Las Leñas, Argentina - Las Leñas is the largest but perhaps most controversial ski area in the Southern Hemisphere. Advocates compare its scale to Vail and Snowbird combined, though the long and steep off-piste terrain is perhaps more analogous to low density European areas like Alagna or La Grave. Detractors point out that 80% of this terrain is dependent upon the Marte double chair, which is closed at least half the time due to weather, avalanche control, wind or less diligent management than we expect in North America. When open, Marte’s skiing can also be limited by substantial lift lines and by the other slow lifts needed to return to it.
The polarized opinion above, plus my favorable impression of Extremely Canadian’s clinic at Whistler, convinced me to sign up for one of their World Tour weeks. Extremely Canadian has been coming to Las Leñas since 2002, and lead guide Joe Lammers has over 200 days of lifetime skiing at Las Leñas.
Some skiers put a premium on skiing anything in the Southern Hemisphere, just to break up the typical six to eight months between northern ski seasons, so it’s worthwhile to analyze Las Leñas relative to Southern Hemisphere alternatives, as well as on an absolute scale vs. European and North American skiing.
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Santa Rosa snowstorms are sometimes so intense at Las Leñas that ski resort staffers need to dig out the Marte chairlift. (photo: Derek Foose)
Las Leñas skiing is entirely above treeline. (photo: Derek Foose)
Las Leñas is known for long, sustained steeps. Here, two skiers inspect the top of Eduardo's (photo: Derek Foose) |
Word of mouth before my visit was that South American snowfall was very volatile, and that it was driven by El Nino. Las Leñas’ monthly snow data (thank you Joe Lammers for letting me get my mitts on this!) is 44% correlated to the strength of El Nino, about the same as at Arizona Snowbowl but less than in Southern California. The standard deviation of snowfall is much more than any of the North American areas I track, about 50% more than in the Sierra and double that of the Rockies. Thus three of Las Leñas’ 22 seasons have been total wipeouts, with less than five feet of natural snow all year, while snowfall was a whopping 492 inches in 2002.
There are anecdotal comments about big Santa Rosa storms (in honor of South America’s first saint, commemorated each year on August 30) that have arrived conveniently close to some of the Extremely Canadian trips. The 22 years of data show that July is actually the highest average snowfall month, though that fact is inconsequential in light of the huge volatility. Las Leñas snow does tend to fall in big dumps of several feet, with extended sunny spells in between, similar to but even more extreme than in the California Sierra.
The lower mountain terrain, served by six chairs and several surface lifts, faces predominantly east up to 9,100 feet and thus turns to spring conditions quickly on sunny days at a latitude (35 degrees) similar to Arizona Snowbowl or Taos Ski Valley. Marte’s terrain preserves very well as it is 2,000 feet higher and some of it faces south (away from the sun in its hemisphere). The low density east-facing bowls tend to produce outstanding corn snow after just a few sunny days and cold nights.
There are several reasons why skiers should prefer Las Leñas in mid-August to early September. First, the snowfall volatility argues to hold off booking until snow is on the ground. There has been enough snow by sometime in July to book in 15 of the 22 seasons. Also, South American holidays in the latter part of July are the busiest time. Weekly lodging costs at that time of year are approximately $500 higher per person. Finally, Las Leñas’ inefficient lifts (no high speed detachables) do not handle crowds well. Marte’s lift lines can be well over half an hour when the resort is full. It is for these reasons that Extremely Canadian chooses to run its one or two weeks of tours around Labor Day.
2009 UPDATE ON MARTE, THE KEY TO BIG-MOUNTAIN SKIING AT LAS LENAS
Although this article was published in 2006, in 2009 I obtained useful information about operations at Las Lenas from Jeff Eckland, a new director of mountain operations who formerly worked at Kirkwood ski resort in California.Marte operates about 40% of the time. This is based upon actual chair loadings during the 2009 season compared to the Minerva and Vulcano lifts and fits the "gut reaction" of repeat visitors.
Avalanche control is more complex than in North American resorts, more comparable to Chamonix in France.
"We have Catex -- Cable Explosives Delivery Systems, basically a small ski lift that spans the top ridges here -- very common in Europe, unheard of in the USA. And Gazex -- also common in Europe, but typically only owned by Highway Departments in the USA," Eckland explains. "Every single storm, five people are stationed up at the top of Marte in our Catex facility at the top patrol station which is called Bora Bora. We have to carefully watch the storms to get up there before it arrives, and we are trapped up there for the entire duration of the storm, with supplies and diesel and explosives to last up to 10 days. The record thus far is nine days for one team. Four of the team are Catex and explosives experts, and one is a dedicated snowcat operator who continually digs out the top terminal of Marte and also digs out the Iris Teleski -- a huge job to try to keep up with the drifting snow all night. Those teams do avalanche control from above, and we do further work down here in the base, where we fire the Gazex, the Avalaunchers, and the 75mm Howitzers. We protect the faces above Caris, Minerva, and Vulcano with the Howitzers, and they are further protected higher above with the Catex and Gazex.
