Conditions Report
Las Leñas Backcountry and Conditions Report:
August 20th – 27th
Looks like the season might be coming to an end soon. Rumors have spread that the 8th of September has been set as the closing date.
Last week was warm and we enjoyed spring skiing conditions. The storm that was supposed to hit Las Leñas last weekend with about a half a meter of snow was a disappointment. It started to snow a little bit on Saturday around noon and continued on and off until Sunday. But it didn’t really accumulate in the valley, but up high and in Valle Hermoso it snowed quit a lot. On Sunday pretty much everything was closed due to high winds and the little snow at the base got blown away into the Pampa…
Monday, August 25th, 2014, there was finally no wind and it was sunny. Marte opened and we were all stoked to go search for the pow up high. Cerro Martin skied well with great pow in most aspects. Torrecillas was amazing with some of the best snow of the season with roughly half a meter of dry pow. Tuesday the rush was on Entre Rios. We skied two runs on Entre Rios and they were amazing – great great snow. We were a bit concerned about the wind loaded snow at the top so the main lines were left untracked Monday.
Today, Marte stayed closed due to high winds and we skied some groomers. It is shocking how little snow there is on the lower part of the mountain especially considering how amazing the conditions are up high.
Another thing worth mentioning is that there has been a negative development here concerning what off-piste areas are open and who gets to ski them and when. It all started a couple of weeks ago when two of my friends got there passes blocked for a few days for skiing terrain that was supposedly closed. Everybody was skiing the south face that day and it wasn’t clearly stated what lines were closed or open. Now we have to ask specifically to ski certain lines if not our passes can get blocked for 15 days. A few days this week parts of the off-piste were only open for guides and their well paying clients. Is it OK to do that? Why shouldn’t regular pass holders be allowed to ski these areas if they are safe to ski?
Now we are keeping our fingers crossed that the storm this weekend will deliver.
LAS LENAS FORECAST:
Sounds like Tahoe last winter !