Las Leñas
Las Leñas is a large ski resort in the Andes mountains of Mendoza province in western Argentina. Las Leñas is the top ski area of Argentina and it attracts a huge number of international skiiers who come to take advantage of the June through October "summer ski season" of the southern hemisphere and some of the world's most challenging terrain.
Understand
Las Leñas is one of the top ski resorts in South America and is Argentina's largest resort. It is famous for its vast areas of off-piste skiing and its Marte lift that provides access to extremely challenging terrain with steep chutes and enormous bowls. Although the resort does not offer heli-skiing, it does offer cat-skiing for those well-heeled skiiers seeking challenging virgin conditions.
The base lodge sits at an elevation of 2,240 meters (7,350 feet) above mean sea level and the mountain rises up to a peak elevation of 3,430 m (11,253 ft). The vertical drop is 1,190 meters (3,904 ft). The resort provides 14 lifts servicing 27 runs covering an area of 2.3 km^2. The longest continuous ski run is 7 km (4 miles). Because of the high elevation, all of the trails and skiiable terrain are above the tree line: there are no wooded trails at Las Leñas.
Ski runs close to the main lodge (primarily easy and intermediate terrain) are lighted for night skiing. Most lifts, including all of those servicing difficult and expert runs shut down at 5pm, but lifts close to the main lodge operate until 10pm.
The resort has hosted a number of prestigious international winter sports events, including the Winter Pan-American Games in 1990 and the Alpine Skiing World Cup on several occasions. (Unfortunately for the home-team crowd, no Argentinian skiier won medals in any of these events, American and Canadian skiiers dominated the Pan American Games and Swiss and Austrian skiiers dominated the Alpine Skiing World Cup).
During the warm weather months of November through May, the resort offers other mountain activities including mountain biking, horse riding, and climbing.
Ski school
A wide range of instructional programs are offered with instructors who speak English, French, German and other languages in addition to Spanish. The learn-to-ski packages provide group instruction together with equipment rentals and lift access at a discounted price. Instruction is also available for experienced skiiers who want to be learn to handle more difficult terrain as well as specialized instruction for advanced skiiers.
The ski school includes daycare services for infants so that young parents can get out on the slopes for quality snow time. The program, called Baby Leñas is for infants from 2 to 18 months. Another program called Mini Leñas offers supervised activities for kids from 18 months to 3 years of age. After age 3, the kids are ready to get out on the mountain with ski and snowboarding lessons.
Kids instructional programs are offered for children ages 3 and up, with classes divided by age and skill level (beginner, intermidiate, or advanced). Skiing or snowboarding is taught. Separate classes are offered for the 13-17 year old adolscents. Families can opt for a quasi-private "group" lesson in which they constitute the entire group. (Up to 6 skiiers.)
Half-day and full-day classes are offered for adults, divided by skill levels. Advanced skiiers may want to consider an advanced class such as the personalized off-piste class that provides personalized instruction for 1 or 2 people.
The ski school can also arrange half-day or full-day snow-cat expeditions.
Beginner and intermediate terrain
The easiest area for beginning (or less confident) skiiers is the wide, gentle slopes near the Poma lifts close to the ski village.
Expert terrain
35% of the resort's marked ski runs are classified as "expert" terrain with a number of chairlifts serving primarily black (expert) level runs. Most famous is the Marte double chair lift which serves only expert terrain, including the massive bowl lying directly beneath the lift. The Marte chair lift has a reputation for being tempermental with frequent closuers for weather, mechanical issues, or seemingly nothing at all.
Off-piste skiing is hugely popular at Las Leñas with hundreds of chutes, bowls and jumps. Many expert skiiers consider Las Leñas to have some of the best advanced skiing in the world. There is so much variation that you can ski different runs all week without crossing your previous tracks.
Beacause some of the chutes end at cliffs, it is important to know where you are and to have a way down the mountain that is within the capabilities of your experience and equipment. Guide services can be arranged at the lodge and having a certified guide with local knowledge is an important safety precaution. Be aware that the resort requires helmets to be used.
Get in
The closest town to Las Leñas is the small city of Malargüe, which is 50 miles (80 km) from the ski area. The nearest large city is Mendoza. Tke closest city with scheduled commercial flights is San Rafael. Getting to the ski areas of Las Leñas will involve finding transportation to one or more of those locations. International travelers can arrive via Buenos Aires or Santiago and from there, connect to regional flights or bus routes to Malargue, San Rafael or Mendoza.
During the ski season, the resort offers charter bus service and plane flights from buenos Aires to nearby cities with bus transfers to the ski resort. This is by far the easiest (and often cheapest) way to arrive. See the official resort web site for details.
