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Powder in the Pyrenees

31st March 2010, by Wendy King

Fresh snow in Formigal

Fresh snow in Formigal

Hola!

That was neat timing … snowfall overnight left 10-15cm of fresh powder covering Formigal’s slopes on Wednesday. Fantastic for the end of March. And with the skies clearing briefly this morning, we enjoyed a sunny start to this mini-trip to the Spanish Pyrenees. It was cooler than of late too, with a chilly wind blowing above 2000m.

We arrived in resort rather late on Tuesday night after a somewhat lengthy drive from Toulouse and over the Col du Portalet from France – er, not a wise choice in the dark with light snow falling on a winding mountain road that crosses the border at 1795m. This high point is also the far end of the ski area, so you then descend to the resort itself – set back from the slopes on the other side of the road.

At 11pm it was fairly quiet, though, when we arrived. What we noticed first were the large numbers of cars parked along all the curbs, and with very few spaces. Formigal is very much a drivers’ town, frequented for weekends; we did as the locals do and squeezed ourselves in.

We spent Wednesday morning with our guide Ali on a quick tour of Formigal’s slopes, traversing a series of blue and red runs across the mountain’s main valleys and back again. It was busy, but nothing like expected for Easter week – queues were short and moved swiftly along by the fast chairs here. And we enjoyed excellent conditions on all the slopes. The Easter weekend holiday starts on Thursday for the Spanish though, so we’re told to expect double the numbers on the slopes by tomorrow.

The snowfall has given a new lease of life to the spring pistes and we enjoyed excellent packed powder, windblown up top and on a firm base. Cover is pretty good to the valley, and the freeride bowls at the top of the mountain were providing superb fresh tracks.

At lunchtime we met with Catherine from the Aramon area office and drove the 10km down the valley to Panticosa – a compact little area with 35km slopes, which has ideal terrain for beginners and families but also offers some steeper skiing in two main sectors. We enjoyed a great descent of a short but genuine black run straight down the front face – helped largely by the squeaky new snow and few people on it! The run used to be left ungroomed, as most are in both resorts, until the resort installed a neat system that pulls the piste basher up the slope; now they prepare it. The quiet back sector has short runs of each category, served mainly by slow chairs but there are good views of the lakes and ridges that form the edge of a national park area. We pottered about on almost deserted runs here, until the weather closed in again and the light went flat – all the slopes up here are treeless, with only a few partly-wooded areas below the gondola station.

Wendy enjoying a bit of easy cruising at Panticosa. The weather is on the turn again …

Back in Formigal and more cars were piling in for the holiday weekend. Any kind of parking space is at a premium here and traffic a bit of a problem in the centre at peak times. But we had used the excellent free bus service to reach the ski area; it runs to three of the four main bases and was never overly crowded. So you can park your car and leave it for the duration of your stay if you wish.

It had begun to sleet too, and by the time we set out to view a few hotels and enjoy a pre-dinner drink, it was snowing properly. What’s more, we watched several centimetres of fresh snow accumulate in the village during the course of the evening – you know what that means for the mountain …

Dinner was a lengthy affair with three people from the Aramon office, including the boss. Yes, the focus for the Spanish is nightlife as opposed to après-ski, so we were there four hours chatting and sharing several small courses before our main ones. The Vidocq restaurant is traditionally Spanish, small and intimate, with an excellent chef. We had some weird and wonderfully presented starters – how about langoustines on sticks covered in a sort of shredded wheat, presented with an upturned glass full of smoke? What you do with the smoke (or aroma, as it was described) is remove the glass and twirl your langoustine through it. We had never seen this anywhere else.

As we left the restaurant, the snow was still falling – slushy on the roads at 1500m, but it was there. Tomorrow (Thursday) we spend all day in Formigal, getting to know its four main sectors.

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