Viva Las Lenas!

Las Lenas is considered Argentina's premier snow resort and the amount of people checking the Bloomberg website at lunchtime is certainly testament to this. By European standards however, you can get double the value for half the price; food on the slopes, ski pass and rental is so much cheaper. The slopes are really great with friendly, challenging blues and gentle(ish) reds. Unfortunately the chair lifts are so slow, you can age 3 years waiting to get to the top of the piste. Plus Las Lenas is higher than plantation so the resort is really exposed; when it snows and the conditions are right it is one of the best resorts we have been to but when it doesn't snow, the slopes are pure ice. We got a great first and last day when the snow was like icing sugar under foot and the sun was shining, but unfortunately the rest of the days were so cold that with wind chill it was -20c! If only we had brought our thermals on our travels, but we suppose they would have looked a little out of place in Brazil.

Beth finally got to grips with snowboarding, even managing a red off-piste powder field, but continues to be an embarrassment coming off chair lifts - often wiping out several skiers in the process. Steve now travels at least 2 chairlifts behind to avoid association.

The Argentinean skiers are still vulnerable to bad ski wear and fluorescent ski suits rule the slopes as they do in Europe. One poor man (for we must pity him) was sporting a red and blue ski suit complete with balaclava and as he raised his hands to wave at a fellow skier, we were struck by his resemblance to Spiderman casting a web. Oh, how we chortled for the 50 minutes it took for the chair lift to reach the top of the piste.

Our appetites are now well and truly wet for our next snowboarding adventure in New Zealand. We leave Las Lenas raising a glass of Andes beer to the friendly Argentinean resort and nursing our frost bite all the way back to Mendoza.