Aristeo Benavídez

Aristeo Benavídez, better known as Cartón, and his brother Emilio, were attracted to skiing as teenagers when they saw a poster advertising a skiing competition on the slopes of the Cerro Otto in Bariloche. They entered, largely because of the attraction of cake and chocolate for all competitors at the end of the run, but to his surprise, Aristeo won, and in addition to the cake and chocolate, won a pair of skis. From that moment on, skiing became a major part of his life as he went on to become a skiing pioneer in Argentina and one of the country’s most popular skiiers, excelling as a downhiller both nationally and internationally. He was part of two Argentinian Winter Olympic skiing squads, 1948 and 1952, taking part in the latter year, only to be disqualified in the downhill.

After spending his development years on the Cerro Otto, Benavidéz moved to the famous Cerro Catedral in the foothills of the Andes where he worked as an instructor later in his career and was founder of the Catedral Ski School. A member of the Club Andino Bariloche for over seven decades, he was at one time the record holder for the Punta Nevada to the base of Cerro Catedral run. When the first Winter Pan American Games were awarded to Las Leñas in Argentina in 1990, Benavídez had the honour of lighting the flame at the start of the Games. He was also a keen mountaineer.