The powder and the glory
Ski veteran GRAEME CURRIE finds a warm welcome on the frozen slopes of the Pyrenees
TEN years without planting ski on snow is far too long, especially when I’ve enjoyed a dozen Alpine getaways and developed a reasonable standard on the piste. A single black run each week was always our unstated aim in those days.
Now much older and wider and with that one-piece O’Neill suit (yes, really) consigned to the clothing bank, I headed for the Pyrenees for the first time, to the duty-free principality of Andorra and its Grandvalira system wondering whether it would fit the bill as a location to pick up where I left off.
Certainly at our base – Neilson’s Hotel del Clos in El Tarter, just five minutes from the lifts – there were many families making their way to the slopes, returning after a few years’ hiatus to dip their youngsters’ toes in the snow for the first time.
On arrival, it was at least -15°C, after several metres had fallen over that weekend (a hotel in the Alps had been buried, tragically) with vehicles completely subsumed in a white-out to end them all.
Remarkably our sleep on the night of arrival was gratefully interrupted by the sounds of snowplough vehicles and constant avalanche blasts. No messing about... the co-Principality has the organisation to do it.
Still, it made for a comical first day on the Riba Escorxada plateau above El Tarter, where the ski school area was pisted but the rest was above knee-depth. A briefly mislaid ski, combined with the inability to rouse myself from the powder without a helping hand, made for an inauspicious start.
By day two the air was clear, the pistes immaculate and the resort was set fair for the rest of the week... and the season.
Grandvalira was formed by linking two smaller ski areas – Pas de la Casa/Grau, where the ‘kids’ go, and Soldeu/El Tarter. With around 200km of pistes, a plethora of runs of all colours and high-speed lifts it compares favourably with many Alpine resorts for size.
From El Tarter – already at 1,700 metres – a choice of lift or gondola whisks you towards the highest points. Once above the plateaux you’ve left the trees behind, so don’t shed a layer.
None of Grandvalira’s blues or reds are that taxing although a couple of windy ridges and access pistes are slightly darker than you would like – and I had one contentious signposting issue which pointed me to that single black I really had no need for on this occasion.
Everything from the organisation of the resort to the ski schools and beginners’ ski areas, to the volume of restaurants and the bus services, imply organisation and significant investment. Every plateau above includes beginners’ slopes and ski school personnel, all English speakers – and, as I can confirm from two refresher sessions, patient communicators.
Cortals, the 2,500m peak served by an express gondola from Encamp further along the valley, seems to have had part of its summit blown away to accommodate an easy beginner slope and lessons can be booked direct through the hotel.
By day three I was heading towards the Pas de la Casa side, taking lunch at the lovely restaurant at Pessons alongside a frozen lake. At this point, just to break the spell, I replied to a message from work. This call was on the company but be warned – there’s wi-fi in the hotel but out on the slopes it’s an expensive satellite job.
Ski rental was provided by Nordic Sports at the bottom of the chairlift. Replacing very heavy skis after the first, powdery day was no problem, and for an extra charge I could store them along with my own boots in the lockers below.
L’Abarset, with its yawning wooden ceilings, is a great apres ski venue along the five-minute walk back to the hotel and one of just a handful in El Tarter. For further entertainment you can head further afield by bus to Soldeu. A couple of family restaurants, several bars and the Sporthotel Hermitage and Spa will keep you busy.
This remarkable setting, built over four floors, is aimed at wealthier clientele (although the Alpine venues still set the marker in this regard). The spa offers spectacular views onto the piste especially from the outdoor hot tub. As for our own hotel... del Clos really marks a bit of a step change. My last experience of Neilson was my first holiday – 1993 – when they booked you into an Italian hotel and left it at that (vegetarianism was an alien concept to some privatelyrun places).
This venerable building has been stripped apart and redecorated from top to bottom. One visitor summed it up: it’s as near to a chalet as a hotel can be. Families, couples, and all types of groups mixed together easily. Every afternoon a welcoming bar offers soup and cake on return; there’s a well-run restaurant with at least three choices of menu; a comfy quiet lounge and plenty of distractions with a pool table on one level and table tennis alongside the lockers in the basement.
The hotel’s own health spa meant a massage came in very handy after that black run incident, while families can head out to the piste
safe in the knowledge that an extensive nursery/ kids club would keep the young ones occupied. All staff are trained for the role, and the company’s mountain experts will shepherd you around on the piste if that’s what you’re after.
The hotel has 53 rooms, warm and spacious, many with balconies and offering plenty of breathing space for a young family.
The huskie mushing above Escorxada was a wonderful experience. I stood legs apart on the one-inch wide runners of a wooden sled as four of the animals scorched along a mountainside trail; the act of taking my foot off one runner to press the steel-toothed brake in between them was a health and safety conundrum all of its own but then that was part of the fun. I fell off.
Youngsters will love to meet the puppies living in the stone lodge at the start of the trail.
One of del Clos’ visitors, in his 50s, was a first-timer and thought he would never take to skiing; he confirmed this to himself after one day. Instead he bought a pair of snowshoes and enjoyed a full day’s hike up the other side of the valley, which afforded him views of wildlife he would never have seen and a total escape from the regulars on the slopes.
Even in a go-ahead ski system such as Grandvalira, which has transformed Andorra as destination, it’s good to know the wilderness is never very far away.