9 go mad in Soldeu

A snowHead

First off - I appologise for my writing. I aren't no award winning writer wink

There were 9 on this trip - 3 couples, and 3 blokes (me, my mate, and the eldest son of one of the couples). Ages ranged from mid 20s to mid 50s, and skiing experience from 3rd week on snow to 30th.

So, this was to be my 3rd time in Andorra, and 3rd time in Soldeu.However, this time trying a different hotel - The Himalaia. Everyone else had been to Andorra at least once (and 10 times for others), so we all knew what to expect.

Anyway, we arrived at Manchester airport at around 4:30 on the Sunday morning. We were then informed that we were flying to Barcelona rather than Toulouse. Not too big a problem, 15 mins extra flying, and about 30 mins extra transfer.

Uneventful flight, although more leg room would have been nice. I find I need my knee caps to ski with, and having them removed by the seat infront isn't nice.

On arrival at Barcelona, we were greeted with a security check. WTF? Metal detector arch and bag x-ray - the works. But only one of each for all 230 people coming off a B767. So, 45 minutes later I found myself walking the wrong way through departures to find the baggage carousel, which was, of course, at the other end of the airport.

Then another 45 minutes waiting for everyone's luggage. Why it took the chuckers 1 hour 30 to unload the plane I do not know.

So, we find the reps from Neilson. Out of the doors, turn left, and walk the whole length of the airport again to find the transfer bus.

Onto the bus, and it does it's best to relieve me of what left of my knee caps. I put the pain to one side, and manage a little snooze. When I wake up, I find that they've actually put a film on the TVs (Batman Begins) which goes some way to stopping the boredom.

Soldeu eventually arrives at 3pm, but we get dumped 100m down the road, and have to drag everything up the hill. It was at the point that my new Tchibo ski bag decided to lose a wheel, which was nice. Fortunately, we had formulated a plan - send someone into the hotel without luggage, to get checked in, and not queue. This worked, so by the time all the luggage was up the hill, it was straight to the room.

The room was HUGE (it did need to accomodate 3 blokes). Lounge (comfy sofa bed), kitchenette, separate bedroom area, and bathroom.

A very quick unpack (chuck stuff into the wardrobe), and we were over the road into the Iceberg for Happy hour. Mission accomplished.

The rest of the evening was a bit of a haze. I remember going to the reps meeting to get my lift pass, and I remember eating chicken curry and chips in the restaurant, but details are sketchy and blurry.

Onto Day 1 skiing. Up early for breakfast. One of the group was going into ski school, and we wanted to be up on the mountain early to avoid the scrum to get into lessons. So, walk up the hill to the Gondola station, and see the queue. It was the typical queue for a Monday morning, so we bypassed it. Down in the lifts, walk across the bridge and up on the 6 man chair. Doing this we must have saved 45 minutes of queuing, and we must have been some of the first people up onto the Epiolets plateau. As a result, Martin was the first at the ski school office, and was easily into morning lessons.

The experienced skiiers then went off to do a few runs. Up to the top, down Duc then Os, and 10:30 found us sat at the back of the Nordic in El Tarter having the worst Hot Chocolate of the week.

A few more runs round El Tarter, and then we headed back towards Soldeu to meet for lunch. On the way, disaster struck. Richard's pole got caught getting onto a chair, and snapped like a twig. Then due to a misunderstanding, Adam skiied to the wrong (or right if you ask him) restaurant to meet for lunch. Richard went down on the Gondola to get some more poles, and got back up as Adam found us at the right (or wrong) restaurant. Everyone else had finished eating, so it was agreed where we would ski that afternoon, and the pair of them would catch us up.

We all skiied off. Did a few runs, mostly over the El Tarter side. We didn't see Adam or Richard, but assumed they'd missed us, and we'd see them back in the Iceberg for Happy Hour.

I got back to the Hotel, and sent Adam a txt, "Where are you?". He replied "Call me ASAP". I did. We've had a crash, and we're in the medical centre in El Tarter. I went and found his Dad, and we jumped into a taxi to take us down there.

Richard had a broken collar bone, 4 broken ribs, and a gash to his head. Adam had bruised ribs, a gash to his chin and they suspected a broken jaw but luckily the x-rays ruled this out. An ambulance was on it's way to take Richard to hospital down in Andorra La Vella. When the ambulance arrived, they wouldn't let anyone go with them in the ambulance, which I thought was weird - nevermind. The rest of us got a taxi to take us back up to Soldeu. We bumped into the Neilson rep as we got to the hotel. He was straight on the phone to their office, and before long, the head rep arrived. After filling in forms, and running round to find stuff to take to the hospital, the head rep drove me to the hospital. After waiting ages (because he was in x-ray) I was allowed to see Richard. He was in a bad way - morphine wasn't doing much for his pain.

