After placing second overall in the 2008 Freeride World Tour and third in the US Freeskiing Nationals, Cloudveil Ambassador Jess McMillan took her annual trip to Argentina’s Las Lenas. Here’s what she has to say about her experience:

Las Lenas went off this year.

I never know what the season will have in store when I buy my plane ticket and head to Argentina. The wind can blow upwards of 100 miles per hour for months. Access to the upper mountain is solely dependent on one chairlift, the Marte.

The Marte is an old, fickle lift that can ruin your trip or make it unforgettable (or both). This year the Marte chairlift ran almost everyday and the snow continued fall all season long. It was one of the best seasons I have ever had in Las Lenas. Afterall, who doesn’t like powder skiing everyday?

For more on the trip, please visit my blog JessMcMillan.com.

The forecast for Salt Lake City is more of the same, sunny and hot with highs in the mid 90s. It is a bit surreal to be packing up ski gear and warm clothing including my uber toasty Down Patrol Jacket in August but very exciting. Steve Lloyd and I will be joining four other photographer/athlete teams to compete for a week in Portillo Chile’s Photo Challenge. Skiing magazine is teaming up with the resort Ski Portillo to put on the event.
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In March, southern Chile is heading into fall: Gauchos move cattle to market; firewood trucks are loaded for delivery to surrounding villages; cool air mornings pull fog off the surface of the rivers; large flocks of migratory birds head to lower elevations and big brown trout migrate into thin water to attract a spawning mate.

Because of the consistently mild weather, fishing out of our lodge near Rio Cisnes (River of the Swan) made for long stretches of grasshopper fishing on the riverbanks, dragonfly hatches on the lagunas and a huge Cicada Beetle ‘hatch’ that could scare the average arachnophobe into cardiac arrest.

When this abundant beetle hatch comes around every so many years, browns anchor themselves below “beetle trees” awaiting a meal the size of a charcoal briquette…BIG FOOD!

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