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Bars
and Clubs
UFO POINT - a classic of Las Leñas, with
excellent drinks!
CORONA CLUB - a new bar located in the base
CASINO LAS LEÑAS - Located inside the Piscis Hotel in the base,
it's open until 4am.
LA CIMA - A typical mountain lodge that will be opened at night
due its location on Eros slope, a few metres up from the base.
An aprés ski classic is EL BRASERO bar or INNSBRUCK located both in the base, in front of EROS lifts, sometimes with live music around the big fire.
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Off-piste*
Las Leñas is one of the best ski resorts
in South America to go backcountry:
MARTE - The chairlift of every
skier's dreams. It's a silly place for a chairlift, really. Ascending
over the throat of a 1,500m-long (5,000ft) double chute. Forget
the rest of Las Leñas. No skier could ever find - let alone ski
- all the possibilities presented by this chairlift. Marte. World
Cup racers can't complete a non-stop from the top. Marte. With a
compassfull of exposures, all conditions are always available somewhere.
Marte. Marte defines extreme. Image...
CERRO EL COLLAR: Once you get off Marte chairlift, take Apolo or
Jupiter trails until they cross paths. That is the point to take
the SNOWBUS, a snowcat with seats on the back that will take you
to the back of Cerro El Collar, home of the former South American
Extreme Championship. Take Cerro el Collar down into the Juno Bowl
and carve your own trail to the mountain's base, or trudge up Cerro
Entre Rios or Cerro Torrecillas for the ultimate off-piste adventure.
Image...
- Image
2...
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Moguls
None!
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Snowparks
THOR-02 Snow Park - South American biggest park. It offers
lots of jumps, bumps and rails. It also has a 1.6 miles for Boardercross
circuit. No half pipe. It's located between the Minerva stage and
Minerva 3 slope. Minerva chairlift takes you to the entrance.
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Events
June 20th - National Flags day - The ski resorts
usually take this date as the opening weekend for the season. On
Thursday the lifts are free.
July 9th - Independence Day
- Don't even get close to a ski resort on this date, it will be
crowded!
August 17th - San Martin Memorial Day - San Martin was a
General who is considered the Father of the Mother Country in Argentina.
He crossed the Andes by horse with his army to defeat the Spaniards,
that's why this date is so important in the Andes and there are
big parties all around. It's probably the most crowded long-weekend
of the season and the resorts organize the Fiesta de la Nieve (Snow
Party), with all kind of events and competitions.
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Away Days
Pozo de las Animas - A singular geomorphologic
formation named "dolina", it is seen as two great depressions
with mirrors of sweet water on the bottom. Pro divers never found
how deep it is, some people says that it's connected to the Pacific
Ocean. Located at 6kms from Los Molles on the National Road 222
(the same to go to Las Leñas).
Malargüe Town - This is the nearest town to Las Leñas Ski
resort.
Caverna de las Brujas - The Caverna de las Brujas Natural
Reservation is located on the Moncol mountain at 1930m south of
the province of Mendoza at 71 km of the city of Malargüe. You can
access the reservation by the Malargue department, by Route Nº 40,
on the way to the locality of Bardas Blancas.
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Shopping
All the shopping area is concentrated in the same building
called LA PIRAMIDE:
STORE LAS LEÑAS - Everything with the
resort logo (caps, mugs, tshirts, sweeters, pins..)
HEMISPHERE - The best store for quality products (mostly clothing),
after looking at their prices, you better would want to think about
it twice…
TRAPPERS - If you are staying at one of the 5-star hotels in Las
Leñas and you are looking for a swimming suit in the middle of the
Andes, this is the place. They have also those classical Patagonian
hand-made sweets that mom and dad will love at our return home.
FOTO/VIDEO - This is the only place where you can buy rolls and
develop your pictures. They are also in charge of the legion of
photographers that are shooting everyone in the valley, so after
1700, it can be crowded with people looking at their silly skiing
pics.
FILMACIONES DIGITALES - If you are thinking about to go backcountry
with your friends and want to recreate the last snowboarding movie
you watched at home, this is the place. You can hire a guy to follow
you with his camera the whole day and then you can get a DVD of
your backcountry experience.
KETOBAC - A classical Patagonian chocolate store
MAMUSCHKA - This is the "Oh my God" of the Chocolate stores in Patagonia,
simply the best.
FARMACIA - need an aspirin? Prozac? Condoms?.. yes, they have a
pharmacy as well..
SUPERMARKET - To find an apple or a banana in the middle of the
Andes wont be cheap... It's located across from Delphos Aparts.
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Internet Cafés
The Internet connection in the valley depends mostly on
the sponsorship of any of the telecomunications companies. Las Leñas
usually gets ADSL Internet from Telecom with IMacs
UFO POINT - Located in the base, it
usually gets the internet connection, around 10-15 IMacs, and best
of all it's free.
More details
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Eating Out
Las Leñas is very (VERY) isolated, so the only chance for eating out will be probably going to Malargüe city located at 80km from the Valley, and I don't think it's a good idea as the return could be complicated, the road gets icy in the night and will be dangerous.
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Mountain
Restos
If you're guiding or skiing with a group of guests, these
restaurants are good bets for a lunch stop:
LA CIMA - Pretty small and crowded,
opened during the night with shows and BBQ. Breakfast available
as well.
ELURRA - Well served with a nice terrace, beautiful sight and home
of the famous torch downhill parties during full moon nights.
SANTA FE - Well served, specialized in Tex-Mex food, great "plat
du jour" menus, nice terrace but too cold after midday due the shadow
of the valley
INNSBRUCK - A classic of Las Leñas, pretty crowded (without any
good reason) in this typical base restaurant, great terrace.
EL BRASERO - This is the place to be, classic self-service with
a great variety of meals, where you can have breakfast, lunch, aprés
ski yums yums (ie. Chocolate cakes) and dinner bbq. Sometimes they
have live music. Don't miss their breakfasts.
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McDonalds
The nearest McDonalds is probably in San Rafael City at 240kms. Thank God…
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Shopping
Day
All the shopping area is located at LA PIRAMIDE building. The supermarket is just a few metres on the left
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Transfer
Day
The transfers usually meet in the parking zone. The nearest airport is Malargüe (which is more an airfield than an airport) but it only operates if weather is good.
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Living
Las Leñas has no town, its only the ski resort base so it's good to live everywhere. The Cirrus apartments are the best value and they are just 5 minutes walk to the base.
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CdS
Search
If you’re thinking of doing a season in Las Lenas then why
not search through the Club
des Saisonniers to see who else has worked there and what advice
they may be able to offer.
Discounts
There are numerous benefits
available to members of the CdS.
Join
Anyone who has done a season or has a firm offer from a tour operator
may join the Club des Saisonniers.
[Thanks to Andres Hidalgo for putting
this guide together.]
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