Cerro Catedral, Argentina

Marcelo from UNITED STATES writes:

Sometimes it helps to understand the perspective of the writer when reading a review. I’m an intermediate skier – used to skiing blue runs in Colorado resorts like Keystone, Copper & Durango. This was my 2nd trip to Catedral – we were there from 8/9/06 to 8/23/06. The conditions during this period were the best of the 2006 season.
THE GOOD:
Lifts – Plenty of them & lines are relatively short (our max wait time was 15 min)
Scenery - Lakes, mountains & forests. It really is beautiful
Price – Still a deal in USD. Single day lift tickets run between $20 USD & $40 USD depending on dates
Ski rental availability – Good equipment & plenty of stores to rent from at the base.
Snow Tour – free service with guides that take ski groups around the mountain to get to know the runs better.
THE BAD
Few “true” runs – There are a total of 35 green, blue & red runs per the snow report on the resort web site. Of those 35, only about 10 are true runs. The rest are trails or short connecting runs.
Short “true” runs – Condor I,II&III is the only top to bottom combination. Pista 6 & Amancay are 2/3 of the mountain. Other than that, you can expect continuous runs of about 10 minutes before hitting a trail or connecting run.
Too many crossings of runs – the trails cross many of the runs & makes for too many people going in different directions
Snow conditions: The combination of humidity, low elevation & relative high temperatures for a ski resort makes for tough snow conditions. We got dumped on when we were there but powder & packed powder conditions lasted only 3 days. In my opinion, you should expect spring skiing conditions as a general rule.
Grooming – Expect plenty of bumps by mid-morning. They don’t use snow machines to fill up & even out terrain when they groom at night.
Bottom Line:
Catedral gets rave reviews for it’s beauty and it having the largest infrastructure in S. America. Unfortunately its weak point is what matters the most to many – the quality of the runs & snow.

2006-09-08