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.