 Poster: A snowHead
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Am going away on the 2nd week of Feb and still working out which resort would be best for a completely mixed ability group incl girlfriend who is not great in the cold and a beginner. Obviously most of France is busy at that time, hence avoiding the French half term. DIY prices are slightly out of my price range for high season, Austria Sat transfers are less convenient for us than Italy/Andorra Sunday transfers. Sestriere has slightly dodgy snow record, Cervinia is vulnerable to bad weather and Champoluc has a lack of accessible nursery slopes. Which leaves the Grandvalira...maybe not great snow, but good weather, great grooming and artificial snow cover if necessary and a mix of runs where it is easy for different abilities to ski both together and apart.
We're not exactly party animals so the quieter more charming El Tarter looks a better than Soldeu and the hotels/chalets seem nicer too. Only one thing I notice however is a huge car park on google earth next to the El Tarter gondola! Hopefully the French would ski more on the Pas de la Casa side but is there a Spanish half term on the 2nd week of Feb too? If so would the slopes be quite overcrowded, putting off the beginners? I personally feel that the lift system is pretty damn efficient but have never skied there during those dates before.
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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, Look here for spanish holidays
http://barcelona.angloinfo.com/information/14/schoolhols.asp
I would suggest you contact soldeu tourist info about andorra hols as well, we did and they were quite helpful.
the weekend in el tarter is very busy, but there is the gondola and the fast 4 man chair opposite the nordic (we stayed in the self catering places there) so queue were never that bad.
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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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Thanks for the advice. It seems that there are no Spanish holidays at that time- will check the Andorran one though as per your suggestion.
Also it seems that what was once a 6 person gondola is now a 10 person one so combined with the chairlift am reasonably confident that the queues won't be enormous. Since we will be transferring on the Sunday hopefully it will only be the last day (Saturday) that will be busy because of it being a weekend.
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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 went during half term a few years ago and there were no problems with queuing.
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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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Cool- it's getting even better now I've realised that there are Easyjet flights from Bristol to Barcelona, can directly book accommodation on the Grandvalira website and there are Novatel scheduled bus services from Barcelona airport direct to El Tarter bus stop at very convenient times in relation to flight (e.g leaving 1hr 30 mins after flight arrival, return to Barcelona airport 2 hr 15 mins before flight departure). If I book it that way it seems I can have an extra days skiing and still pay less than if I was booking with Crystal! 
Has anybody else used the bus services? Are they pretty strict with luggage requirements? On average we shouldn't be exceeding 2 luggage pieces each since only 2 out of the 4 will have their own skis and boots.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Dr. Will, the Novatel bus service is very good, and nearly always on time! As for luggage, I am usually travelling on it with all my gear for the season, and never had any problems. If you want the bus to take you all the way to El Tarter you have to pre book it(same for return) and if you tell them the name of the accomodation, they usually drop you right outside. Don't worry if you have to change bus in Andorra to get to El Tarter, if there aren't alot of people doing the trip they do the rest of the journey in a smaller bus.
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Dr. Will wrote,
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It seems that there are no Spanish holidays at that time
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No half-term school hols in Spain. It was the same when I was at school there in the 80's, but we did get 3 months summer hols!!
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