Powder at Last – Cerro Bayo

After disappointment at both Lanin and Tronador, our crew needed something to lift the spirits. The snow that turned us around on Tronador had deposited a layer of fluffy white stuff on other mountains in the area. Jorge decided to spend our last day together powder hunting at Cerro Bayo ‘Ski Boutique’.

At first Bayo didn’t seem like much, being significantly smaller than the nearby Cerro Catedral. We squeezed into the gondola and were fully jarred awake as the car clattered abruptly on to the cable with a manual push from the operator. The lower part of the mountain was not looking promising as grass and dirt was poking through patches of stained snow. Concern faded as the top of the resort came into view; a nice steep gully awaited us with fresh tracks for the taking.

We lapped the upper gondola at least three times, maybe four. I’d forgotten what it was like to spend more time skiing down than up but my quads were reminding me.

Each lap we found some new snow and it was already well into the afternoon! Had this been Cerro Catedral, the hordes of powder hounds would have devoured all of the snow within minutes of the lifts opening. The charm of Cerro Bayo was becoming apparent.

After tiring of goofing off in the in bounds terrain we decided it was time to venture into the backcountry. We traversed an obvious ridge to a neighbouring peak overlooking terrain with numerous options for great runs. Jorge made the call for a compelling slope that fit our time budget. We snuck in a quick descent on the way and then started the climb.

At the top, we took a few moments to take in the surroundings before preparing for the downhill.

Panorama of the view

At the bottom of the run everyone was all smiles. It was one of those perfect runs where feel like you’re floating on clouds.

We were hungry for more but decided to end on a high point; the clock was ticking and it looked like bad weather was rolling in. It was time to skin back out of the valley and return to the resort for the ski out.

As we drove back to Bariloche, a colourful sunset capped an amazing day.

To celebrate the close of our time together as a group, we gathered the troops and went back to everyone’s favourite steak joint — Alto el Fuego. The lomo was fantastic as usual. Nom!