My buddy Rob and I decided to head down to Argentina to continue our chase of pow. Despite the warnings of low snow, which were true. The snow gods blessed us with a blanket of fresh pow to work with for a couple weeks. The low snow fall in the Andes made for some interesting skiing. Las Lenas has some of the most jagged and rugged looking mountains I have ever seen. The below average base left these cliff bands more exposed and made for some unique lines that are normally covered.
The famous lift the “Marte” is an old double chair that brings you to the top of Las Lenas ski resort and the entrance to unlimited terrain, with some ski touring and boot packing you can access endless mountains. Theres a couple of the main peaks behind the ski resort that got our attention immediately . Our first ski day, before the big dump, we decided to boot back up the couloir named E-dream. Its a fairly straight forward cooler on the face of Entre Rios (3800m) The snow wasn’t the best but it was a good hike and ski to get our legs back under us.
After a couple down days, bbqs, and chillin the snow began to fall. We woke up to sunny skies and headed straight to the chair.
The first pow day we were on a mission to get as many laps in as possible. The funny thing is every run got better, we started in the middle of the face and worked our way skiers right. Fresh couloir, after fresh couloir. Bob and I felt like we were on top of the world. One of my best days skiing on a resort.
Once we got our powder fix, it was time to put the skins back on and start working for our turns. A really cool peak Torrecillas was at the top of our list. Nick named the Monks fingers. The snow was banger and the sun was shining. Couldn’t ask for much more!
On our way back from Torrecillas we noticed this long, steep cooler with a nice air at the bottom. It was to good to pass up, the next day we hiked up Co. Negro(3535m) and had one of the better runs of the trip.
I picked up what the locals call the bible of Las Lenas, the Thomas Maps. We used this thing to plan out most of our hikes and its a good way to mark down all your progress. I hope to add to this book in years to come.
The last big hike we did was up Entire Rios down a steep couloir named Leucemia. It took us most of the day to get up there and we caught the last little bit of sun coming down it. The top part of the cooler was 50 degrees, this picture doesn’t do it justice.
photos shot by mike henitiuk and rob winter
Comments