south america

2014 Bariloche, Argentina Season Recap & Highlights:

Catedral ski resort in Bariloche, Argentina had a strong season in 2014. Of the 8 weeks I skied in Bariloche this summer, 4 of them were powder. It’s true, we had a low snowpack this year and the lower mountain never had any snow. The upper mountain is where all the good terrain lives and up there, we had plenty of snow this southern winter. I arrived on the last days of July, 2014 to a violent, 4-day storm that kept the mountain closed for 5 days. When the mountain finally opened on August 3rd, there was 6 feet of new snow up high and […]
Miles Clark |
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Skiing at Over 17,000-Feet in Argentina: The Super Canaleta

Dorian, dropping.

As the season came to a close in Las Leñas Argentina, Dorian Densmore, Alejo Sanchez and I decided we wanted to explore and ski something new. Here is what we got up to. Video (by Dorian) and trip report are below. Enjoy. If you’ve ever spent time in Mendoza, you’ve probably noticed some rather large, snow covered peaks not far from the city. This is the Cordon del Plata. We’ve all eyed runs from the city and dreamed about skiing up there, and decided it was finally time to do something about it. The highest peak and most enticing ski line seen from Mendoza is Cerro Plata (19,574ft), which towers more than 17,000 vertical feet above […]
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Lee Lyon |
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Inbounds Avalanche in Antillanca, Chile Almost Takes Out Lift

Antillanca slide

After a large storm followed by warm weather, an inbounds avalanche in Antillanca Ski Area almost took out a lift tower. The slide likely occurred during the first warmup on September 29th after a storm from September 26th – 28th. Antillanca is a small, locals ski hill, about 100km from the city of Osorno in Chile. It is unknown if the slide was intentionally triggered by avalanche control work or released naturally. The slope aspect was SE. Upon […]
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Aaron Rice |
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Bariloche, Argentina Backcountry Report: “Secret Chute”

Niki dropping in.

It will not stop snowing in Bariloche, Argentina. Today the storm came in with so much wind it shut down nearly the entire mountain at about 1pm. The wind up high was blowing a constant 40mph, which made walking on the ridge lines a very interesting endeavor. Catedral ski resort impressively got the highest chair, Nubes open by about 11am after the whole mountain opened late at about 10am due to the strong winds. Nubes had amazingly smooth, wind-buffed snow, about 4-6 inches deep, […]
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Miles Clark |
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The Sketchiest 60º Chute in Argentina: “The Paraguayan Tropic Couloir”

paraguayan tropic couloir

This video features a heavy couloir, called the Paraguayan Tropic couloir, with 60 degrees plus. It was probably the most consistently long, narrow and steep coulior I have tried to ski, and it was a great adventure. This run is in Guadalajara, Malargüe, and we were forced to use the Alejo/Dorian handmade pitons for 2 rappels during the descent due to low snow. It was kind of like rock climbing with no options of bailing off the route. […]
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Guest Author |
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Dumping Snow in Patagonia Today | Photo Tour:

Nubes chair at Catedral ski resort in Bariloche, Argentina today. photo: snowbrains.com

It snowed like crazy today at Catedral ski resort in Bariloche, Argentina for the third time since Tuesday. Snowing inches per hour for the third time since Tuesday. I couldn’t help but laugh and smile today as I rode the Nubes chair. It was a Saturday on the last weekend of the season, it was nuking snow, it was a powder day, and no one was out. The last Saturday of year is generally reserved for slushy skiing, sunburns, talking to girls, and seeing if you can have one drink at each refugio on the mountain (good luck, there’s 12…). This season, spring was completely hijacked by heavy snows. […]
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Miles Clark |
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Bariloche, Argentina Conditions Report: Bluebird Powder Day

miles clark track la laguna catedral ski resort, argentina, bariloche

First of all, I wanna give big props for Catedral ski resort opening the Nubes chair today. It’s been closed for about a week (essentially for the season) due to the trails accessing it having completely burned out. There was simply no snow left on the trails accessing the base of the Nubes chair. The recent storm dropped enough snow for the trails to be covered and groomed once more. Catedral was great and opened Nubes right away this morning by 10am. Thanks. Catedral ski resort in Bariloche, Argentina just experienced two days of big, late season snowfall. The storm completely closed the mountain down on Tuesday, we had a great […]
Miles Clark |
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