 Poster: A snowHead
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Group- 2 male friends in their 30s, 1 skier, 1 snowboarder, advanced level.
Overall a very pleasant trip and one I would highly recommend for people wanting a quiet break away from the crowds of the Alps, virtually no lift queues at all and not too far from Barcelona El Prat Airport that is an Easyjet hub and has plenty of flights from all over the UK.
Day 1- Took the afternoon flight from Bristol, allowing my friend to work till midday. Very good service parking wise at the Silver Zone, prompt shuttle to airport in a couple of mins, little queues on Friday. Arrived in Barcelona 8 pm, straightforward to find Avis desk to hire car. A bit of hiccup when realised the snow chains hired did not fit the specifed wheels- luckily there were other chains present where we were staying (my parents' holiday place, a charming village house in the Pyrenean foothill village of Corneilla de Conflent, at 568m high), so we didn't need them. Used Apple Maps to smoothly navigate on pretty fast roads through Barcelona, onto the AP-7, across the Spanish/French border and towards Perpignan, wherby we turned inland on the main road to Andorra and arrived, thankfully without hitting snow, at our base, in about 2 hr 45 mins
Day 2- Woke up to find a continuation of the Thursday/Friday dump had left plenty of snow in the mountains! Didn't set off too early to allow the ploughs time to work, and managed to get half way to Mont Louis (at 1500m) without chains. Once at Mont Louis, a right turn and further 10-15 mins to access Les Angles (total time with chain fitting (a few stop and starts to readjust...) from house 1hr 30 min). My god, what snow! Weather gradually calmed down throughout. Some pistes were like off piste challenges with thigh deep powder, v little queues and lovely food at the mountain restaurant. Les Angles is good for mixed ability/children with plenty of easy runs on the plateau, lots of reds on the right hand side, and a couple of quite challenging blacks! Pity the most challenging ones were closed due to avi risk..Some higher areas can be a bit wind exposed but most are treelined. Total max altitude difference is just under 700m, so less than average Alpine resorts. However lift queues were non existant so instead of stopping a few times on a long run, you could ski a run non stop and rest on the lift!
Day 3- Less overnight snow so chains only needed from Mont Louis onwards. Access time down to just over an hour. Went to Pyrenees 2000 this time (part of Font Romeu area) which is true drive in, ski out...10 mins max between parking, getting pass and getting onto lift!. A bit windier and colder on crests but the lower runs were exceptionally well protected with even more trees than Les Angles and great powder. Less altitude difference but more virtually crowd free blacks and opportunity to dip and out of the plentiful trees at the side of the runs. A great bad weather resort and lots of fast chairs for a small resort. Very pleasant beer in the mountain village of Ollette on the way back to the house once well past chain territory.
Day 4- This was when we planned to go to Grandvalira- then realised that the border to Andorra was closed due to avalanche. Didn't fancy the 80 km diversion through Spain- so did another day in Les Angles, weather better this time round though quite cold and plenty of time to do the runs that we skipped last time, finally got the hand of the unpisted black with 60 cm fresh powder without falling over!
Day 5- Yet more snow in the morning, was planning on going to Espace c'Ambe d'Aze a real tucked out of the way resort. However on arrival at Mont Louis ran into severe chain problems with them slipping every 100 m- and the access road was far too quiet with unpacked snow.... so had to go all the way back down on one chain, consolatory hot chocolate on the way in Serdinya, and tried to fix them back at the house. For some reason they centred properly after bashing them with hammer...weather was clearing though 1pm by now- decided to go back up again! Flukily almost the entire access to Pyrenees 2000 had been gritted in the intervening period- record door to ski in 1 hour- was well worth the eventual 2 hour 40 mins ski, sunshine for the first time in the last hour! Great off piste under the lifts.
Day 6- Completely stress free journey back to Barcelona, no snow/ice, no hold ups
Overall- huge amount of snow (1 m+ fresh) and very good conditions. Would recommend this region thoroughly for quiet and relaxed crowd free skiing, lots of sun when available, good protection in bad weather and against avalanche compared to other resorts and some challenging runs too if you look for them. Access roads to the big two resorts (Les Angles and Font Romeu) very well gritted considering the conditions. For those without relatives/friends with nearby accommodation and/or not keen on driving other than from the airport there are hotels/apartments in either of the above resorts and dotted nearby. There are also buses to resorts from Mont Louis. If the weather was not snowing all the days,we would have been able to do a different resort each day no problem. With the conditions as there were, we had plenty of opportunity to experience quality powder in the nearby resorts, and didn't think we missed out at all.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Great report - its an area I tried to ski once. Drove up from the valley to find everywhere was closed because of blizzards. One day I'll get back there. Formigueres is on my list in that area as well.
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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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Hope you get to go again! Have skied Formigueres once. It certainly has a good snow depth record and a reasonable altitude difference though has somewhat less in terms of blacks (only one short one), no express chairs and personally I find the runs less flowing than those at Les Angles, Font Romeu and Espace c'Ambe d'Aze. A touch further to get to than the others too if approaching by the road from Perpignan
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A great review- brought back terrific memories of many a happy day skiing away from the crowds both pre and post children. We taught our kids to ski at Les Angles. The plateau at the mid station is ideal and has (had?) a pic-nic room with a large wood bbq in the corner to cook your sausages on. With embarrassingly cheap ski passes it made for the cheapest possible ski trip.
My dear old dad learnt to ski there as well.
Well worth a trip and a great area for families especially.
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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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Great report! They are nice little resorts, and cheap compared to the Spanish ones nearby
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I love that area - had family living there a few years back, and would be happy to return. I've skied FR/ P2000, Puigmal (which I loved), Puymorens, Puyvalador, Les Angles. Great fun to drive to a different small resort each day. Not always terribly challenging, but some excellent off-piste to be found (with guides) and really cheap. Easy drive from Barcelona or Perpignan.
I'd definitely recommend it for a place for kids to learn. And apart from one bad NY trip, we had superb snow over the five or so years we visited. Had one day where I skied the morning in knee deep, and was sitting in a beach front bar in Barcelona by sunset. Marvellous!
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A late season week around here and then a few days in Collioure down on the coast would be a great trip.
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