My Weekend Ski Trip to the Andes

A few of my classmates had been talking about a ski trip that weekend to Las Lenas, a ski resort in the Andes mountains of Argentina, right on the Chilean border. It was the weekend before the start of classes and studio, and a national holiday on monday, so I had to go. How often does one get the chance to Ski in the Andes?

Our saga began friday night, when we left from Buenos Aires on a bus bound for Mendoza at 9 PM. There were ten of us, 7 undergraduates, 2 grad students, and TCody´s older sister. The bus terminal in BA is huge, multileveled, and totally packed. This is an international airport for busses, with 80 bus gates all in a single row, departures and arrivals all the time. It was absolutely packed when we left. Since airfares are too expensive for the average Argentine, and trains a leftover from the British, busses compete to outdo each other with lavish amenities, from fully reclining seats to free breakfasts, anything. We took a semicama (half reclining) bus, across the width of the country (about 750 miles ) for about $30, and it included breakfast.

The bus ride out was great. We brought a few bottles of vino tinto for the ride, and as we had all the seats in the back, had a little party while Batman Begins played in spanish on the video screens. With a little help from the wine, we all conked out around midnight and I slept soundly until about 6 AM. We stopped in a tiny town for a free breakfast of stale croissants, and the worst cappuchino Ive had so far in this country. (cafe con leche is really expresso with a ton of hot steamed milk) We arrived in Mendoza a little before noon saturday.

One slight problem. We were still 5 hours from Los Lenas. With tons of begging, searching, and pleading, we found busses to Malague, a town an hour away from Las Lenas, but they didnt leave until 6 PM, which would get us into Las Lenas in the middle of the night, and all the places we were calling in Las Lenas or Malague had absolutely nothing in terms of a place to stay. We´d ask for two rooms, and they´d tell us they were totally booked for the next two days. So, we decided to go anyway, trusting to our luck. However, there was still the problem of getting there at a reasonable time.

We decided to rent a minibus from a local car rental place. Came out to less than $40 a person for the two days we used it. The ten of us loaded up and we drove the 5 hours out to Los Lenas that afternoon. The middle of Argentina is like Texas or Oklahoma. Totally flat, unbroken except for the occational windmill, rustic farmhouse, and endless fields and open skies. When we got closer to the Andes, which run across the entire horizon, the terrain got more deserty, like Arizona or Nevada. It was very strage, especailly with the huge snow capped chain in the distance.

We passed frequent police control points, at least six or seven total, and most of the time, they just waved us through or asked us where we were going. Not sure what they were looking for. We stopped at a high mountain pass, as a place where there was a shrine and around were stacked tons of partially filled water bottles people had left. I learned later that the water was left there for parched travelers, as the shrine revered a particular local saint who died from dehydration or something like that.

The sun setting behind the Andes was phenomenal. Since we were in the wine country, the farmers were burning the fields so the smoke-haze settled around the base of hte mountain chain, shouding it almost, and the rays streaming out from behind the peaks was amazing. We were all taking pictures.

We got to Las Lenas around 10 PM. Really really small ski resort. Good snow conditions. We´d set out in twos or threes, usually with one of the chicas, and try our luck at the various places. The only place we found wanted 500 pesos a night for a room, or about 180 dollars. We were laughed out of several places, and we were asking for only two rooms. Exhausting Las Lenas, we went back to the small settlement of Los Molles, about 20 minutes from the ski resort. Los Molles used to be Los Lenas until a massive avalanche wiped the place out. The remains were rebuilt, and so now its a few small hotels and some bungalows, stretched out across the rocky valley floor. We tried the places there with no luck, and I had resigned myself to sleeping in the van with the other 9 people.

The last hotel recommended we try a hostel down a certain dirt road. We took it and we weren´t sure which was the main office of a series of stone cottages. Chris, the most charismatic of the group, went to knock on the door, and ended up accidently knocking it actually open. In his broken spanish, he asked ¨what is this place?¨they told him ¨we live here.¨ Apparently, they were renters for a few days, and told him the hostel was up the road a bit more.

The Argentines are so warm, they were totally cool about the whole thing. We let Chris and the girls into the tiny hostel first. At least we could eat dinner there, we found. They talked to the owner, who said that the girls could sleep there. That was good enough for us, so we all trooped inside. Big fireplace, rows of picnic tables inside, MTV on the tube, Argentinos playing guitar in the sitting area. Very lively scene in a small space. Someone negotiated further while we sat, and the owner finally took pity and let the rest of us sleep on the floor in front of the fireplace on the carpet. They brought out dinner for us as part of the deal. Milonesas ( a flattened chicken fried steak) and jugs of wine and a huge bowl of salad. We all ate well. We also negotiated the next night in a house in Malague. Around midnight, they brought out some mats and blankets, and I passed out in my spot right in front of the fire.

I slept so well that it felt like one minute later someone was waking me up so they could put the living room back togather. We had toast with cream cheese and jam for breakfast, and strong coffee. We took off for the one of two ski rental places, actually inside two of the hotels. We cleaned out the entire towns collection of rental snowboards, although there were plenty of skis. Ski equipment was only 40 pesos total, or around $12. As we had no ski pants or gloves, we rented those from the ski place at the hotel next door. When I say next door, this is really just an encampent along one main road, and a few places along the dirt road. They had the most vibrant colored ski pants I´ve ever seen. I got bib overalls, bright red, and shiny. The boarders had it worse, having to get bright magenta or vibrant purple pants. It was absolutely hilarious.

Drove back to the ski resort, getting our lift tickets around noon. The tickets were actually cards with our names on them, which was kind of cool. At first impression, the resort of Los Lenas is quite dismal. It doesnt look that big, there´s no trees at all, and the snow was a little icy. However, a huge ridge, bisects the park, which is actually one of the biggest snow parks in the world. The lack of trees and the huge craggy mountains just make it seem smaller because there isnt any source of comparison. The runs are literally 3 miles long on average, so long lift rides.

Who skis there? Everyone, lots of British, Europeans, Argentines, and Brazilians. We saw skiiers blaze through a gate course and later learned the Swiss Olympic Ski Team is here practicing. A few Americans. The place is definately adult oriented, with bars all over the base, and a few on the mountian, all of them pumping techno indoors and out.
(Thats another thing, the Argentines are obsessed with 80´s music. I´ve heard more Depeche Mode and Madonna here than the entire rest of my life. )

Anyway, we skiied until the slopes closed in small groups. Four of us skiied, the rest snowboarded. I skiied ok, the problem was that I´ve not skiied in awhile, the runs are really long, so I was using a lot of energy and leg strength, so it wore me out very quickly. Plus my skiis felt a little loose, so I was having some control issues.

Around six, we left the park, and drove down to Malague. We met the landlords wife at a gas station just inside town and she took us to the two houses where the beds were. We dropped our stuff, and went to dinner. Had my first real argentina steak. Lomo completo, a sirloin topped by two fried eggs and served with fries. Good stuff. Argentines do beef right. After that we went back, I showered, and passed out into a warm bed around midnight.

To be continued...