 Poster: A snowHead
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Signing up to post this trip report, as there’s relatively little information on Argentinian resorts online. Giving quite a detailed report, especially aimed at those who might be considering a season there, with all the information I would have liked to have had…
Resort: Cerro Catedral
Country: Argentina
Domain: Cerro Catedral
Date: Half-season in 2022; full season in 2023.
Our holiday: Full season of training as I’m preparing for my ski instructor exams.
Website : https://catedralaltapatagonia.com/
Transport to the station : Flight into Buenos Aires, generally spend a few days there before flying onto Bariloche. Multiple operators have cheap internal flights (around €50 each way including luggage, higher price with non-Argentinian card) directly from BA to Bariloche, I fly with Jetsmart as they have the largest baggage allowance. If you can find an Argentinian willing to pay for your flight with their card, and you give them cash, you’ll generally get a cheap discount as the prices for foreign cards are much more expensive.
Currency notes: There is an official bank rate, today (October 2023) 1€ is worth 360 pesos on the official rate. Nobody uses the official rate if they can avoid it, they either exchange dollars with street vendors that are found on major streets in Buenos Aires or Bariloche, or they send money to themselves via WesternUnion, which gives the unofficial rate.
Argentina has been suffering from crippling inflation for a number of years. On my arrival in June 2023 1€ was worth 520 pesos on the unofficial market, today (October 2023) 1€ is worth 1030 pesos, so around 100% inflation in a number of months. This weekend there’s a national election where the favourite candidate is hoping to dollarise the economy to prevent inflation, so things may change in the future.
I don’t like carrying money so I use WesternUnion, for large amounts in Buenos Aires (+€100), I go to their large branch (Av. Córdoba 1591); for large amounts in Bariloche, I go to the WesternUnion at Carrefour (Francisco Pascasio Moreno 909). For amounts over 150€ you’re unlikely to be able to get the money at smaller vendors. Best time to go is the afternoons, otherwise expect a queue that can be around an hour long.
Tip: take out the money you need for a week/two weeks max, if the inflation rate continues as it is, since a week can sometimes see a large change in your rate of exchange… You can create a new WesternUnion account each time to avoid their fees, you don't even need to actually possess the email address you put in…
Lift pass : As far as I know, most expensive lift pass in South America. Gives access to SA’s largest resort, but the lift infrastructure definitely isn’t up to scratch for the price.
A season pass will cost around 1750€ at the beginning of the season (more than the 3 Valleys in France…). A week’s pass costs 190k pesos for the 2023 season, which would have been around 365€ in June or 190€ in October, due to the inflation mentioned above.
As far as I know, they keep the lift prices fixed throughout the season, so it will cost more to ski earlier in the season if inflation continues as it has for the past few years.
Lift system : There are 3 main sectors - Amancay sector on the left side of the resort, accessed by the cable car of the same name; the central section accessed via the Sextuple lifts; and the Condor section, accessed via the Condor lifts on the right of the station. There is also a beginner’s magic carpet area at the bottom of the central area, at base.
The lift system is generally quite old and inefficient, not at all up to par for the ticket prices. They have a masterplan to improve the lifts over the coming years, but management choices leave a lot to be desired…their newest and most modern lift (Sextuple Ciprès) leads to the lower-mid-mountain section and is generally under-used, while the upper station has lifts with huge queues during busy parts of the season.
Also note that things can randomly break down. We had around 3/4 days where power went out in the whole station here (for 1/2 of those days it was apparently because the local power station director was running for election and his employees aren't a big fan…), so you kind of need to be mentally prepared for things to be less efficient in general…the place just doesn't run that efficiently. They do have backup generators to get you down in case of failure…
The terrain :
Amancay - blue and light red terrain, accessible for beginners who have moved past magic carpet stage, also briefly interesting for intermediate skiers. I avoided this part of mountain all season as much as possible as one of the two main lifts leaving from the cablecar was completely out of action, leaving one old and inefficient lift to deal with huge queues.
Can access the central area via cat tracks, can be accessed via the central area via an old 2/3 man lift.
Central area - large variety of pistes for all levels.
Beginners have the magic carpet at the very bottom and can then progress to the Sextuple Ciprès lift, giving them access to a green run leading down to the magic carpet area. This run is often hugely busy as there are lots of beginners in the station, with very few beginner areas - I don’t think this resort is generally well adapted to beginners due to this.
Confident beginners and intermediates will begin to be able to take advantage of the upper part of the mountain, where skiing is best, and where I spent most of my time. Take Sextuple (not Sextuple Ciprès) from behind the shopping center to mid-station, then Punta Nevada or Lynch to take advantage of the Punta Nevada runs, beautiful large runs which are great for practicing, with beautiful views.
