Mendoza is known to the locals as 'the land of sun and good wine'. I am here for neither. As I fly into Mendoza the only thing I see are row upon rows of snow capped mountains, I am here for my long awaited summer ski trip. Skiing all winter in the Northern hemisphere, I kept hearing about a ski resort in Argentina called Las Lenas from Argentines working in resorts, ski fanatics and families. They would reminiscence about Las Lenas and call it 'the wild west of skiing'. For those of you in the know, the only mountains in North America you can compare it to are in Jackson Hole, the only resort in the US with over 4000 vertical and more backcountry access than all of North America. Las Lenas has only a fraction of the people. At least the travel articles and newspapers weren't wrong about the weather. We land without a cloud in the sky.
Our guide is waiting for us at the airport. He tells us how he moved down here 4 years ago after skiing just one day in Las
Lenas. Now I'm really excited to see this mountain that everyone seems to fall in love with. We stay one night in one of Mendoza's boutique hotels to relax before going further south. Since we are here we take advantage of being in one of the biggest wine regions in the world and sign up for some wine tastings before dinner. Our Hotel receptionist tell us of another phrase, which roughly translated means 'He who came to Mendoza and does not drink wine...what the hell is he doing here?'. Who am I to argue with that?The next morning we were picked up by minivan for the ride to Las Leñas with our guide. As we drive south, on the left window was nothing but flat and dry land as far as the eye could see, on the right the Andes, enormous jagged mountains shooting into the sky from nowhere. The guide was keeping us entertained, he even brought along some maté, a bitter drink that I think I will skip out on next time. Lucky for me he had some beers in the cooler as well.
We finally arrived at a small resort town that has a grand mountain as backdrop. Everything seemed to be slope sided with a view of the hill. We checked into our apartment and were given more information about the casino and how late the night clubs and restaurants stayed open for, (which seem to be longer than the ski lifts). This is an Argentine ski resort. Expect the same late dinners, clubs till dawn and Argentine kids that go to bed when they drop.
We wake up the next day and head with our guide to find the legendary 'Marte' lift, where all those in search for adrenaline go. We decided for a late start as we thought we would take it easy on our first day. We get out around 9:30am and there was no one on the mountain. Signs of life could be found in the restaurant where the 'early birds' were having a coffee and the ski school where kids were gearing up for the day. No doubt most people were sleeping off their late night.
We reach the top of one of the steepest lifts I have ever ridden, our eyes scan mountains that seem to go on for ever . Unimaginable beauty. Never-ending. We take a deep breath and go. Now I understand what my guide was talking about when he said we would be "helicopter skiing without the helicopter". We got to the mountain three days after a storm and we still had fresh snow to ski right from the top of the lift.
On our third day on the mountain, just when we thought we had seen it all, our guide smiled and asked if we didn't mind taking a short walk. We took little convincing. 20 minutes later we were off piste, skiing over untouched snow on a whole new face of the mountain.
Having such an amazing run, we all decided that a beer would be about all we would need after that. You see, Las Lenas has an apres ski in the true Argentine tradition. You will not find many hot chocolate and knitted jumpers here. The night life is there if you wish to find it, (so are the spa and jacuzzi). Expect to bump into trendy Porteños, Brazilians, Mendocinos and the odd group of 'ski bums from the Northern hemisphere in search of summer snow. As we sat at the base enjoying our well deserved beverage. I sit and think that yes, Las Lenas is the 'wild west of skiing' with an Argentine touch, retro lifts with no one to fight for, nothing marked on the runs. (Take a guide if adventurous). As I looked up at the mountain we had been skiing for the last few days, I asked why I hadn't heard more about this place before. Our guide replied simply, "because most of us just stay".
Argentina Ski Tours. Darragueira 558 Chacras de Coria. Tel: 0261 630 0026 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
