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  3.5 of 5 05/08/2005 @ 23:14:17 |
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| 1 member has given this review a rating of 5 of 5 |
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| Price Paid |
| Accomodation £8 a night, lift £15 per day. |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Independently |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Not much of a review but hopefully this may be of use to some people. Please bear in mind that I am a beginner so this review/overview is based on my experiences as such.
Catedral is easily reached by public transport from the city of Bariloche. Transport takes about 30 minutes and costs Arg$2.50 (less than 50p!) There are many independent compaines offering transport from your hotel for about £5. The advantage of the public transport is that you can go up and come back when you want, buses run every 30 minutes morning and afternoon. Be warned morning buses are really busy, but the driver does his best to speeze everyone on. Bear in mind that you'll have to carry your equipment, there is no option to carry it in the boot or on the roof.
The lifts - queues weren't too bad, considering it was the school holidays. A lift ticket cost Arg$78 (£15)
The slopes - OK when I visited there hadn't been alot of recent snow so riding was limited to the upper areas, accessed by three chair lifts, or a cable car. The quickest way is the express chairlift or the cable car.
The mountain seems to be split between two main areas. The area to the left (as you look up the slope) of the resort is mainly made up of Red and Blue runs, with the Blue runs seeming more like Reds in terms of steepness. The majority of the Green runs are single 'cat' tracks and are heavily used by ski schools making life for snowboarders hell. The cat tracks are designed for skiiers with many almost impossible to board on because of amount of upward slopes and lack of width. The one non cat track green area here is just a practice slope, reached by the Diente de Caballo lift. This area, whilst great to get those turns dialed, lacks the length to be that enjoyable. Above the green slope there is a steep walk up to the mountain's summit, which looks like it holds some top off-piste areas.
The area to the right of the resort, reached by the Condor series of lifts is much more boarder friendly and takes you up to the some spectacular scenery and some hair-raising off-piste areas. Again the runs are mainly Blue and Red, however the terrain is as much suited to the beginner as the intermediate or expert. The run to the rear of Piedra Del Condor (the rock formation) takes you down to a nice interconnector leading off to Blue, Red and Black runs. You can pick out various runs across the wide slopes and there is plenty of connections with tougher/easier runs as you descend.
If you opt for the public transport you can leave your board in storage at the slope for Arg$6 (about £1) and this saves on hassle getting on the bus in the mornings.
A top place to stay is the boarder run hostel 41 Below in Bariloche. There is a drying area, a board storage room and the rooms are modern, heated and really comfortable. The people that run it are great and more than happy to give you advice on where to ride. It's cheap as hell too.
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| Strengths |
A large resort with quite a few options for the intermediate or experienced rider.
It's so close and easy to get from Bariloche a trip here needn't cost the earth. |
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| Weaknesses |
| Perhaps not the best spot for complete begineers. The Green runs are a pain in the a*se and you'll spend most of the day getting in and out of bindings to walk up the slopes to get to the next 'downhill' section. Arrrgh. However once you have your turns sorted the Blues here are great fun. |
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