Ski Instructors Report 12th February 2011

The guests this week have enjoyed great spring skiing. The only problem is that it is only the second week of February. Every day has been bright and sunny, the nights have been cold enough for the snow cannons to operate and the piste machines did a great job grooming the ski runs overnight, so we were able to ski on smooth firm snow from nine o’clock. When the sun warmed up, the snow became perfect until about three o’clock when the lower slopes got very slushy. I had a difficult intermediate group, as there soon developed a split in abilities. The faster ones wanted to stay together and I was unable to find another instructor with room for all of them. Two of the slower ladies went to a slightly more suitable group. I pointed out to the class, that they had booked group lessons and someone is always the fastest in that group and of course someone has to be the slowest. Life is like that; look at Formula one racing. The only way that the lesson will be entirely suitable for your pace, is to book a private lesson. Two ladies did just that and greatly improved their skiing. I have discussed this point many times before, so some of you will have read this already. “Group lessons for the social side but private lessons to improve your skiing



I went out on Friday to the Princessa Parc Hotel to meet some of my class for a drink. The lounge bar is very tranquil, with Ian West playing the piano in the background. This bar is one of the very few in Andorra to ban smoking. Next to the lounge is Bogart’s bar, which is very attractively decorated with livelier background music and has an efficient extraction system, this is very important as Andorra still permits smoking in bars. After a very comfortable hour in fairly luxurious surroundings, I decided to move on to the Decades Evening. This is held above El Cau in what is actually the village hall, a large barn of a room with no ascetic appeal whatsoever. The floor was awash with spilt beer, the music was loud and raucous but did this place rock. I met several fellow instructors, some local residents, a couple from my class and quite a few new friends that I had met earlier in the week at various bars. I had a few hugs and dances with some of our very pretty girl reps. I had a very enjoyable time there. When the show finished about midnight I started my usual walk home. As I passed the Derby (the Irish Bar) I heard the sound of live music, so I popped in for a small Guinness to sustain me on my long walk home. The Ragamuffins’ were in full swing, playing to a crowed dance floor. It was a very lively and jolly atmosphere.

I do not know why I was reminded of the old quotation, by someone whose name I have forgotten but I think that it was the sort of thing that Oscar Wilde may have said,



“GO TO HEAVEN FOR THE CLIMATE BUT HELL FOR THE COMPANY.”

Ski Instructors Report 4th February 2011

I cannot give you a report on Arinsal this week as I have been in the U.K. What I can report is that during my visit to Britain the weather was grey, damp and cold, and at the weekend very windy. This made me realise how lucky I am to be able to work in the mountains where the winter weather is frequently bright and clear with vivid blue skies. Yes, we can have bad weather in the mountains but a lot less often than back home. I am not one of those expats who constantly run down Britain. I love being at home during the spring and summer. I enjoy the freshness of spring and find that the temperatures in summer, in the south of England hot enough for me. I have no desire to go abroad when it is so hot than one spends the day looking for an air conditioned café or bar. I cannot remember the last time that I took a summer holiday abroad. I much prefer the sun and the snow; this may sound contradictory to someone who has never skied but I can assure you that it is possible to have snow and very strong sunshine. Like most other instructors, I have known clients to lose a day’s skiing due to severe sunburn. Sometimes they say that they put sun cream on in the hotel and thought that would be enough. NO! From February onwards you must top up again at least once at lunch time. It is very sad when the victim of sunburn is a child, who was relying on the parents’ judgement.



I hope to be able to write a proper report on Arinsal next week. So if you want to escape the awful British weather come and visit us but DO REMEMBER TO BRING THE SUN CREAM.

Ski Instructors Report 28th January 2011

IS LIVE MUSIC DEAD?

