Weather
Catedral ski resort in Bariloche, Argentina has been getting hammered with snow for 5 days straight. Stupid amounts of snow. Catedral reported that they’d gotten 51 inches on the upper mountain after the first 3 days of the storm, then they didn’t report at all yesterday, and today they’re reporting that they got 125cms (50 inches) between 9am yesterday and 9am today.
If you add all that up, they’re reporting 101 inches of new snow in the past 5 days without reporting snow at all between 9am August 5th and 9am August 6th. Between Aug. 5th & 6th, we’d conservatively say that the upper mountain got about 30 inches of snow. If you add all that up, the real 5 day total is likely somewhere around 130 inches. Nuts.
Today, it finally cleared up some. Sun & clouds & fog were in and out all day. Temperatures were warm and the wind was very light on the lower half of the mountain. They kept the upper mountain closed for the 5th day, but they opened the gondola for the first time in 5 days today. They also got Condor II open this afternoon. Both the new options opened up a ton of untouched terrain that freeriders ate up like dulce de leche.
The snow was still relatively heavy in most spots and anywhere the sun hit it, it was real wet. South faceing slopes had a much lighter feel, especially the top 6 inches of the new snow.
We got to see the upper mountain in the light for the first time today. The transformation up top is astonishing. Everything is buried and completely buffed out by the wind. It all looks baby’s bottom smooth and soft as silk. Tomorrow, we anticipate getting up there and it being damn good.
The lower mountain transformation has been even more shocking as it went from completely devoid of snow to completely entrenched in snow (see contrasting images below). Skiing to the bottom of the mountain is going to be non-probematic for quite a while now.
The skiing was great all over the mountain today. Our first laps were off the Sextuple (it opened at 10am) as that was the only thing open. Hollywood Rock was $$ once again and surprisingly small. The famous run “Avalancha” was also a winner first thing this morning with no tracks on it. After two laps, it was 11am and the line got huge at the Sextuple. We zipped over to the gondola and it opened right as we got there at about 11:30ish.
Our first run was right under the gondola and it was top notch. Top notch. The line after one lap at the gondola was powerfully ridiculous and took us 45 minutes to navigate. We got one more great lap right down the edge of one of the tree-cut runs with many a pillow pop.
From there we headed over to Condor II and spent the afternoon cutting out into Secundo Lomo and skiing Earth’s best tree runs. Lines were long at Condor II but nothing compared to the Sextuple nor gondola. We got 3 laps in and the exit via the bamboo forest was as easy as it gets. I’ve actually never seen the bamboo so filled in. You could literally just ski through all of it right to the cat track. 5 days ago, there wasn’t a flake of snow in there…
Tomorrow, we should gain access to the upper mountain. If you’re going into the sidecountry, don’t mess around. Dig pits, make solid decisions, wear your beacon, bring your shovel, bring your probe, ride one at a time, and be obnoxiously safe. Obviously, the avalanche danger is high. We are likely going to give the sidecountry and backcountry one more day to settle.
The forecast for tomorrow and friday show’s some clearing and sun. It’s going to be amazing, so keep it safe, and lets all keep reveling in this bizarre 100 inch phenomenon we’re calling reality right now.
CATEDRAL FORECAST:
See how the mountain was before the storm:
Bariloche, Argentina Conditions Report & Photo Tour | Spring Skiing on July 28th
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Learn more about South American Snow & see all the previous snow report here:
Get after it Miles, wish I was there!
Miles, you should go ski the north face of Cerro Ventana while it is filled in. It’s a legit slope and with a car shuttle, easy to get on top of.
I’m looking into it now. I’ve never seen it look so good. Have you skied it?