We talked about the crash. All he knew was that one minute he was skiing, and the next he and Adam had collided with each other on an empty piste. After about half an hour, he told me to go, so the rep drove me back to the hotel. When I met everyone else, they were all in a bit of shock. I ate some food - no idea what, and went to bed.

Day 2 skiing. For some strange reason, everyone skiied slowly, and Adam was visibly nervous when it got busy on the slopes. I can't really remember much about it - I know we went over to Canillo and skiied Rossinyol a couple of times, but other then that, I dunno.

That evening, one of the couples went to visit Richard in the hospital, whilst Adam and myself got rather drunk, and did Karaoke in the Iceberg.

Day 3 skiing. Don't really remember much of the morning, but in the afternoon a few of us made it over to Grau Roig, and were almost the last ones on the mountain on the way back. They were closing lifts and pistes behind us.

Day 4 skiing. It was a powder day, but a total white out. Luckily I had my Oakley HI yellow A frames. This gave me x-ray vision, so I could see where others couldn't. Yeah right. In the morning, three of us did a few runs along the Solanelles ridge. Visibility was very intermittant. One of the other blokes managed to ski straight into an unseen 4" drift. Adam didnt manage to ski in the morning. The bruising on his ribs was proving very painful. In the afternoon, all we did was shepherd the less confident skiiers down to the gondola top station.

That evening, I went down to the hospital. Richard was in a lot less pain, and had been in good spirits. He had been told he was coming out. Then he'd realised that it wasn't going to happen that day, and was quite down about the whole thing.

Day 5 skiing. Myself and 1 other went on a mission. Soldeu to Pas de la Casa for hot choccy, and then back to El Tarter for lunch. We did it, including a detour for a wrong lift, and then as it was a bluebird day, with plenty of powder about, we had to do the Granota black in Grau Roig. It was gorgeous once off of the top section, which was 2" of powder on top of ice. The powder was starting to mogul, and the ice just added to the fun. In total it was 23 miles in 3:29 hrs. 2:36 hrs of moving time gave an average of 8.9mph, and a max of 37.5mph. The total vertical was 3042m (all that thanks to Google's My Tracks on my Android phone).

In the afternoon, I led the less confident down to the bottom of the Soldeu gondola, whilst a couple of the other blokes headded in the direction of the hospital. En route, Richard's insurance company phoned me to confirm he had been released, so a few hasty calls, and I managed to prevent a wasted trip to the hospital.

So, back at the hotel, there was no sign of Richard. I phoned the Neilson office, and they tried to find him. All they knew was he had been released. As we were all very concerned, we decided to wait over the road in the Iceberg - well it was happy hour. After about 30 minutes, in walked Richard, to a large round of applause. We toasted him with beer, and he drank water - the boring git.

Day 6 skiing. No ski school for Martin, so he joined us, and we went over to Canillo again. Myself and another skiied Gaig, whilst the rest did Rossinyol. We managed to get down Gaig, back up to the top, and catch them up on Rossinyol before the bottom. Lunch in canillo was awful. How can they fail to heat up a pizza?

In the afternoon, we just made our way back via El Tarter. The last run of the trip was Duc, Os and Bosc Fosc to the bottom of the gondola.

That evening was packing, Iceberg happy hour, food, packing and bed - all ready for the 4:15 pickup.

The coach to Toulouse was uneventful, but I don't see why they had to make a stop, when most people were asleep.

At Toulouse there was a huge queue for check-in, but the Neilson rep took us to the front, and as soon as it opened, we were checked in. 1.5 hours sitting in departues, and we were ready for boarding.

Departure time came and went, and the chuckers were still chucking. 30 mins after departure time, and they've done. Captain comes on the PA - sorry folks, one of the handlers has seen something outside he didn't like. I'm going to check. 10 mins later, sorted it, a catch was undone.

Another uneventful flight, and we arrive at Manchester. We walk off of the aircraft, and into a huge queue. Thanks to building work, there are only half the number of immigration desks open. 45 minutes later, and I'm allowed into the UK. Find the baggage carousel. Another 30 minutes, and the luggage finally pops onto the belt. Find the car park bus - it's full. Wait 15 minutes for the next one.

Get back to the car. Right off to Sheffield. None of the road signs say that the Snake Pass is closed. Right, over the Snake I go. No I don't It's only when reaching the start of the Snake at Glossop, that there's a Road Closed sign. Great. Detour via Chapel-en-le-Frith. 11:30hrs door to door.

