Avalanche Derails Key Las Lenas, Arg. Chairlift After 5-Foot Snowfall

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The currently derailed Neptuno chairlift.  You can see the cable and chairs on the ground.  photo:  adria millan
The currently derailed Neptuno chairlift. You can see the cable and chairs on the ground. photo: adria millan

An avalanche collided with the Neptuno chairlift at Las Lenas ski resort in Argentina and derailed the chairlift’s cable from 5 lift towers yesterday.  The Neptuno chairlift provides access to the badass Marte and all of Las Lenas’ best freeride terrain.

It is unknown how long it will take to repair the chairlift.

Las Lenas ski resort in Argentina just got 40″ of snow at their base and 63″ of snow up top.  The place is buried in snow right now…  but the skiers and riders in the area are unable to access the good terrain due to the Neptuno chairlift having derailed.

The currently derailed Neptuno chairlift.  You can see the cable and chairs on the ground.  photo:  adria millan
The currently derailed Neptuno chairlift. You can see the cable and chairs on the ground. photo: adria millan

Report from Las Lenas local freeskier badass Adria Millan:

“Aqui en las leñas disfrutando del paquete que ha caido… Pero sin poder acceder marte porque el sabado cayo una avalancha desde el Collar que arrastro 4 sillas de neptuno descarrilando el cable de 5 pilonas. No se sabe cuanto va a demorar la reparacion…

Ahora mismo estan habilitados todos los medios menos neptuno y marte, pero vos sabes que esto significa menos del 20% de terreno esquiable.” – Adria Millan

TRANSLATION:

Here in Las Lenas we’re enjoying a huge dump of snow that just fell…  But without the power to access the Marte chairlift because an avalanche came down from the Collar on Saturday and dragged 4 Neptuno chairs derailing the cable from 5 lift towers.  We don’t know how long repairing it will take…

Right now, they have all the chairs open except for Neptuno and Marte, but you know that this leaves us with less than 20% of the skiable terrain of Las Lenas.

Lenas trail map with Neptuno on the left.
Lenas trail map with Neptuno on the left.
Las Lenas's Marte chair accessed terrain in 2011.  photo:  snowbrains
Las Lenas’s Marte chair accessed terrain in 2011. photo: snowbrains

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7 thoughts on “Avalanche Derails Key Las Lenas, Arg. Chairlift After 5-Foot Snowfall

    1. At this point, Neptuno y Marte are still closed. They haven’t opened since the incident. As soon as we learn more, we’ll get it up.

  1. Do you have an update on whether or not they are trying to fix the lifts? We are going in 2 weeks

    1. Hey Debra. We don’t have an update yet. I’ll email my friends there right now and we’ll write up a report as soon as we find out anything concrete.

      We’d assume that they could get this fixed within two weeks. That said, things do move very slow in Argentina…

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