The bar managers in Arinsal appear to disagree on this. Due to the falling number of guest some bars have done away with live music, whilst others have increased the number of sessions. In past years, the Princesa Parc Hotel had “Ian West” playing in the piano bar, most evenings“Sounds r us” played light pop rock, in Bogart’s bar, with guest appearances at weekends from “Dr Freeman” from Barcelona. The front man “Lenni”, of this pop reggae band, was a master at working the audience, he soon had the guests bopping and dancing to the band’s infectious rhythm. When the hotel was very busy they occasionally had a musician in another bar. This year they only have Ian playing piano in the lounge. On the other hand, The Derby (The Irish bar) now has more sessions by live musicians. They have a very popular Irish singer, “Matt McGinnan” playing during the après ski session. I heard this very talented singer the other night. He had a great voice and was excellent at sensing the mood of the audience and playing suitable music. The “Ragamuffins play on Friday and Sunday evenings. This has proved to be very popular, as Sunday nights are very quiet, because the guests who have just arrived are usually tired after a very early start. Another bar with live music is the Quo Vadis, where “Mike (Elvis) Jones” entertains at après ski and on Friday nights. Scott the popular ski instructor plays guitar when requested. The Palarine often has “Mike” or “Trevor & Eileen” playing in the Bambu bar. El Cau hosts the Decades party mentioned in my last report and frequently has a musician in the lower bar.

This week, I had a lovely class of timid ladies. The all completed the slalom race and used the six seat chair lift, although one lady did need a lot of comforting. Well done ladies it was a pleasure. We have enjoyed great skiing conditions this week, cold, good snow and sunshine. However it started snowing on Friday afternoon and as I write this on Friday night it is still snowing. Let us all hope that it continues.

I return to the U.K. on Monday so there may not be a report next week.

Ski Instructors Report 21st January 2011

I had a fantastic night at the “Decades” party. It was the first one that I had attended this season and it would appear that it is still “a work in progress.” During the performance of “Make your mind up” by Buck’s Fizz one of the men was unable to whip off the girl’s skirt and had to bend over and use both hands before tugging it away. It was possible to recognise those who had attended dance classes when younger. In the chorus line there was a little bit of looking along the line to see what they should be doing next. Well done all of you, I thoroughly enjoyed your efforts. It was great fun. As usual, Liza looked magnificent in her blue and white mini dress and white boots. The lovely Adina moved like a hyperactive snake. She looked so sensual. The Five Pussy Cat Dolls gave a wonderful performance of “Buttons”. (OK I know there should be seven but the stage is quite small) What the girls lacked in quantity they made up with quality. However, I thought the best act was the tribute to X factor’s Wagner. This was performed by Ben the ever cheerful barman from El Cau. He received well deserved, thunderous applause. Sorry pussy cat dolls, he even out performed your great act, although you were all much more pleasing to the eye than Wagner.

Now to the skiing; we have been enjoying spring like weather for most of the week. But on Thursday the temperature dropped and we had some wind and it started snowing in the evening. It was still snowing on Friday. There was not a great depth and the visibility was poor. I decide to take my class down Marrades, the recently widened run down to the Crest Hotel. Snow cannons had been installed two seasons ago, so the snow was good all the way to the bottom, especially with the new snow. The scenery through the woods was very pleasant from the high speed six seat chairlift back to the ski station. I think that they all enjoyed the run, in spite of the last 40 metres of this “blue” run being more purple than blue. Again there were few clients in the resort this week. This of course, makes it great for those who enjoy skiing on fairly clear pistes.

Ps Continuation of Ski Instructor Report for the 15 Jan

After reading last week's report, one of the instructors told me this amusing tale: he was taking a class down Marrades last Friday, when a mouse ran across the piste and stopped. The class halted and watched the mouse just sitting there. Marrades is a narrow path and the mouse was sitting on the side with snow and the other half was rather icy. All the girls chose to ski on the ice rather than go near the mouse. One girl fell and lay there screaming until her instructor helped her to ski away. He said that all this time the mouse just sat there laughing at her??

Corinne said that she sympathised with the girl, as she remembers many years ago, her very young son asking her, "What animal are you most afraid of?" When she replied "A mouse." She said that he pulled a most peculiar face, having expected and answer of Lions, tigers or similar.

Ski Instructors Report 15th January 2011

We had some snow on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, which made the slopes look a lot more attractive. Après ski was lively but not as hectic as the previous week. Mike Jones, aka Elvis, was very active appearing at several locations. The Derby has a new band starting this weekend which I must try to see. There is not much more to report this week other than to say that it was another enjoyable week for me.

