 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've not visited those areas, I'd like to -it's on my list if/when I sell my apartment! British skiers are very conservative about which resorts and areas they'll visit.
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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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I have not, but thanks for the link. I bagged a bit of the Spanish Pyrenees last season and that was good, way easier to get to and way less tourist-ridden than mainstream France/Austria. The French side looked easily accessible too. There are reports here somewhere of various Pyrenees places, and people who have ridden them..
I think most of these places don't have the "features" which mainstream package tour companies like, which is precisely why I like them.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I did two last winter - La Mongie - home of the infamous Tour de France Col du Tourmalet - and St Lary Soulan.
They are mid sized resorts - some not much skied off piste, some, not many, challenging runs and very cheap compared to French Alps for feeding and watering, ski hire etc.
They are smallish tho' and suffer from some pretty slow lifts/tows and weekend in St Lary S was dire - loads of weekenders and queues.
For personal preference I thought La Mongie as the lift system was slightly better and the mountain pit stops as well.
A trip to two for three nights each works out quite well. Keen piste hounds would be very bored after that.
Alpine skiing 25 years ago is the sort of feeling one gets.
But do not get me going on Baqueira as it is off piste being a Spanish resort.........but to have my 6d worth - a long drive from France, bleak, soulless, boring samey restaurants, and dire piste marking evidenced in whiteouts but some really good skiing and a reasonably lift system in places. Lots of people seem to stay down the valley rather than in the resort and the car park fills up extensively each day.
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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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Precisely - it's the real world. So the places where people live (and where the restaurants are) aren't actually bang slap in the middle of the pistes. That's a good reason package tourists don't go here.
I did find one place in the Spanish Pyrenees resorts I rode where I could actually eat the food. A guy who almost spoke English could make me a Jambon sandwich, which sounded like jam and cheese, but turned out to be air-dried ham and cheese, and it was better than anything you could ever buy at (say) Vail or Courchevel. We traded language lessons: English people don't go there much.
And when I drove back to the village I was staying in, I managed to find a place where they cooked real food and spoke no language I understood... and I was the only one there other than a few locals... some of their stuff wasn't great (but I was ordering blind as my French didn't help), but overall it was brilliant and I didn't actually want Michelin Star at that point.
It all depends what you want. I think the key thing is having a car and courage to use it. If you'd rather be cattle-herded, insured to the hilt and following all the rules, then these places aren't where you want to be.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Great link, thanks!
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like @countryman, I've been to two ski areas there.
One was St Lary - lifts were a bit on the slow side as reported above but not horrendously so and despite being there in the run-in to New Year we didn't experience major life queues. I liked the area and would def go back. Other one was Pyregudes where the skiing and infrastructure was better, but lacked a bit of rustic charm (seem to recall it was nearly all above the tree line too). We were staying in a village north of the mountains called Montrejeau which was lovely, pretty much an hour and a bit drive to all the main ski areas.
Prices were great, loads of spas about (we went to the Bagneres du Luchon town spa after skiing in Pyregudes which was good, amazing 'steam tunnel/cave') and would def like to go back, based somewhere like Bagneres and visit one or two other spots. V different kind of holiday to the mega-resorts and v relaxing...
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I've not skied the French side at all, but do fancy a road trip to take them all in.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Hi @Gämsbock, several of us snowheads are based in or spend time in the Pyrenees, some on the French side. Check out the "PYRENEES SNOW REPORT" threads in the Snow Reports section on here; this is last season's, for example. (Don't be put off by the apparent lack of early-season snow last year; we were still kicking the ass of the Alps for that same period! It was a tough December for European skiing last year.)
I've reported from Ax-les-Thèrmes, Porté-Puymorens, and Font-Romeu on the eastern side, and Piau Engaly and Saint-Lary in the central part. Grand Tourmalet (Barèges and La Mongie) and Luchon Superbagnères often get mentioned on those threads by those who live there.
Pyrenean skiing, particularly on the French side, is pretty quaint, as has been mentioned. (Andorra is a different story, since its two resorts are the only ones which truly cater to a market beyond Spain and southern France.) The Pyrenees are beautiful, and if you catch them on a sunny day mid-week (of which there are lots) you'll have a ball. Note that it's a different concept of skiing than in other ranges; almost everyone drives to resort, largely out of necessity on the Spanish side, though the French do much better at connecting the villages by lift to the pistes since I think that's a pretty cultural thing for them! There's little in the way of après-ski as a result. The Spanish, at least, do their socializing later in the evening in the valley town where they're staying, though again it's low-key.
Many of the French resort towns are nice, often being real spa towns as mentioned in the article. Still on my to-do list are the Pic du Midi, Cauterets, Gourette and Gavarnie (the latter set in probably the most important - and, I'm told, beautiful - cirques in the Pyrenees). And it's not hard to get motivated; for the last couple of years, there have been moments in mid-season when resorts such as Cauterets and Piau Engaly have had the greatest snow depths and/or greatest total snowfall in the world at that time! The Pyrenees surprises.
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