El Sosneado and around

Las Leñas

Las Leñas www.laslenas.com (2250 m) is internationally renowned for its excellent skiing and snowboarding. As a result, it's one of the most expensive resorts in the country, full of beautiful people in trendy bars and wealthy Argentine families. Set at the end of a spectacular valley, in the middle of five snow-capped peaks, it has powder snow throughout the season on 27 pistes with a total length of 64 km, and despite the frequent bad weather and lack of tree cover, its steep slopes, with a vertical drop of some 1230 m, and the fact that you can walk straight out of your hotel and onto the pistes, make it the best resort in South America. A constantly circulating free bus service picks up guests from further flung hotels in the resort. The season runs from mid-June to early October but the busiest and most expensive time is July and August, when prices are at least 50% higher. The resort also has a ski school, a special snowboard park, many cafés, bars and restaurants (several right on the pistes), a useful information point where there are lockers, banks, doctors and tourist information. There are also many ski patrol units all over the pistes, so you are in safe hands here. In summer, Las Leñas operates as a resort for adventure sports, such as trekking and climbing. Beyond Las Leñas the road continues into Valle Hermoso, a beautiful valley accessible from December to March only.