On Thursday, whilst waiting for my lift from Corinne, I saw a Landover with a trailer on which was a dead wild boar. This had me thinking, what other wild life visitors could see in Arinsal. Like most other ski resorts, there is so much human activity that all but the most human friendly creatures are rarely seen. I have seen red fox on my first trip of the day on the chair lift some years ago. I also W saw three deer in a field close to the road, whilst walking to La Massana. I have no idea of the species. Corinne often reports seeing Cabriole, whilst walking her dog in the morning. These are smaller than an Izzard and graze lower down the mountain. I spoke to her only yesterday, after she and a friend had visited the Palarine for the excellent Friday night Indian buffet. When I told her what my report was going to be about, she told me that she had seen three Cabriole from her kitchen window, whilst making her early morning cup of tea that morning. She lives in La Massana which is the next big village down the valley from here.

The skiing in Pal is mainly below the tree line which means there is much more cover for wild life. We often see small birds, usually coal tits there. In Arinsal, we frequently see small flocks of Rock Bunting. My bird book says that they are shy of humans but perhaps, the leftovers from the restaurant terraces are too tempting for the birds. There are occasion sightings of Eagles or Griffin Vultures high above the Alta Capa. This is usually at a distance so I am never sure what bird I am seeing, this could be due to my poor eyesight. As a rule I guess that if it is a solitary bird, it may be an Eagle but if there are several, it is almost certain that they are Vultures. This season two people have told me that they have seen an otter in the river in Arinsal. No one has reported this previously. You may be aware that the French and Spanish governments have released brown bear in the Pyrenees. I have not heard of a sighting in Andorra yet.

I apologise if this report is of no interest to you, as I know that most of you come to Arinsal for the skiing and excellent Après ski. There are times when I find it difficult to write something original about those two very important subjects so I thought that this would be slightly different.

Ski Instructor Report 8th January

The New Year’s Eve Party in the Palarine was a great success. Everyone made a huge effort. I think the best costume was definitely, Steve and Karen, who came as the characters from Avatar. Karen admitted that her hair alone took over an hour. I would have awarded a prize to the French maid, for the costume that used the least material. I had a couple of Bulgarians in my group who were staying in the Palarine, who wanted to take an active part but had not brought a costume. They made a good attempt with what they found in the local shops. The French maid was inspirational to them. They realised that all they had to do was bring their best underwear and a couple of paper doilies then you are a French Maid. I liked the costume. Someone suggested that my Angel costume was most inappropriate for the wearer. Stuart (BBA) always tries hard but never really succeeds. In the past he came as Freddy Mercury but people thought that he was Sergeant Pepper. Then he dressed as Clint Eastwood but people thought that he was the tall one in Brokeback Mountain. This year he was Robin Hood, again we got it wrong, we thought he was a pixie.

It really was a great party, with lots of dancing and one of the biggest Sweet Caroline, ever. In fact, at one point I thought that people would be trampled underfoot like those terrible tragedies that happen at the Hajj in Saudi. I think that we had seven different nationalities in the Sweet Caroline circle. The party finished late and I was glad that I was day off on Saturday. I was down in time for a late breakfast. Well done and many thanks to all the staff at the Palarine for a great night/morning.

Now something about the skiing; my group this week was very well balanced. No one was particularly fast and no one was exceptionally slow. In fact, they seemed to take it in turns to be very good or very bad, in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol that had been consumed the previous evening. The phrase “Skiing Holiday” consists of two words and I believe that it is important to enjoy not only the skiing but also the holiday. However overindulgence during the “Holiday” can serious spoil the enjoyment of the “Skiing”. You do not ski well with a hangover. (I should know). My class were all good intermediates, so I took them to the top of the Pic Negre and skied them down to the Crest Hotel in the village. A vertical drop of about 1,000 metres and with a length of approximately 7 kilometres. This run did produce a lot of tired legs. So remember to start your pre-skiing exercise programme well in advance of your holiday.

This week, I was frequently asked “Any snow due?” We have plenty of snow on the piste, due to the many snow cannons that Arinsal has. But to be honest, there is not much off the piste and this makes the resort look unattractive. Many people want to ski and also enjoy our marvellous scenery, so it would be nice if we had a fresh fall soon