By air
See the Getting in sections of Malargüe, San Rafael, or Mendoza. From Buenos Aires (Aeroparque), Aerolineas Argentinas offers direct flights to the San Rafael airport (AFA IATA). It is a 2-hour drive from San Rafael to Las Leñas.
By bus
From Buenos Aires it is a 12-hour bus ride to San Rafael or Melargue via the Iselin bus company. During the ski season, the Las Leñas ski resort charters first-class sleeper buses that go direct from Buenos Aires to the ski resort.
In the San Rafael bus terminal, you can catch direct to Las Lenas offered by the Iselin bus company. The bus trip takes up to 3 hours.
- 1 Terminal de Omnibus Las Lenas (Bus station), RP 222. Waiting room with ticket sales for Cata and.Iselin.
By car
Get around
Most of the places are clustered close to each other in the ski village, which is generally easy to get around by walking. Most hotels and restaurants provide free ground transportation. Shuttle buses run between different points. On the mountain, you'll get around on skis or chairlifts. If you drive to the resort, a parking lot is available near the main ski lodge.
See
Do
- 1 Las Leñas Ski Resort (Base lodge), Valle de las Leñas, ☏ +54 260 447 1100. Main lodge providing all ski services. Buy lift tickets here, rent skis, or relax in front of the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate. Lockers and changing rooms. Ski school office.
- ski
- snowboard
- cat ski
- spa
Buy
There is a small shopping center that includes a bank, ski-related shops, chocolate shops, souvenir shops, and a supermarket.
- 1 Piramid Mall, Las Lenas ski village, ☏ +54 261 713 9474. Open 24 hours. Small shopping mall with several stores selling souvenirs, unnecessary items, and some decent sit-down restaurants. Popular evening gathering spot.
Eat
Most hotel have on-site restaurants and commonly sell lodging packages that include breakfast and dinner. As a result, there are relatively few standalone restaurants in the ski village area.
- 1 La Rita, La Lena. Casual elegance with spectacular mountain vistas. Menu is a mix of pastas, sandwiches, and meat entrees. The desserts are excellent (particularly the mousse cheesecake with red fruits). An extensive wine list is available. The restaurant will send a car to pick you up and return you to your hotel. ARS 5000+.
- 2 El Parador, ☏ +54 260 430 1745. Daily 09:00 - 22:00. Hit or miss casual restaurant with an eclectic menu that includes past dishes like ravioli as well as burgers, fries, and drinks. ARS 1500+.
- 3 Hell's Pizza. A couple of barebones breakfast items in the morning and a small selection of extremely expensive pizzas the rest of the day. The Obama is a basic cheese and pepperone that will set you back ARS 14000. Also sells overpriced drinks, including overpriced coffee in the morning.
Drink
- 1 UFO Point (next to Hotel Acuario). Open 24 hours. Popular slopeside bar that never closes. Also serves light food like burgers and a delicious goulash.
Sleep
- 1 Piscis Hotel, Las Leñas, ☏ +54 260 447 1318. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 12:00. Often regarded as the best hotel in Las Leñas, the hotel is uniformly praised for its excellent personalized service, however, decor is dated with furniture that has apparently not been updated since the 1980s. On-site restaurant, on-site casino, recreational activities including archery, bonfire and more.
- 2 Airies Hotel, RP 222. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 12:00. Moderate hotel with slopeside location, but a long distance from main ski village so you are reliant on ground transportation which does not operate very late. On-site restaurant that struggles to keep up with demand at breakfast (when everyone wants to get fed and out on the slopes).
- 3 Apart-hotel Escorpio, Av. Dr. Juan Scheffini, ☏ +54 260 447 1100. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 11:00. Moderate hotel with ski-out service. On-site restaurant with packages that include breakfast, but the restaurant is poorly managed with slow service and slow re-stocking of food items. Location in ski village near TS Venus lift. Rooms are spacious but in need of update.
- 4 Virgo Hotel, Valle de Las Leñas, ☏ +54 117 079 0600. Check-in: 15:00, check-out: 10:00. Walk to ski lifts.restaurants (including a Japanese restaurant) on-site, bar and lounge on site, spa with pool on site. Game room on site. Rooms are comfortable with modern furnishings.
- 5 Club de Nieve, Las Lenas. Check-in: 15:00, check-out: 12:00. Attractive smaller hotel with ski-in, ski-out location close to Caris chairlift. Lodging packages usually include meals which are well-prepared, but (as with all of the Las Lenas restaurants) don't do special requests well. Vegans, picky eaters and those with dietary restrictions will be happier elsewhere.
- 6 Hostel Las Lenas, Las Lenas. Modest hostel with clean, comfortable shared rooms and shared baths. Shared kitchen. Ski storage available. Walking distance to stores and restaurants.