Skiing in Spain?
Words and Photos By Leah Evans
Before I tell you about the skiing in Spain take a moment and picture Spain: images of beaches, seafood, flamingo dancers, bulls fights have probably popped up like billboards in your imagination. I have recently returned home from a 15 day road trip with Ride Guide and my the images of Spain that now swarm my head are: mountains, cerveza’s, tapas, 8 person ski lifts, one piece ski suits and sunscreen.
I learned a lot from this trip but most of all I learned as a North American you must train for Spanish time, I suggest putting in a few good party nights, late dinners and afternoon naps before you board the plane. Because as we learned upon arrival there is an unspoken ski day schedule that is mandatory to follow, it includes waking up around noon to head to the hill, skiing a few runs on piste, eating some tapas, siesta, a 3 hour dinner extravaganza and dancing at the disco until 6:00am. So needless to say a training regime is mandatory if you want to fully immerse yourself into the Spanish culture and people.
Once our crew (myself, Max Ritchie and Ride guides Josh Perason and Cory Horton) overcame jet lag and set our watches to Spanish time we where to embark on our skiing road trip. Starting out in Barcelona we traveled three hours north towards the Pryaness mountain range. Our first stop was the family orientated Boi Taull resort, a small resort that has been suffering from lack of snow over the years but compensates with a perfectly manicure terrain park. Because of the desolate location speaking only english proposed a slight communication barrier and upon ordering lunch me and Josh ended up with 4 coffees and one jambon (ham) sandwich. Not being a regular coffee drinker I took one for the team and drank a years worth of caffeine in one go.
Packing up and maneuvering items in our 9 passenger van became a regular routine and a fine art, we unpacked our bags in the Val D’aran valley in the township of Beret. Beret is the gateway to the mecca resort Baqueira Beret, me and Max decided that this massive resort would challenge Whistler in size . At Baqueira Beret we strangely loaded the base chair lift with no skis due to the lack of snow, but as we gained elevation we where exposed to over 20 ski lifts and endless skiing possibilities.
Ironically enough it was our last run of the day at Baqueria, riding down the slop the snow had become after a long hearty day of sunshine. As myself, Josh and Cory came around the corner we came across Max laying 500 meters down the slope, upon arrival we knew that he was not alright. With no response and the snow around him turning crimson we knew that he needed assistance as soon as possible, thankfully the ski patrol was on there last sweep and rushed to our aide. Max finally became coherent and was urgently rushed to the Beret hospital. After several hours and a few things lost in translation we found out Max had suffered from a fractured skull and broken inner ear drum and had an astonishing 8 staples in the back of his head. Sadly we also learned that Max would need to be hospitalized for the rest of the trip.
Somberly Cory and myself pack up our van and left Josh and Max behind, we set our GPS to Cerler resort. In Cerler we met up with Spanish Freestyle skier Jaime Puigdengoles who was part of the Voodoo photo and video shoot. Much like the Oscars this event gathered the best of Spain freestyle community for a week of image capturing on 3 unique feature: road gap, wall ride on the snowmaking reservoir and a impeccable table top built over a house. Unlike the rest of our trip it was very refreshing to see evidence of an immerging freestyle scene and see how these boys where treated like royalty.
Our last stop in the Pryaness mountains was the modern Forgimal. Here everything seemed like it had escaped from an Ikea magazine, a few things even seemed out of place such as the 8 person chairlift. The dynamics of this chairlift even seemed strange while sitting upon it; ironically you literally had to raise your voice to speak to the person sitting 7 spaces down from you. Surprisingly we even ran into a handful of Canadian ski racers whom where at Forgimal for the world junior ski racing championships.
If there is such thing called car fever, we obtained it upon our 11 hour drive down south to Sierra Nevada. Even the constant change of landscape couldn’t keep up from making up car hymes and jamming out to local Spanish radio stations. Sierra Nevada prevailed to be one of the most memorable ski resorts because of all the unique features. For example because Sierra Nevada boarders on a national park there areseveral ski lifts that have 90 degree turns in the chairlift lines due to the fact that you are not permitted to
build in a national park. Since Sierra Nevada is located at such high elevation (3,398m) it is the pinnacle place to have a European high altitude training center and 2 enormous telescopes perched about the chairlifts. Also if you’re lucky enough to have a bluebird day on the summit of the Laguna chairlift youwill be able to see Africa in the distance. Sierra Nevada has a very intoxicating vibe because bizarrely when your there you feel like doing is sitting and relaxing in the village.
So yes Spain does have skiing, from the Sierra Nevada to the Pyraness and it prevails to be the second largest mountain range in Europe, if you’re an intermediate skier it’s the perfect destination. Spain’s mountain culture is relaxed, sunny and infectious. So a few words of advice so make sure you train for Spanish time, watch the snow fall reports, take a Spanish course and wear your helmet and you will be prepared to say adiós to North America forever!
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Mountain Biking
