Another Bluebird Powder Day

We didn’t think it could get much better than yesterday, but when my alarm went off and I looked outside, I knew it was going to be another bluebird powder day. We had planned on skiing down to the river all day, but as we reached the top of the Marte chairlift, our plans changed. The sky was crystal clear, there was no wind, and Entre Rios was calling our names.

Entre Rios stands at 11, 299 feet. It is a beautiful peak and with all of the people in Lenas this year, it gets tagged super fast. No wind, powder, and blue skies; we had no choice other than to ski Entre Rios.

So we hiked.

And then we hiked a little more.

And then it was time to drop in!

And it was all worth the hike!

Clare liked it too!

It was a little sluffy.

We loved it! Our second run, we went in search for a little corn skiing.

And we found it.

And we liked it.

And so did our new friend Ben that we met on the chairlift ride up Marte.

Surprise Powder Day in Lenas 9-11-09

Today was a surprise. When we loaded the lift, we could barely see anything. After watching the snow fall all afternoon the day before, we were fired up to see how much snow was out there.

When we reached the top of Marte, patrol told us that all of the off-piste was closed. We decided we didn’t really want to ski on-piste and found a unique way into a coulair off the top of Marte. The light was bad, but the powder was deep.

The snow was good, but the visibility made it nearly impossible to ski. When we arrived at the bottom of the Marte chairlift, we saw many of the gringos heading down to call it a day. We talked about going in, but it is hard to imagine sitting inside on powder day. So we headed up for another run.

At the top of the lift, the patrol again told us that the off-piste was closed. At least that’s what I think he meant when he crossed his arms into an X as we unloaded the chair. Sometimes it is difficult to understand exactly what patrol is saying… It is possible that he was encouraging us to get extreme. We decided he probably meant the latter and headed out in the dense fog to one of our favorite shots.

It was the best decision we made all day. As we climbed higher, the visibility became brighter. After 30 minutes, we climbed out of the clouds and into a bluebird powder day. The view was amazing. And so was the chute we were staring into.

I couldn’t wait to drop in!

My first turn was soooo sweet!!!!!

I enjoyed my second and third turns too!!!!!!!

Clare Burns dropped into the skier’s right side of the chute for some fluffy powder skiing too!

Her second turn wasn’t so fluffy as she hit a patch of ice. It was super impressive to see how she handled her speed on the ice and avoided the large sluff pile that was chasing her.

As you can see, the patch of ice didn’t really phase her as she dropped into another face shot.

We skied for the rest of day. It was one of those days in Lenas that will keep you coming back year after year. Tomorrow is supposed to blue bird. Sweet dreams!

Las Lenas 9/10/08

Today we went to ski one of my favorite coulairs in Lenas. It is about a 1.5 hour skin to the entrance of the coulair. This is the view from the top. Isn’t she beautiful?

The snow is still a little weird in Lenas right now due to the cold temps and of course the wind. We expected the top of the coulair to be breakable crust, but hoped that once we were in we might find some corn.

As expected, my first three turns were breakable crust. Did I mention how much I like breakable crust, especially when I’m dropping into a steep coulair. Everything was going pretty well until my fourth turn. On my fourth turn the snow started to move, not super fast, but still started to move. I made one more hop turn and tucked myself next to some rocks. When I reached my safety zone, I turned around to see all of entire slope slide past me. This is not the best pic, but maybe you will get the idea.

The slide wasn’t scary. It was a slow moving wet slide, but it did continue all the way down the 3,000 foot coulair. And then we were left with a lot bed surface to ski.

Skiing the bed surface of a slide isn’t that much fun. As we skied to the middle of the coulair we found some protected snow in the shade that was almost like skiing pow, It had a little crust on the top of it, but pretty good snow.

It was nice to find some good snow!

The coulair eventually choked again. We were forced to ski more bed surface and the breakable crust right next to the slide. Did I mention breakable crust is hard to ski. I wish I had brought the Kuros. They rip in breakable.

All and all we had a great day! We skied one of my favorite coulairs in Lenas. I’m not sure what is going to happen to the snow in the next couple of days. It is so close being corn, but a storm has moved into Lenas. Maybe we’ll being skiing powder tomorrow.

There’s No Bad Snow, Just A Bad Turn

The first time I heard this, I was in Portillo after it had rained at the top of the mountain and then the temps dropped to sub zero. We had willed ourselves to ski until 2:00 when we retreated to the fire for hot cocoa. It was miserable skiing. Theo Meiners came in and asked why we weren’t skiing and we looked at him like he was crazy. “Have you been out there Theo? It’s terrible!” Theo gave me that crazy look of his and said, “Jess there is no bad snow, just a bad turn.”