Home at last, and it's only 6 days (4 now) til the next trip.

Anyway, big thanks to Neilson for their help over the accident. I'm not sure they could've done more to help. Also, thanks to the staff the Himalaia, for faxing stuff left right and centre us.

A snowHead

Great report. Sounds like you had a great time in the conditions, and hope your mate gets better soon. We had a few near misses on the slopes and it's scary how fast things can happen and nobody see things coming. Maybe that's where the Neilson reps were all week Very Happy

You are 100% right about the hot chocolate at the Nordic too Smile

Even their black coffee was undrinkable!

Loved the Rossinyol run, we did it a couple of times, really nice run, especially with the powdery stuff on it.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Just been and seen my mate.

He had to have an operation on his collar bone, to plate it. It was refusing to stay in position and hadn't even started to heal.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We are making our 7th visit in April so I enjoyed reading your report (apart from your poor mate) I especially enjoyed it when I realised you were from Sheffield and a Blade. I just hope they have a bumper downfall at the end of March.

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Good report DaddyLouLou, hope your mate recovers soon.

We're going to Pas in April. Jnr and I are in lessons, while the OH goes scouting the area.

How easy/quick is it to get over from Pas to Soldeu and back? I see you did the opposite journey, bear in mind that whilst the OH is an experienced skier, Jnr ( Cool

and I are intermediates. We can manage most slopes, but have to take it slowly at times! we'll also only have mornings or afternoons (depending on when our lessons are) to do it.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

hammerite, when we did Pas and back, we set off at about 9:30. Stopped for Choccy in Pas, and were back in El Tarter for lunch just after 1. The worst bit of it is, IMHO, the slopes in and out of Pas. I don't think it's possible to do without going on rather busy reds.

After all it is free

DaddyLouLou, what was the Himalaia like ???

Its a possibility for us next season.

Smokin Joe, The Himalaia was fine. The rooms were a good size, clean, and the bed was comfortable.

The food was OK, especially if you like mystery meat. Not better, but no worse than I've had previously in Andorra.

Downsides to it - the boot room wasn't the best, and they need more seats down there. It could be a bit of a scrum to get your kit on in the morning. Oh, and the lifts. 1 of the 3 was out of order all week, and another almost got stuck whilst I was in it (it seemed to go into backup mode, and made a REALLY slow descent)

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Thanks for the reply DaddyLouLou, 3.5 hours isn't too bad. Although I see it was 23 miles, so I guess you were moving some (more so than me and an 8 yo!), did you go the most direct route, or did you zig zag about? (i.e. is 23 miles the shortest way there and back?)

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hammerite, The 23 miles includes the lifts, which will be near enough half of it. Also, there were 2 detours - 1 when we accidentally took the wrong lift out of Pas. The second was deliberate to do the black in Grau Roig. I don't know how much distance they added, but the black added at least 30 minutes.

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Cool thanks for that DaddyLouLou, I like to get about if I can and would like to think I could make it to the other areas before or after lessons (depending on whether I have morning or afternoon lessons).

thanks for this great report, We are two couples heading out 28th March for a week over Easter, also staying at the Himalaia. Any tips , secrets or shortcuts? the idea of going on the chairlift instead of the gondola sounds good, as does the check in! we're in our mid twentys- what are the best plans for a goon night out? thanks. Adam

You know it makes sense.

DaddyLouLou, great report Very Happy

Hope your mate has a speedy recovery.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

DaddyLouLou, an eventful week! Good to hear the reps were so helpful. My nephew broke his collar bone in mid December (skateboarding - he fell very awkwardly because he was carrying someone else's board under his arm) and when he had a check up 6 weeks later it hadn't started to heal at all. Even now, several more weeks on, it's only improving slowly. Your mate must have been in a lot of pain with his ribs and all - I hope you didn't make him laugh too much.

A snowHead

atatreedy, for a goon(?) night out in Soldeu - Iceberg for happy hour(s). If you're still wanting more after midnight, Fat Albert's, but that can either be heaving, or empty, and there's no way to know until you're in there.

A snowHead

you know, like a 'good' night out, but with more goons...... no just typing to fast... now i look like a plank!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

DaddyLouLou, best wishes to the injured.

Was just gonna ask you what the Himilaia was like, as we're considering it next Jan, but I see one of the party has beat me to it Wink

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Charlatanefc, beat you to it by a month.................. Laughing

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Hi We're staying in the Studio rooms of the Himalaia - Do they have DVD players in the rooms at all? My wife wont be skiing and might bring some DVD's if they do.

Thanks!

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Not in any of the rooms our party had.

Help!!

9 go mad in Soldeu

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