Las Lenas Information

ChrisC

ChrisC

Well-known member
I saved some online information about Las Lenas that might be useful for others planning a trip.

This is one ski area that might have been better in the 1980s/90s, when there were more lifts!

More high-alpine lifts (Juno + Marte) and (semi?) marked routes.

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And a Master Plan for Las Lenas showing:
1. A Cable Car/Lift running up the front face of the original Las Lenas area to Bora-Bora summit.
2. A second mountain on the right side. Never developed.



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Las Lenas - Maps of Freeride/Off-Piste Terrain

I believe the guidebook is now out-of-print. Or just impossible to find a copy.

The definitive off-piste and freeride guide for Las Leñas, Argentina, is Thomas Maps (often called Mapas de Tomás) by legendary Swiss mountaineer and local ski instructor Thomas Perren


The first 2 maps are lift-serviced terrain by Marte.

Las Lenas 1.jpg
Las Lenas 2 Marte.jpg





The next 4 maps are slackcountry/backcountry.

Las Lenas 3.jpg
Las Lenas 4.jpg
Las Lenas 5.jpg
 
Las Lenas almost resolved its summit access issue, but COVID got in the way.

www.memo.com.ar

La historia del teleférico abandonado de Las Leñas

El centro de ski más importante de la provincia cuenta con un teleférico desarmado y en estado de abandono. Iba a ser instalado en 2020.
www.memo.com.ar www.memo.com.ar

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The story of the abandoned Las Leñas cable car​

Friday, April 5, 2024

The province's most important ski resort has a disassembled and abandoned cable car. It was supposed to be installed in 2020.​

Ariel Fernández
The story of the abandoned Las Leñas cable car


With a new winter season just around the corner, people are starting to look into prices, what the stay will be like at the country's main ski and snowboard resorts, new lifts, and more.


Argentina offers a wide range of options from the central-west to the south, with centers such as Las Leñas, Cerro Catedral, Chapelco, and Cerro Castor among the most important.


And one of the most prominent issues in this search for a new winter adventure is the infrastructure issue regarding ski lifts, or as it's better known in this part of the hemisphere, the means of elevation.


Here begins the story of the Las Leñas cable car that is not yet.

In 2019, before the pandemic, the ski resort in Malargüe purchased a cable car that had belonged to the Austrian resort of Planai. This cable car had been operating since 1986, and its implementation was estimated to be divided into two stages: the first to be inaugurated in the 2020 season and the second in 2021. The pandemic, which brought Las Leñas to a standstill in 2020, complicated everything.

This would be an alternative to the current Marte chairlift, which allows access to the upper level of the station.

The ski lift, dismantled and apparently abandoned in the residential area of Las Leñas, has a transport capacity of 2,200 people/hour and 100 cabins, each with a capacity of 6 people.

This "little egg," similar to the one at Cerro Chapelco , would connect the 2,615-meter level of Las Leñas with the 3,400-meter level. Or, in other words, the arrival of the Neptuno chairlift with the base of the Iris ski lift, which will allow the replacement of the Marte two-seater chairlift, known for the almost aerial exposure of its users.

The story of the abandoned Las Leñas cable car

The cable car installation was to be carried out in two phases. The first phase would connect the Neptune return, at an altitude of 2,615 meters, with the confluence of the Apollo and Jupiter slopes, at an altitude of 3,100 meters.

The second option connects that point with the Iris ski lift, at an altitude of 3,430 meters. This would mean the gondola could have an intermediate station and that its route would not be straight but L-shaped, adapting to the valley's double orientation between the three altitudes mentioned.

Approximate area where the departure station of the new lift will be installed

Approximate area where the departure station of the new lift will be installed

This gondola, which Austria has already replaced with a more modern one, has no date set for its adaptation to the valley, much less for when it might be operational. According to Memo, one of the biggest problems was the inability to import certain necessary accessories to make the cable car operational. Officials at Las Leñas believe they can now import these accessories, although the costs of carrying out the work are extremely high. For now, the gondola that transported so many people in Schladming Planai will remain resting under the Las Leñas sky.
 
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Las Lenas : one of the rare ski areas where you can died within 5 minutes after getting off the chairlift
 
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Tony Crocker said:
I have no clue what is being referenced here.
Click to expand...
Just that you are no fall territory especially when the snow is firm on the right of Marte. Don’t recall seeing dangerous terrain so easily available fron the top of a lift. I skied the entrance label C solo and space was maybe 150cm wide 8 meters at 50+ degrees… the only way was to straight line and gain a crazy amount of speed before a right hand turn. Terrain directly next to Marte wasn’t recommander due to the conditions.
Also a girl staying had the same place I was had tomahawked down Sin Salida and looked like she was beaten by a gang.
 
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