When we visited Los Penitentes there hadn’t been any recent snowfall (even though it had snowed in nearby Potrerillos earlier that day) so the off-piste conditions were a bit ugly, and the dilapidated so-called village even uglier.

Barely anyone was there, except for down on the beginner slopes, and it was easy to see why people think Penitentes is a gem on a powder day. Considering the nice steep terrain, Penitentes is worth a visit for a day or two if you’re travelling between Santiago and Mendoza, or as an adjunct to a stay in Mendoza when you’ve had enough of wine guzzling, but I wouldn’t make a trip especially just to ski at Penitentes.

Even though the village was rather “rustic”, one of things I liked about Penitentes was that it felt like “real Argentina”, not the resortified version you get of Argentina when you go to Cerro Catedral or Las Lenas, where you’re not sure if you’re in South or North America.
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