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  5 of 5, "Heaven is a place called Patagonia" 18/09/2006 @ 18:14:55 |
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| 3 members have given this review an average rating of 5 of 5 |
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| Price Paid |
| £116 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| DIY |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
The resort's slogan of "El mejor nieve en Suda America" - The best snow in South America - had drawn my attention last year whilst planning a weeks boarding away from Chile, where I live, to Argentina. However due to its location we ruled it out and went to Chapelco instead (see review in that section).
La Hoya is located near the town of Esquel in Patagonian Argentina. Getting there is a real trek, especially from Chile, but really worth the effort. Esquel is a 5-hour bus ride from Bariloche in the North, which is accessible by plane from Buenos Aires. The cost of the bus down is next to nothing and the road takes you through some incredible Patagonian scenery, being part of the famous Ruta 40 road. Buses run four or five times a day and you can usually turn up at Bariloche bus terminal and buy one on the day, although if you do arrive in Bariloche earlier it's always best to book a ticket. Some bus companies will charge you extra for a board bag but if you pay the guy that loads the baggage on to the bus a couple of pesos this can be avoided.
Once you arrive in Esquel accommodation is in abundance. There are many small hotels offering comfortable and clean accommodation for between £5-£10 per night. You could also hire a "cabana", a cabin/chalet, for around £25 per night, although you might be better off trying to sort this out beforehand, or spend your first night in a hotel and look for a cabana from there.
I stayed in a small hostel, called Piuke Mapu, run by a couple who have a wealth of information about the local hot-spots, off-piste areas etc. One of them is a mountain guide and will take you up to some great spots if you don't mind a bit of hiking on snowshoes. A shared room cost me around £4 a night and worked out well as I was travelling solo and I met other boarders at the hostel.
So the resort. A 20-minute bus ride away, arranged through the hostel, and you arrive at a small restaurant at the bottom of a valley. From here all you can see of the resort is a quad-chair taking skiers over a beautiful tree-lined valley. Lift tickets are £8 per day, with a small discount if you buy a 3,5, or 7-day ticket. Half -day tickets start at 12.30 and cost around £5.50.
A modern quad chair takes you up the resort proper. From the base the mountain looks like a massive bowl, with mountains almost all around you. The resort is served by 4 chair lifts running straight up the mountain and then there are 6 or 7 pomas that take you to the sides of the chairs. There are 2 green runs near the base and the rest of runs are blue and red. The resort has no black runs, although can boast the steepest run is South America - hmmm go figure.
The boast of the best snow in South America was certainly true during my 8-days here. Everyday I was lucky enough to arrive at the resort and find fresh powder of such quality that I've never experienced before. Even the famous dry powder of Valle Nevado couldn't compare to this. And the best thing was that there were so few people down here that I could find untracked powder, without much effort, all day long.
Although on paper it doesn’t look like a very big resort the pistes are really wide. The back part of the mountain, around El Filo and El Sol are perhaps the widest pistes I've seen. These runs are like massive powder bowls. From the top of El Filo lift scoot across to the right a little and you'll find some incredible terrain.
The opportunities for getting off piste here are excellent. The lifts take you to high enough points that it's possible to get on to the other side of the mountain and into some of the valleys leading back to the car park without too much hiking. These areas are excellent and offer varied terrain from almost sheer drops to nice tree-lined valleys.
As mentioned when I was there the resort was really quiet. I went in August which is the "medium" season, although I've been told that it's a lot more crowded during the "high" season, basically most of July, as quite a lot of Argentines head here during the winter holidays as it's one of the cheapest resorts. During the rest of the year this is very much a locals type resort, with the odd spattering of people from Buenos Aires. You'll probably find that you'll be the only "gringo" in town, but this, in my opinion, is great news. Don't worry about the language barrier I found lots of people in the resort, and in Esquel, that spoke English. Esquel is a busy tourist destination in the summer.
One downside to the resort is that this being Patagonia it can be windy. A couple of days of my trip were disrupted by gale force winds stopping some of the lifts. It's, perhaps, worth checking on conditions before leaving Bariloche as it's a long way to go and not be able to ride.
The price quoted above was the amount I spent on accommodation, 8-days lift pass, and transport to and from the hill everyday. Food and drink are really cheap in Argentina and a budget of £10 will see you eat like a king, even on-piste. This trip is easy to do DIY.
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| Strengths |
No queues
Cheap lift tickets
Quality snow
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| Hot Spots |
El Filo, El Sol, La Luna are all amazing pistes.
Take a run down the valley under the quad-lift, although be careful that there's enough snow to cover the river.
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| Weaknesses |
| Wind |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Chapelco, Cerro Bayo, Catedral |
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