Argentina
I headed back down to Argentina September 1st, this time to film with Icelantic Skis in Las Leñas. After 43 hours of travel including numerous airport lounges and a 6 hour bus ride, i finally made it to the resort. Unfortunetly, everything i heard about the snowpack was true, it looked like full on spring conditiosn with almost no snow at the base.
I met up with Eric Robert and Aiden Ulrich who were in charge of the filming and fellow Icelantic athlete Sam Winship. The first day they had been hitting a jump the day before so we planned to go out and shoot a few photos there. It was a perfect mini jump, great for getting upside down again.
The second day we were lined up to go cat skiing on the backside of the resort. This was the best change for good snow. We took the early lift up and met the cat to head out. The whole way, the cat was driving over dirt and rocks. I wondered how could we possibly find good snow. Once we finally made it to the zone, Sam and I took our first runs, and the the snow was surprisingly soft, not deep, but soft.
After our warm up run, we had the chance to scope out some lines for the next run. I found this great air out the bottom of my second run!
It was such a cool zone! The snow was decent enough to hit some small airs and we both got 3 runs in. I went up for another.
I got in a couple good airs with decent snow, but unfortunately with the cat and how long the runs took, it was time to head back. It was such a relief to get to ski some good snow and get a view fun lines in. Little did i know, this was the only good skiing i would get during my two week trip.
The next day, the other guys took the day off, so i went out by myself to see what i could find on the resort backcountry. Luckily i had my gopro with me and was able to capture some good photos up on Entre Rios, one of the peaks behind the resort. It was about a 1.5 hour hike in high winds on mostly loose rocks to the summit. But the views were amazing at the top!
I was still very stoked to be skiing in September, so the bad snow didn’t get me down too much.
The next day we heard the news that Las Lenas was closing three weeks early due to low snowpack. We were forced to change our plans and head to Mendoza for a few days before figuring out what to do next.
Luckily Mendoza is known for good food and wine. The exchange rate was great at the time so we were able to eat great 3 course meals for about $20.
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