SHORT BACK & SIDES: LA LAGUNA
Imagine Blue Lake chutes being a 20-minute hike from the top of the Freedom Chair in Guthega and you get an idea how accessible the main bowl at La Laguna is.
Yes, it's usually only an easy 20-30-minute hike from the top of Del Bosque double chair (the furthest left lift on the trail map, above the Amancay Gondola from the base next to the carpark) to the saddle. This is also the dog-leg of the failed poma lift installation.
There's an avi beacon check point at the start of the route out, which, unless you are first after a fresh dump, is usually well defined by a mix of bootpacking boarders and skinning or hiking skiers.
That combo makes for a funky track - being on skis I prefer just to scoot up the boot track for 20 metres or so above the beacon check entry point, then put the skis back on and ski and skate along to the corner, then bootpack round the corner, ski down the following dip, which often has a little cornice built up to drop off, and then bootpack up from there. It's hardly worth putting skins on. You can see the line of the lift towers still standing in the images here. They tried firing it up for a few years after the 2006 summer installation. Locals, me included, would start to get excited at the prepatory work which would happen late winter/early spring. Tracks would be set, fencing set up for a liftline, warning signs requiring helmets go up and more. The motor even sputtered into life and the bullwheel cranked a couple of times as a test.
Someone once told me they rode it, but I didn't believe them. I was skiing almost every day those seasons, and I only ever saw a couple of patrollers and mountain workers actually ride it, and that only for an hour or so till something invevitably stopped proceedings. A mate in Ski Patrol told me the original summer installation was just dodgy, with no supervision, so the fail was inevitable. Eventually, they gave up. The bullwheel at the dogleg fell off, and the towers collapsed in the Patagonian breeze a few years later.
Which on balance was no loss. Had it ever worked, this whole massive glacial cirque bowl would have been in-bounds terrain subject to much more traffic.
There are plenty of awesome lines just from the saddle level. As you can see in the opening spread photo, the upper area is mostly mellower, so the additional 40 minutes or so bootpack to the ridgeline spires is not neccessarily a trade-off worth making. Especially at my fitness level/age. Some of the best lines are pretty much straight on over and down through the shadiest chutes just right of the middle of the previous photo. These face due south, holding and keeping quality snow even when it has crudded out elsewhere. It's a short but steep plunge to the frozen lake below, then a scoot out over the lake, with more nice lines tucked in over the roll on the runout.
Returning to the Blue Lake analogy, last time I was out here our back country guru in Jindy, Steve ‘Crazy' Leeder, was sending me shots of his latest Blue Lake mission, so they are in my library jumbled up together on the phone. When I scroll back through from some angles I get confused - Blue
Lake is pretty cool too. But Blue Lake tops out at the top, whereas as you can see the scooped out cirque is only about half the 450-500m vert on offer here.
Past the lake the runout mostly faces North East, so it can get an ugly suncrust. But instead of just following the traverse track out there are some more southerly aspect tree lines between big lenga trees, which are perfect until you hit the colihue caña (cane). This non-hollow, springy native bamboo that grows to 6m or more is a nightmare to get tangled up in and bash out of, especially on the sides of the steep creek lines here.hitting the start of the bamboo is your sign to cut sharp left to get back to the lift before it gets thicker.
If snow is good at lower levels you can also ski on down and pick up the zig-zag dirt access road at La Cueva (The Cave), a restaurant experience they quad bike or skidoo guests up to at night. A short uphill hike here brings you to a track to skate and ski around back under the gondola to the base. Occasionally, like last July, the lower gondola line offers a direct option, but it's riddled with lenga stumps and logs, so don't do it unless there's a lot of snow. Catedral is the only resort I know where they block off ski access to their main access gondola. Yes, even when the snow is perfect they fence it off so you have to scramble around to the exits from the beginner's zone at the bottom, a pointless waste of time. The endless lines of pedestrians are more the priority.
A new quad chair from the middle of the base area will offer an alternative ski back to the centre of the resort this winter, with finally some missing link snowmaking from 1200m down to the base. But that will mean several lift rides to get back around to the side country.
So on balance, be wary about skiing back to the base - cut high and lap La Laguna is the smarter option. Save the base run till the end of the day if the snow is good. You can sometimes ski on down the zig zag access track line all the way to the lower car park. Being in Argentina means you could get lucky. One great powder day, the waiter's union decided to picket the mountain access road - like it was the tourists' fault their wages weren't good. Not the best way to improve your tips, but the result was an empty mountain and heli-quality hot laps all day on the gondola for me.
Generally though, after a lap or three in the main bowl, it's time to check out further afield. Heading higher from La Laguna saddle to the ridgeline opens up lots of opportunities. Go out along the ridge – either ski down to the lake first and skin up, or ski and hike along the top to past the main Laguna cirque. Far fewer people make the extra effort, and the runs between massive granite pillars with a view back down to Barioche and Lakes Nahuel Huapi and Gutierrez are as good as it gets.
For mine, Catedral has the best views of any resort on the planet and they only get better further out. This is just the Northern end of Patagonia, it's basically wild mountains for another 2,000km south from here, not to mention 5,000km north When the snow is good, it's very tempting to continue on down into the trees, which, unless you really know it well, will lead you into a vortex of bamboo-cane bashing hell.
Better to cut hard left high enough to make it around to the regular Laguna runout line by
keeping above the top of the forest. Even after popping out past these big rock pillars we made it back to the traverse line to the lift with no uphilling.
Just where the main runout track takes a signposted left at the trees you can go straight, then right, and grab an unskied section of south facing perfectly spaced lenga trees. Then a hard left should pop you out at a snowbridge just above the bottom of the double chair. Assuming the snowbridges are OK - be wary of those even on the main track out, and always pay attention as you ride the lift up above the creek line before heading out. There are loads of natural features out here, including cliff drops, so sessioning some is another option.
To make an even bigger day of it, skinning & skating all the way along the ridge brings you to the ‘Burnt Forest', left over from a 1980s bushfire. It's not often skiable, but when it is you will come out on the track from the Catedral car park to Refugio Frey (see following feature). This will leave an hour plus hike back to the carpark, involving a creek crossing or two.
La Laguna is not patrolled or avalanche controlled, but people often act as if it is. The avi control point is a reminder to be more cautious, be equipped, and use common sense. The trickiest part for less experienced is usually the get out line and those creek crossings. Though it often gets popular, there is plenty of space. When it's cruddy round the sunny side I have often found myself alone in good snow in the shade, for far less effort.
It all adds up to arguably be the best bang-forbuck side country in the Southern Hemisphere.
BETWEEN A ROCK & A SOFT PLACE