When is the best time for Las Lenas/Portillo ski trip?

[westcoastxpatriot]

I know winter for the northern hemisphere has just gotten started but im beginning to plan a summer excursion down south, either at Portillo or Las Lenas.

Ive been gung-ho for Portillo, im thinking because of its reputation, but i also hear Las Lenas is just as good and maybe even a little cheaper.

As of now, plans are for late july or early august. Pile on the information and if you want to share your preferences between which side of the Andes you liked more, by all means shout it out.

[gamma]

Lenas is great. amazing terrain. august best time.. no snow in sep last season..

[MakersTeleMark]

I think Portillo is better.

[Endlessseason]

I'm sure it's always a crapshoot but since our August is their February, and our Sept is their Mar, I'd say end of Aug and/or early Sept would be statistically the best time.
We did that last year and had powder at all five of the ski areas we did in Chile and Argentina. It worked so well for us we booked for the same time frame next year.

[palosgrandes]

I went to Las Lenas the second week of August of this year. It snowed about 2 meters on top during the week. Of course the Marte lift was closed the entire time, which sucked. It finally opened on the last day I was there, which was epic.

[unofficialandes]

July - August - September

Shameless Plug UnofficialAndes.com (South America Ski Blog and Info)

[Toadman]

Where's the best site to book a trip to Portillo? Ski Portillo website or other?

Thanks

[bklyn]

I went to Las Lenas the second week of August of this year. It snowed about 2 meters on top during the week. Of course the Marte lift was closed the entire time, which sucked. It finally opened on the last day I was there, which was epic.

Found another one. Were you one of those guys who stared but never asked for change?

[palosgrandes]

I was one of the many.

I also failed to mention the power outage on Wednesday, which shut down the entire mountain for the day.