 Poster: A snowHead
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Just got a phone call from my friend in Las Lenas. Massive storm last night, 12-14ft (yes, feet!) of snow overnight.
Resort closed, proably for a week. I am going out in 10 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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flicksta,
Where abouts is Las Lenas. Chile I presume???????
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Argentina. Some reckon it's the best ski area in South America. It has a much-worshipped chairlift called Marte. This from powderquest.com (which is an operator for that destination):
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Words simply cannot describe some of the terrain Las Lenas has to offer! The incredible part is the Marte Lift, servicing terrain your Mama would ground you for riding.
From the steep bowl directly under the Marte chairlift, to Eduardo's 48-degree Couloir, and literally hundreds of chutes 40-50 degree plus, some people have said they would give up every chairlift in South America, for Marte! |
flicksta, can you get any more about this storm? It sounds quite exceptional. Presumably a massive avalanche risk, with lifts buried.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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trying to, my friend is over there at the moment. Said there were people getting blown over, cars buried, he expects the mountain to be closed for 3-4 days whilst the dig out the lifts. They've got ten days to sort it out for me. Snow reports are pretty hard to come by on a daily basis, probably have to wait a couple of days. Latest Skiclub report is for 15th August which says 'snow falling' and the Las Lenas website is even more out of date. Webcams show a fair bit of fresh, but info is hard to come by.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I am out in Argentina at the moment. I was up at Penitentes last Saturday when the storms started. A huge amount of snow fell, the highway to Santiago was closed for 5 days I think (that´s the main road from Buenos Aires to Santiago). Most of Penitentes was closed on Tuesday too but 1 drag provided waist deep powder skiing.
I was in Las Lenas (about a 6 hour drive away) on Thursday and Friday. The whole resort wasn´t closed but there was a hell of a lot of snow, i would doubt 12-15ft except where there were drifts!!!!! The Marte chair that DG refers to only opened Friday afternoon as they had to dig a trench through the snow for the chair to go through! There was a high avalanche risk which has kept the Volcano chair closed. The other problem is that the lift co. at Las Lenas are not very quick at making the resort safe and the locals I talked to said it was a recurring problem every heavy snowfall. It warmed up a bit yesterday too so the conditions softened a bit and the off piste became a touch crusty. At a guess you could amuse yourself at Las Lenas for 3 days without getting bored of same runs, without the Marte lift there would be nothing very special there. The sking is good but the lifts are painfully slow!!!
However that is more than made up for by the Argentines who are great and the fact that lunch and a beer on the piste cost me 3 pounds oh and that is really expensive in Argentina!). I´m now waiting for a bus to Bariloche (15hours) and am going to see what Cerro Catedral has to offer!
flicksta- you will have a great time, Marte was good but only did it once as queue was 40mins long!!! Go to top of Ceris (I think it is, the only 4 man chair anyway) and turn left and go straightover the edge. The off piste there is good but the queue can again be a bit of a pain!! ENJOY
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Oh forgot to add that some Americans I talked to broadly reflected what DG said about the Marte chair.....if the queue isn´t so bad!
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The Marte lift frequently closed after storms. Its been wiped out twice in the past by Avalanche's . I tend to agree if this lift is closed then Las Lenas inbounds terrain is reduced somewhat. However, there is some good outbound terrain which you can discover preferbly with a guide.
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Marte chair is currently closed, but Volcano is open so hit up a load of off piste today. 2-3ft of fresh powder, lift had been closed for five days. Tracked to death by the close, so we´ll have to see what to do tomorrow.
You can´t expect full days every day here, currently Marte is closed because the cats needed to clear the snow are preparing pistes for race training for the Italian and Austrian ski teams. Ce la vie I´m afraid.
Bluebird day today though. Pretty sweet so far.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Snowing a lot, 2-3ft last night and just been up for a blast in the powder. Mountain has just been closed again for bombing. Bombing is carried out using a WW2 artillery gun which is amusing to say the least.
Fact of life here, lots of the mountain closes when there is a big snowfall, which is predicted for the next two-three days. A lot of ´hurry up and wait´and cafe con leche.
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flicksta,
I got a picture of that somewhere. I found that amusing as well 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I´ve got the same picture too!!  Best view from the chairlift going over the top, 2 of them there too as I recall!!!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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2 indeed. Marte lift being dug out, avi has knackered a couple of the chairs. A group of about 40 of us gringos are ready and waiting. Meat Hugo Harrison, extreme skier extrordinaire, at breakfast this morning. I am now obviously claiming him as my best friend.
Looks like Marte will open tomorrow, with five days to go. Always ´mañana´
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>> Marte chair that DG refers to only opened Friday afternoon as they had to dig a trench through the snow for the chair to go through
You've got to get a pic of that!!
cheers,
greg
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You know it makes sense.
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It is a trench, but a pretty small one, you can rest your skis on the snow for about 100m
Been offline for three days, Marte has been open. What a place, ticked off my first 50deg couloir yesterday. The first day it opened i did 7 laps, 40-45 degree couloirs every run. Day after was poor vis, so a bit wasted, but yesterday was my best ski day ever. An area called Sans Nom, with a 3000ft couloir starting below a giant cornice in 2ft of powder all the way. This followed Frankie´s, 50 deg at its steepest, about 1000ft of vert in powder again.
this place is amazing when the Marte is open, I now realise why people make such a fuss. couloir after couloir after couloir.
Cold today, prob -20 at the top, although nailed a couple more 40 degree chutes.
One more day to go. Incredible so far, well worth the wait!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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as usual, it´s not working in the photo!
Snow and wind today for our last day, not a lot of the mountain open at the moment (10am).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That looks quite a playground to me....
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