CERRO CATEDRAL

Catedral has everything you might need for relaxation or for sport, for a future skier and for the expert. The massif with its imposing Gothic spires creates a sensation of eager anticipation in the potential skier. Cerro Catedral is therefore a veritable "cathedral of skiing", an activity that finds here its most pleasantly stunning environment:

Cerro Catedral annual brings together beginners, intermediate and advanced learners together with internationally competitive skiers. Every year the National Snow Festival starts with a firework display and a torchlight procession down the mountain that thrills the visitors from all over the country and the world that come here to share this blissful moment.

During winter, in the Antonio M Lynch Winter Sports Center, national and international skiing and the other snow-related sports are practiced here.

Its 200 hectare skiing area, its 97 kms of ski runs, the various styles and skill levels of its slopes, and their beaurtyful views afford both beginner and expert skiers all they need to do major skiing. Oh! And I almost forgot the snow, all the snow one has here.

Cerro Catedral is 19 kms from San Carlos de Bariloche, in Nahuel Huapi National Park: to get there from the city center you have to go along Bustillo Av to km 8, and from there to the Salmon Pisciculture complex alongside an 11 km side road and, after going through Villa Catedral, you get to the base of the mount at 1,000 m a s l.

This is one of the country's and South America's major ski sites. It is at 2,388 m a s l, and has about 200 hectares of skiing slopes, with over 70 runs intended for all levels and excellent elevation devices.

With its 200 hectares of skiing spaces, and its 97 kms of ski runs at all skill levels and for all types of skiing, together with the spectacular sights it offers of snowcapped peaks and Lake Nahuel Huapi, it has everything the skier could desire for to obtain maximum enjoyment.

The mount is located in an open area, that enables full appreciation of the Cordillera in all its magnitude. The traveller can enjoy the sight of the mountain from one of the snack bars on the mount, while enjoying a hot chocolate drink with local cakes and sweets.

Villa Catedral harbours the traditional Hotel Catedral, and at the foot of the mount lies the refurbished Hotel Pire Hue, with its important restaurant. Among other lodging choice are the Punta Cóndor and Alp time sharing apartments. Outside the Villa, on the Lake route lies the Hostería del Viejo Molino and Bungalows Pailahue, both of very high category and personalized service.

ELEVATION MEDIA
A number of elevation devices can take you up from the foot of the Mount to a series of different platforms that offer snack bars and restaurants for every taste and requirement You can get back to the bottom either by skiing down the different runs in winte, or using the cableway or the sextuple, quadruple or double chairlifts.

The cableway is a shuttle type installation with two 25 passenger cabins. These cabins move along a holding cable in opposite directions (while one leaves the lower, or driver station, the other is simultaneously leaving the upper station). The latter is at an altitude of about 1,885 ms.

6 metal towers serve as supports for the cable run and as manoeuvring points. From the cabins the traveller has a view over the Mount, its vegetation and ski runs, and of all the other elevation and towing devices used by skiers.

At 1,900 ms altitude is the Punta Nevada snack bar. From that point, the Lynch chairlift will take you to the summit, where you will find the Refugio Lynch, the highest snack-bar/restaurant in all Patagonia.

However, the last word in elevation media on Cerro Catedral is "Séxtuple Barrilete", as is named a six-skier chairlift. It offers a mixture of the comfort of a cableway with the unsurpassed qualities of a chairlift. It leaves the foot of the Mount from the Las Terrazas mall, taking the traveller to Barrilete, where you can change to the quadruple chairlift for the trip to the summit.

Other ways of getting to the summit are:

A funicular cableway with 2 cabins, transporting 130 skiers every hour,

9 chairlifts (9,000 skiers per hour),

17 tele-skis (10,800 skiers an hour),

2 baby-lifts (400 skiers an hour), 1 sextuple chairlift,

2 carrousels

1 swing.

Total capacity: 33 different types of lifts transporting 22,200 skiers an hour.

When you have got to the top of Cerro Catedral, you will find many different places to have lunch and enjoy the landscape , since as well as skiing one can admire the majestic Tronador Glacier, look at the huge expanse of Nahuel Huapi Lake, see Victoria Island, admire the serenity of Lake Gutiérrez and look at the nearby Mt Otto.

The day wears on and you go on skiing, but you are already thinking of the pleasure of pre-ski while zooming down the wide runs of Punta Nevada or enjoying the deep snow in Piedra del Cóndor, or the intermediate lenga forest or the "bumps" on Carlitos, or the various run options for beginners. The next day, you will be capable of going down by Amancay, Pista 6, Militares or other more difficult ones, each with its own special charm.

After this, the traveller can share the mountain convivial atmosphere of the bars and snack rooms after the final descent. Varied teas with cakes including strudel; or jacuzzis and saunas, put together, to form the menu of options in pre-ski.

Thus we will come to a time when we will ask ourselves in surprise if this experience is our last one, or will it be the beginning of a new lifestyle, or a totally new life. Only those who have never been under the spell of this mount can say goodbye to Catedral.

THE SKIING CATHEDRAL
Whether you want to practice ski in winter or enjoy an imposing view from the summit in summer, Cerro Catedral offers you a major infrastructure of services, media and recreational activities.
It is a stable venue for important social and cultural events, among them snowboard and expert and amateur skiing competitions, all events included in the International Skiing Federation's Annual Calendar. As from the 1997 season, artificial snow cannons were installed. They guarantee skiing activity in favourable weather conditions.

Skiing is something even a child can do, and you will be able to find teachers that will provide entertainment for the kids and peace of mind for their dadas. Also, families will find every possible item of comfort at the same center. All information about the condition of the runs, weather conditions and ski courses is provided by the Ski Schools themselves.

Skiing is usually associated with gastronomic eating. In this area there is a wide and diversified offer: restaurants, snack bars, mountain kiosks, you name it. Likewise, in the city and at the ski center there are a great number of places that let ski gear and clothing.

There are a number of academies of skiing and/or snowboarding. There are specialized teachers for the enjoyment of the tots and for the peace of mind of the parents. You can also find skiing and snowboarding schools with programs for beginners and for perfecting every levels. You can take either private or group classes.

If the traveller arrives by car in the summer, taking the fork at Km 10.5, he/she will be able to visit the "Virgen de las Nieves" Grotto, the patron saint of the local mountain people, and will later arrive at Villa Los Coihues on the borders of Lake Gutiérrez.

The Mount is not exclusively for the skiers. Among the other activities available to those who do not enjoy skiing are: hang-gliding, mountain biking, trekking, sled rides, snow motor-biking and four-tracks.

For those with the vitality left to enjoy night life there are discos, pubs, shows in the different restaurants, and a casino. There are also a pharmacy, restrooms, a first-aid facility, parking lots and bus services to the city departing every 10 minutes.