Argentina

Things are winding down here in Las Leñas. The resort will be closing up this weekend, and there is less snow in the valley than I have ever seen.

Here is a video from our last mini storm of the season at the end of August. Riders are Zach Paley, Mike Uhrin, Matthias Weichelsbaumer, Simon Felix, and myself. Lines are Human Error, Entre Rios, Sans Nom, Collar, and Casco.

Time to enjoy spring and start getting ready for winter 2012 – 2013!

  Zach Paley recently embarked upon a trip to ski in South America, and has written a nice little blog post about it. Here are a few photos and an excerpt … Read More

This is a video of a trip to ski one of Las Leñas’ classic big lines: Adrenalina.

Adrenalina is the primary couloir running from the summit of Cerro Yeseras. It has everything one could want from a classic: a summit descent, an aesthetic line, a prominent view from town, and a beautiful ski and climb. The run starts at 14,000 feet, and goes 7,000 feet to the valley floor.

Riders are Zach Paley, Matthias Weichelsbaumer, and myself.

This video is of Clara Bortoni speed flying in the Sombrero area of Las Leñas. It is really cool to see familiar terrain from a different perspective, and it definitely makes me want to pick up speed flying. Awesome Clara, very cool!

For more, check out Speedride.cat

Well, conditions are not great in Las Leñas right now. It has gotten really warm, and things are really melted out. We may get a little bit of snow, but it is looking like the Santa Rosa will not happen this year. Without fresh snow, it is going to be hard for Las Leñas to stay open past the next couple weeks.

However, until things warmed up, the past couple weeks have given us some really good skiing. Here is a video of skiing an area called Torrecillas last week:

Torrecillas is one of those zones that makes Las Leñas a special place. It is a basically a wall of spines and couloirs with giant spires rising above them. There are not many zones in the world that are as aesthetically cool as Torrecillas. The lines are not really long or really steep, but they sure are pretty. As an added bonus, it the snow is pretty much always powder out there.

This video is from a Marte powder day last week. Rider / POVer is Matthias Weichelsbaumer. This one features plenty of Las Leñas classics: Eduardo, Parrot Shell, Sans Nom, Frankie, and Erradito. Nice one Matthias, thanks for sharing.

Conditions are turning very spring-like in Las Leñas right now, so it is a good time to reminisce about how good the past week has been to us. It looks like we may not be seeing another snow fall for some time. It’s a good time to get out there and tick off some of those big hike lines on the check list.

The Spaniards just published the newest addition to their “One Run in Las Leñas” series. This one features the Centinelas zone off of Marte. Riders are Adria Millan, Jordi Tenas, and Txema Trull. Edited by Adri. Little by little, these guys are putting together a video guide for some of the cooler zones around Las Leñas.

Check out the past couple zones that have been featured:

Amanita Phalloides

Ceñidor

Good work, as always, boys!

Las Leñas has continued to receive small top-ups of fresh snow in the past week. While two inches of pow on top of ice may not ski well by itself, there have been some really nice turns to be found in the right wind loaded spots.

This video shows a couple of those right wind loaded spots – Icaro and Hourglass. Riders are Matthias Weichelsbaumer, Jordi Tenas, Txema Trull, and Alejo Sanchez. Thanks to Matthias for the POV footage.

Looking forward, Las Leñas should be receiving snow this Wednesday and Thursday (22nd and 23rd). Friday is supposed to be clear and windless, so it could be an all-time day. It is hard to put much stock in that report however, since we have been forecasted to receive snow every single week for the past two months, and haven’t seen any of it.

Snow-Forecast.com Days 0 – 3.

Snow-Forecast.com Days 4 – 6.

Snow-Forecast.com Days 7 – 9.

In keeping with the One Run in Las Leñas pattern, here is one run in Exocet on the South Wall with Eike Poeppi. This was shot on July 24, which was probably the best day of the season thus far. Riders are Eike Poeppi and myself. Nice one, Eike! Alto polvo, alto polvo.

This edit is a recap of the first session of riding around Catedral, Bariloche with SASS Global Travel. Riders featured are Skylar Holgate, Andrew Burns, Nicki Slechta and Chris Coulter. Make sure you stay till the end for an education in riding big lines at high speeds from Mr. Holgate. Thanks for showing a line that takes longer than 10 seconds to ride, SGT!

SASS Global Travel runs freeride camps out of Bariloche, Argentina every summer. If you’re looking for an easy and awesome way to ski South America, check them out.