Snowsure: 3.2
- Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
- Is often closed due to a lack of snow
- Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
- Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
- Cerro Catedral is snowsure even in the poorest seasons
Visitor reviews for Cerro Catedral Ski Resort
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(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
September 14, 2009
Anthony van Zantwijk from
S. Africa
Anthony van Zantwijk from
S. Africa
Skied at Cerro Catedral during the week starting 22 August 2009. Yes, the weather was lousy for two days (with no skiing) and the slopes were badly groomed following a large snow fall. However, when the lifts to the top of the mountain were opened, the skiing was fantastic. We found the people at Cerro Catedral friendly. Yes, information is sparse, but one can get by alright. Will go back.
September 08, 2009
Carlo from
Italy
Carlo from
Italy
I was at Cerro Catedral for the 22nd and 23rd of August and the weather was terrible. Guys living there told me 2009 winter is being the worst ever. As I could test, it was almost unlikable. Most of the slopes were closed and the snow was in really bad condition. The weather was rainy. The only good thing was the view of the lakes: very suggestive. Anyway, slopes are quite narrow and crowded, ski level low (maybe dangerous if someone hits you), chair lifts quite old, and Cerro Catedral is also expensive.
September 04, 2009
Wilson from
Colombia
Wilson from
Colombia
September 04, 2009
Antonio from
Colombia
Antonio from
Colombia
After this bad experience with the Cerro Catedral, I am upset with the owners of this resort. My first day (Sunday) was really disappointing as I was early on top of mountain and I found all the slopes without grooming. A snow machine was working at 10.30 am on the only slope opened. I'm an intermediate skier and it was really hard for me to ski down with the deep snow of the mountain. When I tried to climb up again from the lift at the bottom, the queue was the biggest I've seen in my life. I waited two hours and an half for a seat on the Sextuple. The rest of the week was no much better. Capsa is a complete disaster by every point of view: very old lifts with a lot of mechanical problems (always there is one of two closed for some technical problem), big queues if you are not with a instructor, horrible grooming on the slopes, no signalization of the connections of the different parts of the mountain, information staff employed that didn't have idea of the situation of the mountain, rocks everywhere (I broke my new skies) and a parking situation that is unbelievable. This is the kingdom of 'no service' and the prices are really expensive (Usa and Europe are much cheaper than Bariloche). These peoples are thieves.
September 04, 2009
Nico from
Argentina
Nico from
Argentina
I was in Bariloche during last week (23rd - 30th August) and I was really unlucky due to the bad weather conditions. All week there was heavy rain, strong wind and some snowstorms. However, the situation on the mountain and on the lifts was unbelievable. Every day there was no information on which chair lift would be opened, never a slope groomed after the snowfalls, continuous opening and closing of the lift in the same weather conditions and there were big stones in the middle of every slope.
I don't really want to write about the parking as there was completely no organization. If you don't pay and you go in the free parking part you could be closed by other cars until the night.
My last day was the only one with good weather but almost all lifts were closed until 12.30. This meant two hours of standing in a queue at Sextuple or Condor. Nothing was groomed after the big snowfall and the company don't inform the customers. Obviously, the pass is full prize like a top level resort but we are light years from a decent level ski resort.
August 30, 2009
Alejandra from
Argentina
Alejandra from
Argentina
August 29, 2009
Chris from
United Kingdom
Chris from
United Kingdom
After living in Bariloche for 15 months and spending two full seasons snowboarding at Cerro Catedral I felt the need to share my thoughts with you. In short, although I love Argentina, unfortunately the resort is a disgrace and a national embaressment for the whole country. Put simply, it is the worst organised ski resort in the world with the blame being put on the company that run the mountain: Alta Patagonia, in addition, the local/national government that let them get away with it. Why on earth is there no accountability for this debacle when it is so important for the region? Many locals depend on the mountain for work and they are suffering as people start to turn there backs on it and go else where.
Highlights of Cerro Catedral for me include:
Splitting the carpark in two and charging 25 pesos to park nearer the resort. Because there is an almost non-existent bus service from Bariloche centre the only real option is to drive and by midday the 'free' half of the car park is full and people start parking everywhere and anywhere trying to avoid paying the 25 pesos, thus blocking the road for coaches to leave causing complete chaos at the end of the day. This could be solved immediately by putting on a free regular bus service to and from the centre for anyone with a lift pass. Why don't they do it?
'The slowest lift systems in the world'. Some lifts like Sextuple and Nubes are designed to run quickly but they always run them at half pace to save power. When there is any wind every 2nd lift on the Sextuple gets filled with concrete because the wind shields make them dangerous in the wind. Did nobody realise Bariloche is a windy place before buying them? On others like Condor 1 every 4th lift has to go free because apparently it will collapse with the weight. Es una porqueria (it's a joke).
Absolutely no information about anything. Why are there not boards showing the status of all the lifts? When you eventually find a staff member to ask, the information is useless and there is never an explanation. Often rude staff as well.
