“Why Do We Go Looking for Trouble?”

As we are dropping into the Parrot’s Shell, Imar says to himself, “Why do we go looking for trouble?” The top of the couloir is steep and narrow. We all know there is a double drop somewhere at the bottom. We have looked at it everytime we ride up the Neptuno chairlift and now we are dropping in. Why do we go looking for trouble, because what would life be without a little trouble.

Las Lenas is full of trouble. Thefirst line I skied in Las Lenas is called Sin Solida, No Exit. I remember riding up the Neptuno and looking at the super steep, rocky terrain. Eric and I thought we had picked out a perfect couloir, or at least one that went through. We were wrong. Half way down our ski, the couloir stopped short at a 80 foot huck. And that is the beauty of Las Lenas.

A short ski off the Marte chairlift will take you to some of the steepest and most challenging terrain anywhere in the world. What is interesting, most of this terrain is considered “out-of-bounds.” So while Marte Bowl (the bowl directly under the chairlift) is closed due to hard “duro” conditions, all of the super gnarley stuff right next to it is open. This is also the beauty of Las Lenas.

With only one week of skiing left, Las Lenas is a ghost town. There are no lift lines and most of the gringos have left. The skiing is amazing. Days are filled with early morning corn runs until 1:00 and then chalky/powder runs in the afternoon. Not a bad way to spend your day.

Clare loaded the bus today and said goodbye to another season in Lenas. She’ll be back!