argentina — There is no place more beautiful than Bariloche. image: snowbrains

Report from August 11th, 2019

by Greggy

I had trouble sleeping Saturday night – the constant pitter-patter of rain on the roof made me too excited. Rain in town all night usually means more snow than forecasted. I woke early, to the rain subsiding and skies clearing. I got to the mountain early and it was a ghost town. Sunday was an election day here in Argentina, and the elections are mandatory so half the mountain was closed in order for the staff to get a chance to vote.

Related: South American Ski Guide: Las Leñas, Argentina

No bother for me though – although Nubes was closed, Punta Nevada was running and Nubes is a quick and easy hike. I ended up opening up Nubes face on fast not quite dust on crust snow. Any lighter or any less snow and it would have been challenging, but it ended up being really fun – as an added bonus it’s always fun to look up the mountain and only see your track down the middle of a big face. The rest of the run also skied great, coverage is insane this year, and the last week and a half has been uncharacteristically cold keeping the snow prime for days. This little refresh will pack down super nice and with the cold temps continuing inbounds laps should be prime for a while.

I did one more hike/run on Nubes with decent light and decided to head Laguna way. The other side of the mountain was closed (as well as the chair heading out there) but I heard the siren call of more fresh tracks and potentially more snow in the side country. I hiked Nubes one more time and scooted over to the other side of the mountain and started the skin into Laguna – as expected I was the first one there.

After a short wait for the clouds to clear somewhat I got rewarded with an excellent, fresh powder run, and my gamble paid off as by the time I got down to the bottom the chairs were already spinning and I was able to hop right on.