 Poster: A snowHead
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It was a choice between a Feb half term clash with south west France school holidays...and gambling on March snowfall for an April holiday! Thankfully the webcams were very snowy during March...providing a decent base prior to the holiday- phew!
Flew Easyjet from Bristol to Barcelona with my 2 sons (16 and 10). A bit of heart stopping moment that could have derailed the whole holiday getting to Bristol with a poorly marked road closure that I couldn't yet see on the A38 northbound- in the end with Google and my satnav both screaming at me to divert I decided to follow their instructions in case I ran out of time to divert- luckily the diversion via the Weston Super Mare turn off only added 10 mins to the journey, phew!
Silver Zone drop off was efficient, flight was uneventful and on time and the Andbus booked transfer (they have frequent coaches to Andorra every 2 hours!) v punctual, well equipped with wifi and charging points (!), to the Hotel Piolets Centre in Soldeu, where I met up with my parents that had travelled across the border on their car from their house in the French Pyrenees.
The hotel's location was great just a couple of mins walk from the gondola base, hire shop and lift pass kiosk with a good view of the slopes. Not the quietest of hotels but not noisy late at night either. My sons were both v happy with the quality of the equipment from Sports Calbo. Took advantage of the "ski 5 out of 7" lift pass to cut lift pass costs a bit as had planned a break in the middle.
It was pretty much hot and sunny all week with v little rain- slushy snow as a result that gradually degraded throughout the day. I have a slight issue with the accuracy of the snow level reporting- I do rather doubt the reported 180-220 cm snow depths reported! Before the holiday I thought things were winding down due to staff levels (runs closed) but it became increasingly apparent the runs that were closed were closed due to poor snow cover (usually those not previously supplemented by artificial snow) and it was too warm to top up with artificial snow overnight. Having said that, those runs that were open were v skiable….started out at around 150-160/210 km open and dipped to around 140 km by end of week.
Big props to Soldeu ski school- Stuart recognised me from 2008 (!) and was v helpful with creating a temporary slalom course for my eldest son to do GCSE PE filming on within a 2 hr private lesson and improved his overall technique at the same time- he has a really good eye for individual improvements. Lift queues were non existent. All area links (apart from Peretol) were open. The gradually progressive nature combined with lack of crowds of blue to red to black runs really helped by youngest progress to the point he was skiing the Avet black run back down to the hotel by the end of the week with confidence!
When we did a day trip to Arcalis mid week it was my youngest’s turn to have a lesson, availability was great booking online even just 24 hrs in advance. He had a lesson with a great friendly instructor called Milan that he really clicked with who had that grizzled appearance of a free ride regular- took him off piste and on jumps- and paved the way to being confident on the Grandvalira blacks on the last day and he had some great tips on improving his turn shape to provide more efficient speed control on steeper slopes. Arcalis is about an hours drive from Soldeu and v different- a lot quieter with an authenic small Pyrenean resort feel. Has the best snow in Andorra and you can use your Grandvalira lift pass. Number of runs were limited but interesting and challenging- particularly the two blacks, and free ride potential (in better snow!) looked considerable- was def worth the day.
On the day off we visited the pool in Canillo that was full sized and def worth the visit- had a great café and ice skating rink and climbing wall attached. Flumes also present but only available in the evening.
Enjoyed the hotel food- plentiful good quality buffet with variety for breakfast and dinner- catered to all tastes. Rooms were comfortable though a little limited for storage space and drying space.
Mountain food was slightly variable but not too pricey overall.
Overall I would really recommend as a hassle free holiday with good choice of flights (to Barcelona), reliable transfer and good quality skiing with easy slope access even late in the season.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 15-04-25 5:31; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Dr. Will, good report. The initial closing of some lifts and pistes was definitely part of the wind down. The week before you arrived wasn’t particularly warm and snow cover was good on nearly all runs (open or closed). The change to the pistes over the last week was pretty dramatic due to the warm temps though and like you say, it’s the ones that didn’t benefit from artificial help earlier in the season.
We now have rain down low but snowing up higher to help the last few days of the season.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@hammerite thanks for clarifying- that would make sense as the initial closures seemed quite clustered together and by definition runs that were originally closed would suffer more in hotter conditions without snowcats repairing patches overnight.
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I could imagine that closures would start at Encamp/Canillo and move east as the altitude increases? Not sure about south facing though.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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It seemed more that the closures were focused on areas which were not vital for transferring across sectors- eg. runs off the smaller skilifts in Grau Roig, the Encampanda area in El Tarter etc. not necessarily altitude based- they worked hard to keep the ski outs to the bottom of the Soldeu gondola open!
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@Orange200, Yes as @Dr. Will, says, it was mainly the odd run here and there that wasn't vital to getting anywhere else or pistes that have more than one option.
Interestingly, the Obagot and Padral runs have been very rarely open since I've lived here yet they're still open.
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@hammerite, yes I was surprised about those runs being open too- always looked rather dodgy on the lift up! Always stuck to the ridge instead with the Serra de Solanelles to avoid the poling in the valley on the way back to Soldeu.
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@Dr. Will, they’re pretty nice runs especially with a bit of fresh on there.
That bowl is great fun when Asaladors and Solanelles are open (Solanelles nearly always is) on a powder day.
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