"The crew at Bora Bora hardly sleeps. During the storms every four hours we must wake up and do a Catex mission to protect Marte."
When storms are over, the top of the Vulcano lift often needs to be excavated as well.
The top of Marte is wind exposed, which could result in closure 25% or more of days even when storms and avalanche control are not factors.
Why weren't lifts built up the sheltered Apolo Valley rather than in Marte's exposed location?
"When they built Las Leñas in the early 80's, they wanted to use this alignment, but the Apolo valley is an old glacial channel, and the surface is 100% unstable permafrost," says Eckland. "The engineers chose to put Marte up in the rocks where it exists now because they were discouraged by the lack of stability in the permafrost. But modern lift foundation technology and concrete chemistry are now advanced enough to allow lifts to be in the Apolo Valley, funds permitting."
The ideal solution for Las Lenas would be an aerial lift to the top from the frontside base, preferable the more wind-resistant double-cable Funitel design used at Squaw Valley, Calif. Unfortunately cost in North America would be similar to the $25 million for the recent new tram at Jackson Hole, Wyo. And in Argentina there would be a 50% import tariff on that. This tariff applies to any new equipment Las Lenas might need, like new snowcats or cheaper lifts in the Apolo Valley.
TERRAIN TYPE
Cruising: Each of the six chairlifts has one major groomed line, with minor variations. Think Alta in the 1980’s, but quality of grooming is not as consistent. In fairness I observed a similar standard of grooming at Treble Cone, Cardrona and Coronet Peak in New Zealand in 1997. The best cruising by far is when you nail one of Las Leñas’ huge bowls in smooth windbuff or corn.
Moguls: Off-piste skier density was so low that I never saw a mogul during my entire week. Moguls would be likely to form in confined lines on the Cenidor slopes dropping south from the Caris chair at 8,500 feet. But with the high snowpack of 2005 Cenidor was a broad face where everyone spread out and the snow remained smooth.
Wide Open Spaces: Even without Marte there is a considerable expanse of open skiing, comparable to New Zealand’s best at Mt. Hutt and Treble Cone. In addition to Cenidor, there are the extensive lower Mercurio bowls reached by traversing north from the Vulcano chair at 9,100 feet. When Marte is open, there’s another 2,000 vertical above Vulcano on Billboard, upper Mercurio or Paradiso. From any of these you traverse back to Las Leñas’ lowest lift, the Urano poma at 7,200 feet. Occasionally Extremely Canadian will go beyond Paradiso, ski to the valley floor and arrange a truck pickup. During our week they arranged a snowcat ride to Necklace Bowl, which drops 3,000 vertical into the Neptuno canyon opposite Marte.
Steeps: Here the hype is for real. Las Leñas’ steep pitches are sustained for longer verticals than we usually see in North America. The Marte liftline averages 30 degrees for 2,400 vertical, and the upper Mercurio and Paradiso bowls are similarly pitched. The Billboard face directly above the top of Vulcano chair averages close to 40 degrees, as does Eduardo’s, a couloir that drops into the middle of the ski area near the top of Minerva chair. As measured by Google Earth Eduardo’s has the same average pitch as Squaw Valley’s 75 Chute for over twice the vertical. There are further long and steep routes through the rocks moving south from Eduardo’s to the Marte liftline and beyond, but one should first go with a guide to avoid unstable snow or becoming cliffed out.
Trees: None. They have planted a few near some of the hotels and they aren’t doing very well. In fact Las Leñas is named for a small desert shrub that grows naturally in the area.
Powder: With vast and steep terrain and low skier density there should be plenty of powder to go around after storms. Besides delayed opening of Marte, the major caveat is wind. While we noticed little wind while skiing, the lower south facing bowls of Cenidor and Mercurio had obviously been windpacked before we first skied them. The east facing areas had powder when we first arrived but had been windpacked by the time Marte opened late in our week. Joe Lammers explained that wind direction at Las Leñas is not predictable; you have to explore after each storm and figure it out. Further evidence of varying winds was the lack of huge cornices that build up from prevailing winds at areas like Mammoth. The snow tends to be between the Sierra and Rockies in water content.
Hiking and Backcountry: Las Leñas management has you sign a waiver and tie a small ribbon to your clothing when you go off piste the first time, even to Cenidor or lower Mercurio. Avalanche control work is done from the top of Marte because several of the bowls overlook and potentially threaten the pistes just above the resort. However, Extremely Canadian requires (and will rent to you) backcountry gear (transceiver, probe, shovel) for all customers. If you’re going to explore less obvious routes, it makes sense to do so in groups and carry the gear. There are longer (more than one hour) hikes available to Necklace Bowl (which we accessed by snowcat) or to any number of 12,000 plus- foot peaks west of Marte close to the Chilean border.
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