Cerro Martin off Marte chair, Las Leñas, Argentina. August 13th, 2011.
Las lenas is known for being a shit show. It’s way over priced, there’s nothing but a few shops and one night club (which leads to heavy drinking out of shear boredom on storm days that can go on for weeks) and the lifts only run “sometimes” even when the weather is good. However, if you put the time in or just get lucky skiing off the Marte at Las Leñas is the raddest summer skiing you can do at any ski resort in the world. Yesterday my amigos and I got 7 runs off the Marte which were on par with just about any 7 heli bumps I have gotten. Yes , heli-caliber runs from a chair lift – no bull sh%t!
The infamous Marte Chair at Las Leñas.
Early yesterday (August 13th, 2011) morning, I stumbled out of the casino at 4:00am, which is standard Argielandia behavioral procedure. It had been storming for the past few days and the forecast was calling for more bad weather. Every gringo in the valley was sure there was no way the Marte would be open and were planing to send it even deeper into the night. However, when we stubbled out of the casino into the early morning the skies had cleared and there was not a breath of wind.
A few hours later we are riding up the marte under blue skies, no wind and fresh boot-top deep stable powder. My first run of the summer season was a 4000′ run down the front side of the mountain. Perfection!
The tide is still low and shark fins litter the mountain but yesterday was all time. Another storm is rolling in and if it is as big as it is looking in the forecast we could be lining up an even better day of skiing for later next week.