Las Leñas | A love-hate relationship

The past few years have involved a similar pilgrimage around mid-August. The trip isn't to some holy mecca, though it is a place like-minded skiing devotees return to year after year.

It's nothing luxurious. In fact, quite the opposite. Start by being one of six people in a 40 square meter, two bedroom, one bathroom apartment. One gets numb to the fact that smelly ski gear is always hanging around the apartment. Every Friday, the Argentines who don't live in the resort come up from Mendoza for the weekend and turn the apartment into a discoteca until two in the morning. Wearing shoes inside is mandatory due to shards of broken glass that get scattered throughout the apartment.

Inherently, an apartment that is used so much has a lot of wear and tear. The shower from the apartment above leaks into your place. The wind blows through the windows. Unless locked, the door regularly gets blown open.

Why return and stay in the place defined as the 'Gringo Ghetto'? Where the couch has been peed on multiple times, and the mattresses aren't in much better shape. Where trash and dust are blown around outside and in the apartment like wild west tumbleweeds. Where the septic system backs up into the parking lot outside, making the place smell like what you last flushed down the toilet. Where in the spring, the water in the taps turns brown and you have to boil it before drinking. Why tolerate this? For the devotees of skiing, this can all be tolerated when the mountains above are more interesting and less skied than anywhere else in the world.

The administration isn't set up for success as it is owned by a non-skier. This means there is zero understanding of what it takes to run a successful ski resort. That's just the start of the problems. The Argentines have taken an interest in off-piste skiing, which is great. It should mean all the more reason to open things. However, this means less experienced skiers are entering the off-piste, and a greater number of injuries occur. In an attempt to combat this, the administration is putting pressure on ski patrol, who in turn have been less willing to open the off piste than ever before.

Though usually being open until closing day, all of the off piste that was lift accessed was closed over a month before the season ended here. There was plenty of snow, ski patrol simply didn't want to open it. The off-piste one could hike to was kept under strict regulation, and opened sporadically. Ski patrol were giving reasons such as "carton" (windbuffed snow) as to why they kept everything closed. Tensions escalated on the last significant powder day of the season, when the ski patrol opened several off-piste runs to only themselves, and those who hired guides. Several days later, a group had their passes pulled because they returned from the off piste late in the day, after the exit gate was closed. Their reason for turning back: a medical incident involving altitude sickness, and they deemed it unsafe to continue to their intended peak.

The stories continue and get more perplexing with each one. My blood boils as I write this. Such a wonderful place that has brought me so much good skiing, happy memories, lasting friendships, all thrown away by the powers that be. They want to keep their power, so there is no sign of change. Those that have historically returned year after year to ski here have stopped coming. Slowly but surely, the 'Corvus Family' has dwindled. Personally, I will visit next year, but not with intended commitment to stay. I'll hike the piste, poach where I can, and encourage others to undermine the administration in a similar way. As for the rest of my time down here? Other mountain adventures in the Central Andes have long since been attracting my attention. It seems an appropriate time to pursue them.