kitchen and plan to cook, it's better come here with all your staples in tow after shopping in BA or Mendoza. You can then top things off with pasta, dairy stuff and wine at the mercado.

Outside of happy hour where the local beer is four for a 100 pesos, typically they’re somewhere around $10 in the various bars. That’s freaking pricey. You’re better off buying a bottle of good Malbec, which runs $20-30. I've found it hard to pay less than $40 for dinner. A salad of some sort is between $10 and $15 USD and entres run about $20-25 USD. Add a bottle of Malbec and you get the picture. Most of the hotel restaurants have a pre fixed price for three courses for around $450 Pesos or $45 USD. You can probably save ten bucks or so if you eat at one of the apres ski bars slopeside but then you have to deal with that scene which is pretty crazy at times. Chose your poison. 

Money

I discovered that the ATM at the one little bank here wouldn’t take my Wells Fargo debit card. I called my bank and they can’t really explain it. My next shot is trying for a cash advance from my Visa. We’ll see how that goes. The take away here is that you should come with plenty of dollars in hand. The official rate is about 9 pesos to 1 dollar but you’ll find better rates on the street and even in some businesses. I bought some beers and a bottle of wine for après the first day and got 13:1 at the register. On the other hand, my ski concierge exchanged some dollars for me at 11:1. Your credit card is welcome but you’ll get the official rate on that plus some sort of foreign transaction fee from your bank. Better to bring dollars and work the system a bit.

Internet

There is a village wide WiFi system in Las Leñas. It’s not free. It runs about $10/day. The guy at the front desk told me the speed is not very good but I stepped up anyway. The truth is that it varies. I’ve had good connection in my room at times and other times I had to go to the lobby to make it happen. Sometimes it’s super slow and others I streamed a couple of short videos without interruption. It’s not the best but it works so far. If you’re reading this you know it works pretty good.

Snowmegeddon. Utter chaosTime to get this uploaded. As of today, August 6, it’s been dumping for about 30 hours. The wind stopped and the heavy, wet snow at the base has come non-stop all day. It has snowed harder than I’ve seen ever. It’s the kind of dump that’s annoying as you choke when you breathe just walking around. They don’t really have the infrastructure to manage this sort of thing compared to what happens in North America. Not one snow blower and hardly a shovel or plow to be seen. The road in and out is closed. The resort is basically shut down except for two Poma lifts that access about 300’ vertical in front of the lodge. Stunning how many people were out. I’ve never seen a line like that in front of a surface lift. I ventured out on skins and plowed through knee-deep thickness to put in a little track to the side of the piste. I did about 8 laps just to feel like I did something. Word has it that it’ll take a few days to get the mountain open once the madness stops. Stay tuned.

Comments

[dbass]

Here's hoping you get a weather window and the winds don't pick up!
Did you bring some big skis?

[Brian]

Yeah, Dave, I'm ready with the boards. I brought my Volkl BMT 95 which can handle just about anything and my DPS Wailer Pure 112. It snowed another 20cm last night. Can't seem to catch a break. Tough problem to have, especially coming from AK where we didn't get shit last year. The good news is that it cleared a bit this evening and a quick inspection of my surroundings revealed little natural activity. I met a guy today who's been coming here 16 years and he pointed out that it's a very Maritime snow pack, for the most part, so stuff is bonding well. After a short tour today, I'd have to agree. Now it simply has to stop for a few days. As you'll read in the next post, they really don't deal with dumps like this very efficiently.

[I don't like Brian]

Dear Brian,
We all dream with a tram/gondola going to the top of Las Leñas. But the beauty of it, is not having one. Is like going back in time. To tell you the truth, Chamonix is magnificent, but has too many people in the backcountry. I prefer the solitud of the Andes. Enjoy your time there. And please remember, when you travel outside the US, don't expect to find similarities to your country, specially if you are going to a third world country. Is like going to Nepal and complaint about not having Starbucks. Every culture is unique. Even if you don't like the food, the coffee or the people. Things are not better or worse, are different of what you are used to.That's the reason why we travel. To experience the diversity.
Tell your friends that Las Leñas Sucks. Thanks.
PS. Gates to the out of bounds are there to protect people. There are many places where these "intermediates" could get in travel or die.

[Brian]

Ouch. Harsh indictment, chico. I totally get what you're saying on some levels. Believe it or not, I've traveled quite a bit, even to Argentina three other times and Nepal, as you mentioned, more than once. I get the third world thing and like it, except for maybe the food poisoning. That's never fun.

But Las Leñas is not the third world and visitors are not paying third world prices. With the expense comes expectations and I don't think those are unreasonable given the commitment of time and money the touristas shell out to come here. If you're a local then you have all the time in the world to wait for the mountain crew to get things in order, for the weather to get right and finally enjoy what these mountains have to offer. But if you don't understand my small amount of frustration then I don't think there's much else to say.

If you enjoy spending two hours in line because it makes you feel nostalgic then you have it made. I simply don't have time for it. I'm not sure how standing in line for 45 minutes with 100 of your closest friends allows you to enjoy the "solitude of the Andes", anyway. It's a ski area. There has to be a balance between crowd management and preservation of the resource. IMO, LL hasn't achieved that yet. My two best days here so far were outside the ski area altogether and I saw no one, like you say. The area gets my money and I don't even use the amenities. That's a good deal for them and you, since it's one less body in line.

As for telling my friends Leñas sucks....that's an odd request for an area that thrives on tourist dollars/pesos. True enough, LL sees very little North American traffic. If we all stopped coming I doubt anyone would notice. I'll simply write my impressions here because, well, it's my blog and that's what I do. Readers can do what they want with the information. At least they'll come knowing what's ahead.

As for the gates, yeah, I know they're for, surprisingly. I simply found the signing of a piece of paper amusing. Yep, they do it different here, like I said. Honestly, plenty of "intermediates" signed the paper and struggled down. I'm not sure it had the effect you hoped for. Or, to quote The Princess Bride, "...I'm not sure it means what you think it means."

[David]

Dear I don't like Brian,
maybe you can help steer me in the right direction.
I have a dream to come to the Andes and stay in a little mud hut bed and breakfast high in the mountains and go back country skiing using a local Guacho and some mules to access some bigger lines. Full on third world resort skiing at third world prices.
Any ideas?
Best regards david

[Brian]

Ah, David.

Finally someone has conceptualized the perfect ski vacation. Bravo. Magnifico! Maybe some hay to sleep on and a smelly old saddle bag for a pillow.