As ski resorts face the coming ski season with some trepidation given the economic downturn, Andorra has been successful in having two of her resorts named in a leading ski internet site’s top ten - something which might help Andorra win a bigger share of the European ski market this year.
The skiing holidays site suggests nearly a million Brits alone will be hitting the slopes this winter, but with the economic recession other leading travel companies such as Tribune think this figure will be revised down.
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Skiers hoping to get a break from Andorra’s Grandvalira regional price increase for skiing are in for a big surprise as the six day ticket increased to 210 euros, making it one of the most expensive ski tickets Europe.
By comparison, a high season six day pass for the area which includes the villages of Pas de la Casa and Soldeu has been priced at 213.50 Euros, more than the cost of lift tickets at Verbier or Val d’Isere.
Indeed very few single European resorts now charge more for a lift ticket than Grandvalira. The highest price at Ischgl for skiers who don’t qualify for guest discounts and visit high season is 219.50 Euros. Otherwise it is area passes that cost more, with Dolomiti Superski priced at 220 Euros in high season, the Three Valleys 225 Euros, the Chamonix area’s Mont Blanc Unlimited pass will be 235 Euros, the Paradiski pass linking La Plagne and Les Arcs costing 243 Euros.
Europe’s most expensive single ski area lift tickets are likely to be again found further west than Andorra with Spain’s Baqueria Beret charging 222 Euros for a six day pass.
Andorra’s Vallnord, which encompasses the ski areas at Ordino/Arcalis, Pal and Arinsal, has announced that it has invested 10 million Euros in improvements for the coming winter.
The biggest investment is going toward a new detachable six-seat chairlift for Arinsal, as well as the continued expansion of the area’s large snowmaking system.
The new chair lift “Arinsal” replaces the old double one and will mean a faster, more comfortable route up from the mountain base at Arinsal (1550m) to Comallemple (1950m). Another chairlift will be installed in the Pal sector at Pla de la Tosa, above Pic del Cubil. This chair provides an alternative route for skiers from Pal to Arinsal, Setúria or Coll de la Botella areas.
Slope improvements include the remodeling of the Túnel pistel in Arcalís area which will change from blue (medium) to green (easy), gaining more room for beginners in the area that otherwise contains the greatest challenges of Vallnord. The De la Portella trail has also been widened at its narrowest part and there has been a remodeling of the Freestyle area.
In Pal the Del Camí Inferior trail from Coll de la Botella up to Planell has been widened and there’s a new freestyle area for beginners.
The additional snowmaking includes 15 more snow machines in the Arcalís area on the Portella del Mig and Basera trails, with a total of an additional three kilometres covered, as well as 31 new snow machines in the Arinsal area covering one more kilometer, and at Pal, covering two more kilometres.
Grandvalira, the largest ski area in Andorra and in the Pyrenees, has reported a 12% growth in business last season compared to 2006-7. The ski area reported 1,512,000 skier days were taken.
Periodic snowfalls combined with extensive snowmaking operation enabled good conditions for snow sports throughout most of the season.
Grandvalira’s positive results could be put down to a long and successful season according to resort managers. The resort opened ahead of schedule on November 24th as early snow came in, and closed with great conditions thanks to a row of snowfalls since the early Easter in March.
By closing weekend, skiers and snowboarders had a metre (over three feet) of snowpack and powder snow covering most of the resort. Although snow falls were again not huge, it did arrive at the right time. Snowmaking efforts also helped maintain snow conditions and allowed the resort to claim the most terrain, 95% of slopes and 100% of lifts, fully operational in the region. Grandvalira is planning to continue investing in its artificial snowmaking.
The focal point of the season was Pas de la Casa - Grau Roig’s 50th anniversary, the original Andorran ski area now integrated in to Grandvalira with neighbouring Soldeu El Tarter and other linked resorts. There was a full programme of events to celebrate this achievement. www.grandvalira.com
A study by Spain’s High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in to the future of the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, including Andorra, warns that average temperatures will rise by at least 2.8ºC by 2100 in a best case scenario in which greenhouse gas emissions are low, and by around 4ºC in the worst-case, high-emissions scenario. At the same time, the amount of rain and snow fall is expected to plunge by between 10.7 percent and 14.8 percent per year.
The researchers predict that this will mean much less precipitation and a far shorter snow season, if there is one at all.
The study is based on six regional climate models that were able to accurately estimate climatic conditions between 1960 and 1990 in the Pyrenees.
With the end of March, SportsRebel Media Ventures (SMV) Ltd. is happy to announce that it broke an all time record for monthly unique visitors with a whopping 666.78 % to SkiRebel Magazine in March 2008 to the same period a year earlier. This staggering growth was led with incredible traffic increases of more than 2000 % on March 28th alone.
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Since the relaunch of the popular skirebel.com portal in February 2007, SkiRebel Magazine has managed to attract more than 22,658 unique visitors with some 67,000 page impressions.
Since migrating the PDF only online ski magazine to a more user friendly online format, magazine management is ecstatic with the initial results. So far 2008, SportsRebel Media Ventures (SMV) Ltd., the main shareholder of the online property is forecasting tripling online visits. So far the first week forecast is blowing that forecast out of the water.
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