The Lenga lift on the left part of the central area lead to nice red runs and is often less busy than the Nubes lift a little further down, only appropriate for intermediates onwards. The Nubes lift leads to the highest part of resort, with amazing views over the surrrounding mountains and lakes, also giving access to a nice black mogul run and a beautiful black pisted run - although I took these relatively little during high season due to relatively high queue times.
If you’re skiing in high season during weekdays, it can be a good idea to take the Militares two-man lift on the right side of the central area, as it’s a little hidden away and tourists have difficulty finding it…so less queue times. Tip doesn’t work on weekends, as locals know it well…
Condor - a long steep red run on the right side of the station, broken into three areas - Condor I, II and III. The run from the top of Condor III to II is nice and relatively bellow; from II to I is more intense - the stadium is also located at this level, but rarely open; from II to I is a run to base, often covered in rocks…I would not recommend except in large snow cover.
Some of the most beautiful views in the station are here as you’re closest to the lake. For good skiers visiting in high-season, this can also be a great place to go to avoid larger crowds as tourists don’t generally have the level for Condor, but the place is packed with locals on the weekends and may need to be avoided as the lifts are very quickly overwhelmed if there are lots of people.
The snow : I’ve been lucky with two seasons that are generally considered to have been very good here for Catedral. The season’s duration was extended twice this year and today was my final day of skiing here this season (October 20).
Generally I found the snow quality to be very respectable, although we were unlucky to have a good amount of rain in July, reducing snow cover a lot. This may become more and more common due to climate change as the resort is at quite low altitude (2100m max).
My recommendations is to just ski the higher part of the station, throughout the whole season I’d rarely ski below the level of the LaHoya/Militares/Nubes lifts, as snow cover is too variable and the beginner slopes are too packed. Today, though the station is closing this weekend, you’ve still got good snow cover in upper station.
When snow cover leading to base is heavily reduced, all traffic seeking to ski to base will be sent through the central area under LaHoya and towards the Sextuple Ciprès lift…if you don’t like navigating obstacle courses of beginners and huge snow mounds, I’d recommend just taking the Sextuple lift down with your skis from mid-station, although they generally try to make sure that there are no rocks protruding from that access run if you do decide to take it.
Off-piste : Wasn’t my focus on either season, but the run down the side of Condor is beautiful, photo attached down bottom. There are apparently some great runs to try out - skiing to the lake behind Amancay, where you can ski back to station; or to the Frey Refuge, where you would have to subsequently hike a bit to get back to station - but you would need a local guide for these.
Relatively few powder days in the season, tracked out within the day in the easily accessible spots.
The resort/food : Classic Argentinian resort in the sense that very few people stay at the resort itself, Cerro Catedral, and instead stay in Bariloche, the nearby town.
Cerro Catedral has what you need in terms of amenities - all the on-mountain restaurants are OK, although expensive for Argentina, maybe €10 for a basic meal and a drink.
The ski shops have generally older gear - I brought my own gear, so not too knowledgable on these elements. Note that it is not at all a good idea to buy gear here, it is more much more expensive than in Europe due to import taxes.
There are several "guarderia" where you can store your own gear if you’re commenting up and down and have your own stuff. I paid 70k peso for the season, the "guaraderia" in the shopping center are a rip off, you can go to the one beside the Amancay cable car or near the entrance to resort or at the Xtreme ski school.
Catedral Coffee Shop at base is quite a nice place for breakfast and a coffee.
If you want to stay in Catedral, I can recommend the La Finca luxury hostel as I had a friend staying there - beautiful little cabin, nice atmosphere, veggie food cooked by a chef and beautiful pool overlooking the mountain - really decent for the price, if you like the hostel atmosphere and don’t mind staying in Catedral which is a bit dead at night (but you avoid the commutes).
Bariloche is a large town, about 35-45 minutes drive from Catedral. Beautiful lake town, makes a nice change from Catedral at the end of the day and there are lots of places to eat and drink.
The town is specialised in chocolate, for those who need some calories after a long day of skiing. Rapanui is their most famous chocolate shop, and the best in my opinion - their Marroc chocolate is especially worth a try.
For steak lovers with a large budget, you can eat at Alta el Fuego, great steak but very expensive for the region (although not necessarily for tourists) - about 30/40€ a meal if I remember correctly - reserve in advance. For a cheaper alternative, in a less fancy setting, I’d recommend La Parrilla de Tony.
In terms of fancy food, I can also recommend The Stag restaurant further out of town, nice views and great food.
The Patagonia brewery further out of town also has absolutely amazing views over the lake, you’re going more so for the view than the beer I think…they also do OK food.
Can also recommend the La Casita restaurant, mid-priced, very good food in the center of the city.
Maleza coffee shop is one of the few places in the city with a view of the lake, good coffee and great desserts. People looking to do some work in cafés can also look at The Coffee Shop (good coffee, as you’d expect); El Molinito (great wifi, cheap) ; and Café con Ideas (great lunch, great atmosphere, good wifi).
