Ski Areas

Ushuaia [1] gets most of its visitors in summer, but it’s becoming a winter sports center as well, thanks to its proximity to the mountains. Downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, and even dogsledding are possibilities.

The major ski event is mid-August’s cross-country Marcha Blanca, which symbolically repeats Argentine liberator José de San Martín’s heroic winter crossing of the Andes from Mendoza to assist his Chilean counterpart Bernardo O’Higgins against the Spaniards. Luring upwards of 400 skiers, it starts from the Las Cotorras cross-country area and climbs to Paso Garibaldi, the 430-meter pass between the Sierra Alvear and the Sierra Lucas Bridges. Ideally, it takes place August 17, the anniversary of San Martín’s death (Argentine novelist Tomás Eloy Martínez has called his countrymen “cadaver cultists” for their obsession with celebrating death rather than birth dates of their national icons).

There are two downhill ski areas. The aging Centro de Deportes Invernales Luis Martial (Luis Martial 3995, tel. 02901/15-613890, tel. 02901/15-568587, esquiush [at] tierradelfuego [dot] org [dot] ar), seven kilometers northwest of town at the end of the road, has a single 1,130-meter run on a 23-degree slope, with a double-seat chairlift capable of carrying 224 skiers per hour.

East of Ushuaia [1], Cerro Castor (Ruta Nacional 3, Km 27, www.cerrocastor.com [2]) has up-to-the-minute facilities, including four lifts and 15 different runs. In midseason, lift tickets cost US$23–33 per day, with multiday discounts; in low and shoulder seasons, there are additional discounts.

Other areas east of town along Ruta Nacional 3 are for cross-country skiers: Tierra Mayor (Km 21, tel. 02901/437454, tierramayor [at] tierradelfuego [dot] org [dot] ar), Las Cotorras (Km 26, tel. 02901/499300), Haruwen (Km 35, tel./fax 02901/424058, haruwen [at] tierradelfuego [dot] org [dot] ar), and several newer options. All of them rent equipment and offer transfers from Ushuaia [1].