Although half a dozen ski areas had opened in the area already in November, this weekend marks the start of the main 2017-18 ski season in the Pyrenees with dozens or ski centres opening, and the good news is it’s a snowy one.
Resorts in Andorra have reported up to 20cm of new snow whilst on the French side of the mountains ski areas including Cauterets and Font Romeu have each said they’ve received 50cm in 24 hours. So in some cases conditions are looking better in the French Pyrenees than the French Alps.
There’s lots of snow down to village level in St Lary, Cauterets and Ax les Thermes and Cauterets is now reported to be 70% open whilst Peyragudes has 15 slopes open and St Lary is also open, as is Ax 3 Domaines in the Ariege – Bonascre area.
Les Angles is open in the Pyrenees Orientale and posted this video of current conditions:
Posted by Les Angles Le Village Station on Saturday, 2 December 2017
On the Spanish and Catalan side of the mountains there’s a strong competition going on to open the most terrain as Spain has several major national holidays in early December and resorts are competing for business. Centres in Andorra have opened today including Grandvalira pictured top.
Spain’s Baqueira Beret (above), which opened early several weeks ago after good snowfalls in the first half of November says it is more or less fully open this weekend with 118km of runs available – one of the biggest areas so far open anywhere in the world.
“The good snow conditions mean the resort is expecting an excellent double bank holiday period in early December and has the Christmas holidays assured. As a result its online booking system, which guarantees the best deals on hotels in the Val d’Aran together with premium quality service, is extremely busy,” said a Baqueira Beret spokesperson.
