Ski Instructors Report 24 March 2012

What a week for contrasts in weather! We had little flurries of snow at the start of the week, then a pleasant day. On Thursday we had continuous snow, the visibility was poor and it was cold and damp. The snow continued through the night and very few people ventured out, most staying in their hotels. But Friday morning was glorious, bright blue skies and snow everywhere. There was a short delay while the lift workers dug out the top of the chair lift. I took my class of intermediates down the Marrades run, to the Crest Hotel and the high speed chair lift back to the resort. The conditions were perfect, with very few other skiers on this run. All my group of ladies thoroughly enjoyed the run. When arrived back at the resort we joined the others on the Les Fonts chair lift (the higher lifts were still being dug out). The snow was perfect on the piste and we found some very deep untracked snow to play in. We had a few fallers and they discovered how tiring it is to get up in deep snow. I had to demonstrate how to look for a lost ski in deep snow. Some of my ladies put their new skill to good use and found their lost skis. For those who do not know the correct way, the recognised method is to remove your remaining ski and go slightly above the point of your fall and use the tail of your ski in a scything action moving slowly down the hill until you hit the lost ski. It can be very tiring doing this in deep snow. One sometimes sees skiers prodding the snow with their poles. This method rarely works as you can only cover a very small area. A long sweeping scything motion will cover a much wider field of search. I had a very good week of Apres Ski. My class consisted of ten very charming ladies, plus two young lads, who I promoted to faster classes. We met each evening and had a great time watching the ski videos. We had a good laugh and some found the video very helpful in correcting bad posture. The class mixed well and I thoroughly enjoyed my week. Thank you ladies. I have only one more week of work before returning to England. So my next report may be my last of the season.

Ski Instructors Report 17 March 2012

What a scorcher! This week was incredibly hot, with clear blue skies and blazing sunshine. The down side of this glorious weather was the fact that the snow was very heavy by early afternoon. I noticed several cases of sunburnt faces. At this time of year you really must use a high factor sunscreen. Do not mess around with factor 5 or 7. I use factor 25 or even 50, if I am going to be in the sun for a long period. I had an intermediate class this week. I noticed at the classification that the level of skiing was high. There really was not a level one group, so most of my class were level two. So during the week we were able to make a couple of trips to Pal. Some went to Arcalis and Grandvallira. They all enjoyed their visits. This made me think that I should write about the different resorts in Andorra. Firstly there is Arinsal, which is a small old friendly village. It has two lifts to the ski area. One is a Gondola from the village centre. There are several hotels within a minutes’ walk. The other access point is a high speed six seat chair lift from the top of the village. This is situated by the Crest Hotel and the Patagonia apartments. You can ski to this chair lift, snow conditions permitting. Although the run is blue, it is not an easy blue and not really suitable for beginners at the beginning of the week. Arinsal is great for large groups of friends as all the runs take you back to the same starting point. So if you lose your friends or family they will turn up eventually. Pal is prettier than Arinsal and has a lot of runs through the trees and the runs are more varied. You can access Pal from the top of the Arinsal ski area by cable car or from a gondola from La Massana about 5 kilometres away by bus. Arcalis, recon by some to be the best ski area in Andorra, is about 30 minutes drive. During the week it is usually very quiet. It can be very busy at weekends and on public holidays, as it is very popular with the locals. Neither Pal nor Arcalis has the infrastructure of Hotels, restaurants, bars or shop like Arinsal has. Both are purpose built ski stations and all three stations are covered by your Vallnord ski pass. The other ski area in Andorra is Grandvallira. This is a large ski area joining up several villages, namely Encamp, Canillo, El Tarter, Soldeu and Pas de la Casa. Each village has its own character but none are as friendly as Arinsal. It is more expensive, at Granvallira it cost €44 for a day pass.

Ski Instructors Report 10th March 2012

I did not send a report last week as I was back in England for treatment but now I have returned and started work again. But what a week for mixed weather! We had everything. We had overnight snow on Wednesday night, a gloriously hot and sunny day and another bitterly cold with high winds. Fortunately I had a very cheerful group; none were natural born skiers but were very happy with what they had achieved. They enjoyed the après ski and felt that they had enjoyed a great ski holiday. On Friday, they went to Decades and said that they would come to Bogart’s to hear Velvet Blues play. However they did not turn up. They must have enjoyed themselves at Decades. UI returned to the Palarine just before two and found that a dinner party was just finishing. This is an annual event, when a dozen Catalan ladies turn up for dinner to celebrate the birthday of one of them. In the past, Graham has arranged for live music to entertain them but was unable to do so this year. As they were all very lively I was able to organise a “Sweet Caroline” to end the party. This was the first since the New Year’s Eve party. Unfortunately, the current band does not have Sweet Caroline in their play list. I believe that the expressing “Ski Holiday” consists of two words; ski and holiday. This means that people should enjoy the skiing part and also the holiday side. Some people will overdo the holiday side, especially on the Monday night bar crawl. This often means that, they will miss the Tuesday lesson. If they are beginners, they will find that their class will have improved so much that they are unable to rejoin the group without holding everyone else up. Sometimes, we find that someone will be so keen on the skiing side that they never go out in the evening and always have early nights. This is also a pity, as the resort is such a friendly place they are missing something of the holiday. The answer is a happy balance between skiing and après ski. Some of my group want to come back here next season. But as they had very mixed conditions they were asking, “When is the best time to go skiing?” It is an impossible question to answer correctly. If I wanted to go sailing in Weymouth and I asked you what is the best week to go there for good wind and sunshine. I am sure you would be unable to give me a positive answer, other than to say avoid winter months. I am now going to describe the conditions that can expect throughout the season; December can be very cold with short daylight hours, but with good snow conditions and if you can avoid the Christmas and New Year holidays, it is usually very quiet on the slopes. The Spanish celebrate the Three Kings on January 6th, so the resort is crowded until that date. I think the remainder of January is my favourite time for skiing. It is usually still cold and the snow is in good condition and the days are getting a little longer. During February the resort is usually busy. Avoid the British schools’ half term holidays at all cost. Everything is crowded and overpriced. The conditions in March can be very different; the sun is stronger and is shining for longer. If we have the usual high pressure, the nights will be cold and the snow in the mornings, very hard. The sun will quickly soften it and by late afternoon it will become slushy. I think the best way to enjoy March is to start a little latter, then ski until about 3 o’clock then go down to the village and have a late lunch outdoors in the sunshine. At this time off year you will often see ladies wearing bikini tops sunbathing on the terraces on the mountain restaurants. April is usually very quiet and the snow can be very heavy, however it always snows in April in Arinsal. That has been true for over 30 years, except for last season. The late snow can be either great or the warm weather will make it very heavy. So, my answer to the question, “When is the best time to go skiing?” Is “Anytime! Because it is better than working.”