When we think of skiing, we often think of an expensive Alpine adventure. However, there are top flight less expensive spots where ample excitement is available, such as countless skiing experiences in diverse areas of Spain such as the Aragonese Pyrenees, Catalan Pyrenees and Andorran Pyrenees. These are Spanish mountain ranges with first-rate skiing facilities.
Archive for the 'Ski Spain' Category
The five increasingly well-known Igloo Villages in Engelberg, Gstaad, Davos-Klosters, Zermatt and Zugspitze will arise from the snow right on time for the beginning of the winter season. This year the award-winning Swiss company behind them all, Iglu-Dorf, will add its first location in the Pyrenees mountains – an Igloo Village at Grandvalira in the middle of the snow and shopping paradise Andorra.
Continue reading ‘New Igloo village experience is created in Andorra’
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.
A new gondola began operating from one of Spain’s leading resorts, Baqueira Beret, last Saturday August 2nd. The lift will improve the experience for skiers and boarders visiting the resort next winter and was described as, “Very good news” by a resort spokeswoman.
The new gondola, which was first initiated in 2005/6, helps to open up the Vall De Ruda by connecting the main resort at 1500m with the Ruda area and incorporating a new intermediate station en route, which should ease congestion.
The lift has 78 cabins each of which can hold nine people, and the total capacity is 3000 skiers per hour. www.baqueira.es
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.
Plans for a new ski area in Spain’s San Glorio mountain pass in the province of Leon were thrown out of Spanish court for fears of long term viability due to risks associated with climate change.
Opponents of the plan successfully argued that average snow fall amounts had been decreasing while temperatures have risen by nearly one degree Celsius over the last half century.
The ski area proposal, involved installing lifts above 1500m and create 55km (34 miles) of groomed piste, would also come too close to a natural habitat of rare bears that inhabit the region.
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.
Continue reading ‘666.78% more visitors come to SkiRebel Magazine in March’