“There is no bad snow, only a bad turn,” was my mantra as we searched every aspect of the mountain for descent snow. There were pockets of good snow in the nooks and cranies of the mountain, but most of the mountain was covered in breakable crust. Breakable crust is my least favorite type of snow to ski because it is so unpredictable. I would rather ski consistent bullet proof ice. The worst part about breakable crust is that you never know when it is going to break and you are going to fall on your head. Needless to say there were a few bad turns skiing.

The good news is there is a freeze thaw cycle occurring and the corn skiing should be phenomenal in the next couple of days.

Tramdock Becomes an ODAT

ODAT – one deal at a time. This is awesome. Tramdock.com has made the conversion to ODAT and has killer deals everyday. Check it out daily! Today they are offering whip it for $28.00. That’s a really good deal.

Lenas 9-7-08

Quick Lenas Weather Report from Matt Annetts. I was too beat up to go skiing today and had to finish some homework. Skiing pow six days in a row will take it out of you: No new snow. The wind is strong at the top of the mountain, but Marte is still running. There is still some powder to be found in the nooks and cranies, if you know where to look. The north facing snow is sun crusted. And the vis is grey-bird.

Thanks Matt!

Torrecillas – Las Lenas 9/6/08

Torrecillas is one most athsectically pleasing peaks in Las Lenas. Standing at 12,372 feet, it is the only high peak you can see from the base area. It is one of those peaks that once you see it, you have to ski it.

I wish I could give credit to whoever skied Torrecillas first the day after the storm, but they were skinning and we were boot packing.

The boot pack was a little brutal in three feet of powder, but we eventually made it to the top.

And the hike was well worth the ski.

Marte Pow Day

I don’t know if words can describe how good today was. It was one of those days that you never forget. After three down days and then two days of the worst visibility ever on the lower mountain, it happened. The sky was blue and Marte opened.

Marte was scheduled to open around 10:00, but nothing in Argentina happens when they say it will. We loaded the lift at 9:00 and headed up. When we reached the bottom of Marte, we discovered that we weren’t the only gringos hopingMarte would open. Ski Patrol had a pop fence up and gringos were poised and ready.

We sat for two hours waiting for patrol to let us go. Finally it happen, the most aggressive chinese downhill in history. The fence was trampled down. There was pushing, shoving, grabbing, and a few casualties. But it was all worth it because there is nothing like a blue bird powder day off Marte.

We skied two untouched shots offMarte. My favorite quote from Chris included, “Wow! That was long! I don’t know what AK is like, but that was huge!”

After multiple down days, Colin was starting to wonder why we convinced him to come to Lenas. He didn’t expect a lot, “Skiing in the summer is kind of novelty, but Las Lenas is the real deal. This isn’t just skiing in September, this is getting it done in September.”

Today was an incredible day. Tomorrow we hike………………….

I hope everyone enjoyed the Powder stoke. I am. The last photo is to give you an idea of how much snow fell while we were doing our laundry.

Three Feet of Snow In Las Lenas – 03-09-08

Today was sick. After another down day Tuesday, we were so psyched to wake up to three feet of new snow and no wind. There was too much snow for the upper mountain to open, aka Marte, but Volcano eventually opened and the skiing was over head all day. Here’s a few pics to get you fired up. Oh! Did I mention it is still snowing?

Chris Trezzo so happy with his descision to stay one more week in Las Lenas!

That’s a lot of snow!

I gave Colin O’Farrell a written guarentee that he would ski powder in Lenas. He’s just cashing in !

Mike lov’n Argentina!

So happy I paid extra to bring the Kuros down!

Jess and Colin finding it hard to believe that the rumor is true, “Patrol said there is 2 meters of snow at the top of mountain.” I think I found heaven!

Wind Continues to Blow in Las Lenas, 9-1-08

The wind continues to blow in Las Lenas. It is our third down day. After yesterday, we were sure Marte would run and if not we were prepared to go skinning. We were up at 8 and ready to go, only to find that it was so windy that nothing was running. Another down day. The thought of sitting and listening to the wind was too much for our crew to handle and we decided to brave the wind and go for a skin.After skinning for two hours in gail force winds, we decided it wasn’t worth it. Call us lame, but who wants to brave the wind to ski two foot deep sustrugi? We didn’t.Defeated by the wind, we retreated back to the trailhead and ate our lunch. There is a storm “blowing” in. Maybe we will wake to a fresh blanket of snow and no wind. Maybe?