Las Lenas was the last stop in our month-long road trip adventure where we skied five resorts in Chile and Argentina traveling via our rental Kia "Mystery Bus".

If Valle Nevado was groomer paradise, then Las Lenas was a paradise of couloirs. And the secret is out. It's why Americans fly down to this resort in the Andes. And it's why there's a run named "Los Gringos."

The Santa Rosa storm never hit the Andes this September, but spending a week in Argentina skiing pockets of powder left from the last storm wasn't too tough. We skied the major backcountry peaks like Ponce, Rios, Torrecillas and Martin. On those days we had to flash our green wristbands to ski patrol, which signified that we understood that a rescue would cost U.S. $1,000. Some days we hiked for four hours trying to find the powder, other times, as Jes McMillan called it, we "be-bopped" around the inbounds, bumping it up on the moguls or doing laps on Marte. As the week wore on, warm conditions caused the snow to deteriorate quickly and Lenas became much ado about the apres-ski and Lynsey Dyer's Betty Crocker conconctions.

Lenas has closed for the winter, but luckily we have the Tetons. Until next summer in South America, the Jackson crew is signing out… -Vanessa Pierce

laslenas.com