After a few nights in the remote town of Caviahue, it was time to switch the pace for a while, so our arrival in San Carlos de Bariloche was a pleasant change. Home to the ski resort Catedral Alta Patagonia, Bariloche also has 100,000 busy residents working away in this lake front town full of chocolate factories, tourist shops, and restaurants. It's easily the most popular ski destination among Argentine and Brazilian skiers, so we thought we'd take a little taste test to find out why. After a long-winded string of email and hostel messages, I finally met up with fellow canuck Andre Charland who was fresh off the 3-day plane & bus journey from Vancouver, and our Argentina 2004 road trip had begun.

Surrounded by thousands of teenagers exploring the streets and mountains for spring break, it was easy to see why the tourists come here. Big town, hotels, beautiful surrounding lakes, restaurants and shops everywhere you look, great base facility and lifts on the ski resort, snowmaking, scenic tram ride and more. But that's not what we came looking for. Although Catedral suffered the same fate of other ski South American ski resorts this year (not much snow) we knew there'd be some stashes left for us if we explored the resort.

Day 1 was bluebird and warm, and before we'd unloaded the first lift we knew where to head. Right above the highest chair is a short hike to some steeper chutes that yielded some wicked wind-buff carving laps. Quick laps and funky terrain would've been sweet on a powder day.

After some burns on that it was time to check out the 'Laguna' area that everyone had recommended... good call. A quick 10 minute traverse/hike and you wrap around a ridge out of site of the ski resort, where an amphitheater of S-turn chutes and cliff-drops funnel into a snowed over lake. Its pretty much a little yoyo utopia... short laps on steep, fun terrain hits, always feeding back to the same spot. The snow wasn't exactly 'all that and a bag of chips', but it was untracked and would definitely hog the most light fluffy snow after a good dump.

After more steak and chocolate than we needed (mmmmmmm), day 2 rolled around we headed up back to the resort for more fast runs on the resort and some turns in the Laguna. But what really caught our attention was the backdrop to die for. Right behind the resort is a heinous ridge system full of steep chutes that are all easily accessed from the Frey Refugio, a well-equipped hut at the base of the ridge. And if that weren't enough, the oh-so-tempting Volcan Tronador looms behind the resort with it's crevassed 3470 meter peak luring anyone with an ounce of mountaineering interest.

With the weather turning and more resorts on our hit list, we picked up and headed south, all the while knowing the Tronador and Frey hut terrain would be haunting us for a long time to come. Next year?

DETAILS

Catedral's season is from June to September/October, and is one of the few resorts down in Argenitna with good tree skiing on a good snow year. It boasts by far the best infrastructure at the resort and town if you're looking for a place with amenities and services, so it is a good spot for family trips or groups stoked on the hustle bustle of a bigger town.

For more information on Catedral Alta Patagonia, visit their website at http://www.catedralaltapatagonia.com/

Author and 2004 Darwin Award Winner