Again, what started this whole trip was me wanting to shred on my birthday, so two days after the pow day, we headed back to Las Leñas to fulfil my dream. The day started off, of course, with a personal serenade from the karaoke king and singer extraordinaire, Mr. Colin Thompson. Gracias baby ;) We then did the same routine of grabbing a quick breakfast and walking the 10 blocks to the bus stop to grab our ride to the hill. Frenchie wasn´t there this time, but the two guys from Whistler were, as well as Spencer from Colorado who we´d met on the bus on the way home last time. They all gave me some birthday wishes, and then once again we were off!
Upon arriving at the mountain it was also a very similar scene to last time - freezing cold! Only this time it was worse, as there wasn´t as much wind, but I think the actual temperature was lower. Brrrrrrr!! We grabbed lift tickets, and this time I intended to keep mine as a souvenir as it had my birthdate on it. They aren´t just pieces of paper you get for a lift ticket here, but rather magnetic swipe cards. Instead of a liftie with a gun to scan your ticket, they have computers, just like the swipe things at a gas station, and you simply keep your lift card in your top left pocket and walk on by. The computer senses the card and the turnstile turns, and you can then move onto the lift. Super cool, and a great souvenir!
We headed up to the same skier´s left side we started on last time, but this time conditions were much different. No fresh powder, and as it was so cold, kind of icy. We did a few runs up this chair and the beginner ones in the middle, then we had to go into the cozy lodge for a break to thaw out fingers and toes. It was really, really cold! Nothing a rum and hot chocolate couldn´t cure though, and after a warm up we decided to see what we could still find off the Marte. After enduring the two long lifts to get there, we were disappointed, although not surprised, to see it was closed. The day before had been a blue bird, so the surface snow must have heated up enough to make them uneasy enough to close the chair. The rest of the resort showed the same signs of this with the top layer being pretty sheer everywhere, so we were once again counting our blessings at how amazing of a day we´d had. This was confirmed as after riding back from Marte, we decided to have lunch (in a hallway of the shopping building to eat our sandwiches and drink our store bought beers, for lack of a better place haha) and ran into a German who was hanging out in Las Leñas for the season. He said two days ago was the first time they´d gotten snow in over a month. We were super lucky. As we were talking to him as well, the power suddenly went out - for the entire mountain, including the lifts! We were watching from the window, and it was a good 20 minutes before the chairs started turning again. I would not have been a happy camper if I was stuck on one of those in that cold for that long!
Once the chairs started turning again, we headed back out the skier´s left of the mountain to do some laps there. We did find one more poma lift we´d missed the first day, and in getting to that did manage to find a few fresh turns still. At the top of the Poma we ran into the guys from Whistler, Rick and Jeff, and Spencer from Colorado, who had skinned up to the top of the Marte after learning it was closed, and had just finished what they deemed a pretty amazing line back down into the resort. I got some more Happy Birthdays, and then Jeff, who was hilarious and a little A.D.D., told about 6 jokes in rapid fire succession right at the top of the lift. They headed back in for drinks, and we did a few more runs before calling it a day ourselves. It may not have been the best conditions on the mountain I´ve ever experienced, but to shred Las Leñas on my birthday was all I ever wanted, and especially with the epic day we´d had earlier in the week, I couldn´t have asked for anything more.
We finished riding for the day, and went back to the shopping centre to buy some required souvenirs. We bought a bunch of stickers, for our vehicles, snowboards and snowboards to come, and we each got a t-shirt. By then it was time to grab the bus, so we hopped back on to chat with our new friends. They were all heading out to what they had learned was supposed to be the best restaurant for steak in town, so we all made plans to meet up there later for a celebratory dinner - for my birthday, and the end of their weeklong tour in Las Leñas.
Malargue is still part of Mendoza province, so delicious wines of all kinds were still abound, and for fantastic prices, everywhere we went. When Colin and I got back to town, we dropped our rental gear off for the last time, then proceeded back to the hostel to shower and open up the nice bottle of Malbec we´d bought the day before for the occassion. After getting a few more Happy Birthdays from the hostel staff, we headed out on our jaunt to the restaurant, which was almost 1km out of town. Before we´d barely passed the main square, we met up with Spencer, and his friend John from Colorado who had just flown in and arrived to Malargue earlier that afternoon. We chatted the whole way to the restaurant, and when we got there Rick and Jeff already had a table and were well into a bottle of Malbec themselves.
The evening turned out to be so much fun, with Jeff telling joke after joke, and all four of them telling stories of all the pro-shreds and pro-skiers they´ve rode with in their lives, living in such prime areas for the sport, growing up in it, and now watching their own kids do the same. It was tough for Colin and I to get a word in edge-wise that evening, but super cool to hear these guys telling stories of riding with Jeremy Jones!
After many bottles of Malbec, we were all just about ready to leave, when suddenly the waiter brought out a custard cake with "Feliz Cumple Yessica!" written on it that Colin had sneakily arranged. There was a large party in the restaurant who was also celebrating a birthday, and we had all sang her Happy Birthday earlier, so now it was my turn to have the whole restaurant sing the song to me. First, in Spanish - and then, realizing I was obviously a gringo, the entire restaurant sang it again in English! The other lady who´s birthday it was came over and gave me a hug too, and you could really feel the love from these strangers (or maybe it was love from the wine, but either way, it felt good haha). After sharing the cake with the table, we all left shortly after, and the whole restaurant was once again waving us goodbye as we headed out. So far the Argentines have been the kindest people we´ve met yet, and it was really, really nice to spend my birthday with new like minded friends after a day on the mountain I´ve always, always dreamed of getting to experience on my special day.
10 year goal, and #1 goal on the bucketlist - check!! One of the best birthdays I´ve ever had, and although it will be tough, I look forward to trying to beat it one day :)
Again, your account of your experiences is amazing and well written. I think a career in travel writing might be a dual career to pursue for you guys!!! Jess, your birthday sounded absolutely amazing - can't imagine what that was like for you.
ReplyDelete