Best pastry shop is La Dulciteca in my opinion, great if you feel like some more European-style pastries as the local stuff can be a bit heavy.
For seasonnaires staying for the season who aren't big on cooking, Tuvianda Gaia does food delivery of nice weekly home-cooked meals for around 17€ for 10 meals…great deal I found. You can find them on Instagram.
Special note, if you’re passing through Buenos Aires, I’d really recommend whatever food the Chila restaurant is currently offering.
Accommodation : For people staying for the season, I’d recommend going on Facebook groups and posting your needs with your budget. I’m paying around 250€ a month for a small 1-bed apartment 20 mins walk from city center, which is more than a local, but that’s to be expected… I’ve seen a lot of foreigners ripped off with apartments costing 800€+ per month, that’s why I think posting your budget is a good way to get the right kind of responses…
For tourists, not much advice, there are some really beautiful high range hotels (Llao llao seems amazing), or you can go the Facebook route and find some relatively cheap apartment that way (it’s how a lot of South American tourists find their lodging).
Note that you can either be located in the city itself (« centro ») or along the kilometres outside of the city (1km away being KM1, etc.), with accommodation along the kilometres being cheaper. I don’t have a car so stayed in the city, but not city center.
Transport to station from Bariloche: four main options - rent a car, the public bus, transfers or taxis.
I’d recommend renting a car if you could, but I hear it can be quite expensive - but it allows you some freedom and lets you explore around Bariloche, which is beautiful. At resort, there’s a paid car park (don’t know price, maybe 5€ a day?) and a free car park (15 min walk).
The public bus is cheap (around 70 cents each way) and leaves each hour from terminal but is generally packed with people. You can look up the list of bus stops at line but generally it’s so full by the city center that it can stop picking people up. I tried this for a large part of the season, getting the bus from terminus in order to get a seat, but it’s a bit of a nightmare. If you really want to take it and don't care about getting a seat, then you can get on at Carrefour and you can be almost guaranteed they'll stop for you.
The queue to go down in the bus in the evening can be more than an hour long in high-season, so I generally just hitch-hiked down, which is quite easy if you haven't got ski gear, just go to the fork where the road to the local car park meets the main road (locals are much more likely to pick you up than people coming from the paid car park…).
Transfers cost around 10€ a day, but I didn’t like the time restrictions so didn’t take this option.
Taxi is about 10€ each way…honestly, if you’ve got the means, I’d recommend this option if you’ve not got your own car. I ended up taking them on the way up near the end of the season as I could no longer hack the bus.
Leave early (8am or 7:30am in high season) to avoid car queues on the way up. Leave the resort early (3pm, 4pm is pushing it) to avoid huge queues on the way down.
Time of season to visit: High season is July and beginning of August, the periods when people in SA have a lot of holidays. Honestly, the station can be quite frustrating in high season due to the amount of people and old infrastructure, although better skiers can take advantage of the Condor side of resort in order to avoid some crowds.
Beginning of September is really nice and spring skiing can continue into October, when some of the station closes, but there remains very few crowds. If you like spring skiing, it’s a good time to visit I think.
Note for ski instructors: Work seems pretty easy to find here, but pay isn’t great - Catedral is quite unique in SA in that many different schools operate here, there isn’t a monopoly, so it's easy to find work.
I didn’t get many replies before arriving for the season, things seem to be easier to organise in person just by going to the schools and seeing who needs instructors (often lots of schools…). I’ve known some very inexperienced English-speaking-only people offered work, as well as good skiers without qualifications. I didn’t work myself as I’d already bought my ski pass at that point, but you do get a pass for the days you’re working I believe.
People also do some unofficial instructing on the mountain in exchange for cash but this is obviously not permitted and sometimes cracked down on I believe…
Conclusion: excellent option for those looking to ski during the Northern Hemisphere summer months - largest resort in Argentina/Chile; the most beautiful views I’ve seen in a ski resort, with the beautiful lake in the background; good for intermediate skiers onwards; very nice people, good vibe in Bariloche too; but very expensive lift tickets for infrastructure that doesn’t justify the price, you need to mentally prepare yourself for an inefficient experience…
For those looking to do a season, I would recommend. I tried to go to Ushuaia further south, but they just don't have a season pass at all and the vibe was not suited to doing a season at all…seemed like quite a bleak place too. Also, for a season, you kind of need a large selection of terrain and Catedral offers it…I'd also done a season in Nevados de Chillan and it's just too small.
Hope this helps some people!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Welcome to Snowheads, @Louche,  . Sadly there's no chance of my going to ski in Argentina but even so, I found that a good read! Good luck with the exams.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Thank you Pam! 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Excellent report. Thanks very much for taking the time to write this.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Great post.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Louche, brilliant, thank you for all the details. I have a dream of skiing every continent and we tend to go for long trips so this is all super useful!
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Excellent post
Thanks
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