Queuing for hours to buy a lift pass. On a clear day after a snowfall why is there only a handful of desks open, and never open on time?
No pisting. The lovely sight of seeing the lights of the CATs work through the night preparing the pistes doesn't exist here at Cerro Catedral. After a heavy snowfall it can take days to prepare the pistes, and even when they do they are the worst pisted runs you could imagine, leaving deep ridges for you to catch an edge on. It is simply a question of them not wanting to spend money on this.
Dangerous rocks. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to know that leaving un-marked rocks in the middle of the piste could be a hazard. Why don't they spend the summer months removing some of the obvious rocks?
Terrible sign posts. It is almost impossible to navigate your way around the mountain. Why don't they label the runs on the piste markers?
Steep drop offs. As a boarder the last thing you want is steep icy drop offs from the lifts with often immediate sharp turns to the left or right. Why don't they spend the summer sorting them out?
Boarders can't use T-bars. Why not - please explain?
Most of the mountain is always closed often for no apparent reason. Too much snow and avalanche risk is not a reason. Other resorts cope with way more snow but have staff who get out of bed early to prepare the mountain before the paying public arrive.
However, to end on a real high note, the view from the top of Nubes on a clear day at Cerro Catedral is in my opinion unrivaled in any other ski resort in the world. You just have to be lucky enough to be there on the few days of the year when they open the lift
August 25, 2009
Diego aka DT from
Argentina
Diego aka DT from
Argentina
Just got back from our yearly ski week with 15 snow gladiators.
We were in the mountain at Cerro Catedral from Aug 16th to Aug 22nd. Luckily, 3 days before we arrived the big fall of snow came. So, we were lucky enough to have snow to ski.
This was my 2nd year in the Cerro Catedral and, from the way I see it, it is like other people are saying; it seems like the Cerro Catedral management are doing things badly on purpose. The landscape is awesome, but the pistes are badly or never groomed. That forces you to ski in deep snow and if you are not a good skier, you know what that means; you are gonna be tired soon. We were lucky enough to have gained some experience from last year and to know the directions of the slopes and the lifts, because if you are a 'newbie' to Cerro Catedral, no matter your ski experience, you are not gonna have a good time.
It is clear that the management of the resort are running it with 20-30% of the people and investment they are supposed to do it. On the other hand, they charge like it's a 1st level ski resort. If you have a problem with your pass card or anything like it, you have to go back to base and fight the administration staff to have the problem solved.
Lifts are old tech from USA and Europe centers, but in the week we were there, they worked fine. The courses and hazards are barely marked. Course signs, lift status and other important data required to have a safe day are in the guesstimated mode. This year the mountain was dangerous and I managed to ski well only because I was here last year too. One day we were warned that the workers were gonna do a strike against the management and the lifts (already paid for) were not gonna run. Luckily, it rained that day and we stood in our cabin playing poker and recovering our sore legs.
Long story short:
Cerro Catedral has a great mountain with good people doing their job in the lifts but there is bad management and bad admin. The groomed slopes, after a heavy snow, take forever. That makes the slopes dangerous and with lots of powder snow, they are only friendly or fun to an intermediate or pro level skier.
Been here last year and this one. Maybe it is time to give the other smaller centers like Las Leñas or Chapelco a try.
Bariloche is a great city, with lot of alternatives to have a great vacation. A beautiful mountain to ski but with bad and expensive management.
Hope these words help you .
Best regards to all of you over the world.
C' ya in the slopes,
Diego.
August 20, 2009
A Joke
A Joke
I have been back home in Australia for a few days now and I am still trying to come to grips with my 8 days in Cerro Catadral.
What is going on with this place? It has epic views of the lake from the mountain, the town (Bariloche) is stunning the local people are friendly the food is awesome but the lifts don't go.
It is so frustrating to stand in lines for lifts (our record was one hour for Condor 1) and then have the lift close, then head over the Sextuplet, wait forty minutes to go up to find no lifts open above anyway. We stood in line one day from 9.30am and skied till 4.30 and had 5 runs and two of those were from Condor 1 only. In the end we just gave up and realised we had blown a holiday .
The lifts open when they want at around 10am or 11am and the gondola does it's own thing .No one cares that you came halfway around the world to stand in line. I doubt there's the staff to open all the lifts even if they had a day with no wind or snow. When the Sextuplet finally gets going it can move plenty of people but every second chair is loaded with 20 litre water containers.
We still managed to make the most of it and had one day of awesome skiing but that is down to us making the most of a bad situation.
This place could be world class but the management of the resort blows it.
It looked good in the brochure but I will be heading to Japan again next year.
August 19, 2009
r sitfight
r sitfight
Cerro Catedral is a great place but is run badly. It has a 'get you once and get you good' attitude. The lift company would end up in jail in any other country with a attitude that customer service is available after 2 pm each day. I feel sorry for the tour operators that put the hard yards in and are left holding the problem. Spend a bit more and ski in the USA or Europe or even New Zealand.
Nearest