Cerro Bayo Argentina
Cerro Bayo (pronounced “Bar-gjo”) in Argentine Patagonia is renowned for the remarkable vistas across the breathtaking Andes into Chile, the amazing forests, and the great views across Lago Nahuel Huapi. The azure waters of the lake are spectacular, and the proximity to the ski area almost makes the runs seem steeper because you feel like you might just ski over the edge into the lake. Skiing or snowboarding at the Cerro Bayo Ski Resort is incredibly aesthetically pleasing, along with the nearby
Villa La Angostura. Cerro Bayo is probably not an international destination resort in itself, but it’s worth visiting for 2-3 days as a great supplement to other Patagonian ski resorts.
Cerro Bayo Ski Resort in Argentina was once a little locals’ ski hill, a mom and pop style ski area that largely flew under the radar. Cerro Bayo is still little, but it touts itself as providing a boutique ski experience. This may have been true during the 2010s, but on the back of Covid it became a crazy busy ski area with way too many pedestrians wanting to look at the views.
Pros and Cons of Cerro Bayo Argentina
Pros
- Cerro Bayo Ski Resort offers amazing views and the natural surroundings are awe inspiring. Girls you don’t need to worry about brushing your hair or putting make-up on at Cerro Bayo. Everyone will be too busy looking at the gorgeous views to even notice what you look like!
- Cerro Bayo is close to the town of Villa la Angostura, which is a beautiful lakeside town.
- Cerro Bayo Resort has some magical tree skiing for low-end advanced riders and sub-alpine trees for experts.
- Fresh powder is reasonably easy to come by in the lift-accessed backcountry-type zones.
- Much of the terrain is south facing, so the slopes in the upper reaches usually have good snow.
Cons
- It’s a reasonably small resort, especially if not all lifts are open, and doesn’t provide enough terrain variety for a long stay.
- Many of the lifts at Cerro Bayo are thumb twiddlingly slow or inefficient and they seem to break down regularly.
- Lift tickets are pricey compared to some other Argentina ski resorts considering the lack of modern lifts, but cheap compared to high profile US ski resorts.
- The Cerro Bayo Resort attracts too many pedestrians, which adds to the lift queues, lunch spot crowds, and car park chaos. Of course, it’s all relative, and the poor lift infrastructure, crappy parking lot, and absence of on-mountain accommodation probably help to keep the numbers a bit lower than crazy Cerro Catedral.
Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective
- The top gondola offers access to some great challenging backcountry style terrain but the Telecabina Cumbre is often not running, due to weather or “just because” in classic Argentine style. The highly coveted terrain then becomes hike-to-terrain and the freshies last much longer.
- There is no on-mountain lodging but staying in the town of Villa la Angostura is beautiful.
- Those with a mega budget can pay for a Gold Pass to get VIP parking, lift queue priority, and a host of other benefits. The rest of us just get an everyday experience.
Cerro Bayo Ski and Snowboard Terrain
Cerro Bayo is a small ski area with only 200 hectares (494 acres) of terrain, 16 lifts, and 31 marked trails that are only 14km in length. The piste areas might be diminutive, but there are plenty of off-piste zones where it’s possible for kitted out advanced and expert riders to find fresh lines. These off-piste areas are an absolute highlight for powder hounds.
Cerro Bayo Ski Resort sits above and below the timber line so it offers some open alpine bowls as well as some fun tree skiing. At one end of the spectrum there are short steep sections and at the other end, wide groomed mellow runs. The split of piste trails is 10% black (advanced to expert), 35% red (intermediate to advanced), 40% blue (easy intermediate), and 15% green (beginner). For greenhorns, a highlight is the 5km long panoramic run that features wondrous views of Nahuel Huapi Lake.
The quality of the lifts is variable. There is a gondola; well actually there are 2 consecutive gondolas and these can be really inefficient. Otherwise the lifts are double chair lifts and surface lifts that are old, unreliable and somewhat slow, leaving plenty of time to contemplate life.
Cerro Bayo Snow
Cerro Bayo receives a respectable amount of snowfall by South American standards, with an average of 6 to 9 metres of snow per season (they clearly have a bit of trouble with maths or deciding where and how to measure snow!). The Cerro Bayo snow quality is fairly typical of the Andes. It ranges remarkably from awesome powder to sloppy mashed potatoes, and the base elevation is only 1,050 metres, so the snow cover can be very patchy.
Where is Cerro Bayo Ski Resort?
Cerro Bayo in Argentina is a mountain of the Andes range within the Lakes District. It sits in western Argentina, so Chile is just a stone’s throw away, whilst
Buenos Aires is a 1,800km/1,118 mile drive to the northeast.
Cerro Bayo is situated above the little town of
Villa La Angostura, a 9km/5.5 mile (15 minute) drive away. Villa La Angostura is located one hour north (70km) of
Bariloche, and only 2 hours from
San Martin de los Andes.
Cerro Bayo Lodging
There is no on-mountain accommodation at Cerro Bayo so everyone stays in the nearby town of Villa la Angostura. In addition to
Villa la Angostura hotels, the town has lots of accommodation options ranging from absolutely gorgeous 4 star hosterias with lake views down to 1 star affairs, various apart hotels, cabins (cabanas), and hostels.
Villa La Angostura is a charming upscale village situated on the north shore of Lake Nahuel Huapi. Many of the buildings are wooden and very quaint, and the village offers a quiet pace relative to
Bariloche. Villa La Angostura has various cute shops, chocolatiers, and plenty of restaurants and bars, but don’t expect the outrageous nightlife typical of Argentina.
Villa la Angostura Hotel Listings
We’ve stayed at the
ONA Apart Hotel and Spa which is located at the turn-off to Cerro Bayo, so it’s handy for quick access to the ski hill and to avoid any traffic jams into VLA that can occur at the end of the day. The apart hotel offers 1 bedroom apartments that are good value.
Facilities
Anything that the amenities lack in the modern stakes, it makes up for with rustic charm. There are various log refugios (lodges) that are charming, and rather than just offering usual ski resort fare, Cerro Bayo also has gastronomical delights on offer so expect to pay top peso. Other facilities include ski and snowboard school, equipment rentals, a ski shop, and child care.
Activities include magic carpet accessed tubing (ages 4 and up) and guided snowshoeing tours.