One of Spain’s leading ski areas, Baqueira Beret, in the Pyrenees, which is in a constant battle with its neighbouring resorts like Formigal to claim ‘biggest in Spain’ has announced it is adding 9km of new runs to its terrain tally this winter, increasing it to 155km of piste spread over 2,166 hectares.
Nearly half (4km) of the new piste has been created by ‘remodelling’ existing terrain according to the resort publicity using heavy machinery. The other 5km are newly marked ‘mountain routes’ which were previously just open off piste terrain now included in the tally. There are now 103 marked pistes and the extensive freeride area which the resort claims to be, “unique in southern Europe.”
The new tracks are in the resort’s Beret sector and the most challenging has been christened ‘la Gallina’ (“the hen”) which has been rated very steep.
In fact it has been officially rated “double black diamond” as Baqueira Beret say they have decided to adopt the North American measurement system grading their steep slopes at Black Diamond or (for very steep runs like La Gallina) Double Black Diamond. Off piste routes are marked as black diamond with yellow boundaries.
However rather than go for the North American blue circle and green square easier level categories, Baqueira Beret is keeping the red category but making this ‘red diamond’ – believed to be an all new classification in the world of skiing.
