Cerro Catedral, Argentina

Louisa J. from ARGENTINA writes:

I have skied Bariloche for the last 40 years. The mountain is fantastic, with breathtaking views of the lakes. The runs are rather on the short side but challenging and varied. The actual operator, Alta Patagonia, has invested in lifts but all of them are used and old. They keep breaking down and are very hard to fix (or so it seems since it usually takes days and sometimes weeks to have them running again). Runs are scarcely ever groomed and a good snowfall is seldom put to work by means of a good groom which would pack the snow and ready it for the next snowfall and so avoid your skis being hurt by stones. And as I mention this, how about working during the summer to make the pistes more friendly by removing some of the most obvious stones and flattening the parts where queues will form?. Usually they are uphill!! Amazing the things you have to do to reach your chair unhurt... While lift operators are friendly and easygoing, the people employed for selling tickets are not service oriented. Their hours are ridiculously short. The information provided by the mountain information service is usually wrong. And it is very tiresome having to show your ticket every time you take a lift... Locals have very rude manners, they push each other in queues and step on their neighbours skis or snowboards without a second thought. Food is great. Avoid school vacations!!

2008-08-05