powder day

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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.

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.

Tuesday evening, Las Leñas received a completely un-forecasted mini-dump. It snowed HARD for a few hours, and we ended up with about 6 inches of fresh snow on the mountain.

This light dusting just barely hid a lot of the sharks, and made for some classic dust on crust conditions. But, a Marte powder day is a Marte powder day, and there were a few really great turns out there. This snow fall was just what we all needed to keep us satisfied until the next storm arrives.

It looks like that next storm will be hitting us next week: Tuesday the 14th through Thursday the 16th. It is shaping up to be a big one – over 50cm forecasted up top. It’s still a week off, so far too early to be counting on it, but it certainly looks promising.

Snow-Forecast.com, Days 0 – 3.

Snow-Forecast.com, Days 4 – 6.

Snow-Forecast.com, Days 7 – 9.

This video, filmed and edited by Matthias Weichselbaumer, shows his runs and experiences on the amazing Marte Powder Day on 7/24. Not only does it contain some fantastic footage and fun times, but it also shows a different take on the day when compared to my video from the day. I thought it would be interesting to see our days side by side. I was first chair and Matthias was second (behind all the guides and clients who cut the line 5 seconds before Marte opened, of course), but we chose different lines all day long. Watching his video, it looks like Matthias’ day was every bit as good as mine!

My day.

This video, put together by Adrià Millan, Jordi Tenas and Txema Trull, features one awesome run down Cenidor on a powder day last week. They’ve done some really interesting stuff with GoPros on this to make it fun to watch. They use pole mounts, hand offs, following cams, slow motion, and just about every other option a POV can offer. Good work, catalanes.

Also in this video are Pau Bardaji, Alejo Sanchez, and me.

Today was one of those days that makes it all worth while – when you forget all about the wind, the prices, and the A-factor. Today, we were all reminded why we sacrifice so much to come here: because when you get a perfect Marte powder day, it is without a doubt the best lift-served skiing in the world.

After the last storm on Saturday 7/21, Eduardo and the South Wall still had not opened. Last night 7/23, we received another nice top up of perhaps 8 inches up high. Today Marte opened at about 10:30am,  after the pisteros completed there control work.  South facing lines were skiing best today – because most hadn’t been open in some time, and because the wind had really loaded them up overnight.

Looking forward, we are forecasted to have high pressure and low winds for the next week. Hopefully the powder will be preserved, and we can spend the next week hitting every hike-to line within reach.

Also, apologies for the abundance of POV footage in the last few videos. My camera will be fixed by Friday. I think.

Saturday 7/21 delivered the storm that we desperately needed here in Las Leñas, and today was a classic first sunny day powder day. This video shows the standard first powder day timeline: morning Cenidor runs, mid day Vulcano, and afternoon Marte. For many of us, today was the first true powder of the season, so stoke levels were running high.

It is hard to say how much fresh snow we’ve received. Something like 12 inches, with a whole lot of wind to really smooth things over and fill everything in. Conditions primarily consisted of good powder with a very light wind skin, with some areas looking a little scoured, and others with some breakable wind crust (carton).

Despite really heavy winds, ski patrol was kind enough to give us all one good Marte run in the afternoon. If you ever find yourself complaining that they don’t try to open Marte in heavy winds, remember today!

Patrol only opened Mercurio and “variations” today, so Eduardo and the South Wall remain untouched for tomorrow. It isn’t clear whether tomorrow will be blue, or stormy and gray instead.