Portalet station at Formigal

Went skiing up at Formigal yesterday and snow conditions were better than expected after last weeks warm weather and rain. It was clear and sunny and I actually felt quite warm as I took the first lift up. I did have a lot of layers on (‘like an onion’ as they say here in Spain) and I was glad for them as the temperature was -13 at the top of the lift!

The red Espelunciecha piste - one of my favourites

The snow at Portalet, Anayet and Sarrios wasn’t bad. Some runs – particluarly the reds – were very icy but coverage on-piste was good. The Sextas zone (the lowest of the four) was a disaster with only the blue Rio run open and the higher Tres Hombres area close.

Slopes were empty as is usual midweek – you never have to queue for a lift.

Off-piste coverage was minimal and all of the black runs that are marked but not pisted were closed. They’ll need a fair amount of new snow before they’ll be in good nick.

In the Sarrios area there was a team out practising avalanche rescue in a fairly large avalanche that looked to have been deliberately created. At first I was concerned this was a real rescue but I watched them for a while and it soon became apparent it was a training exercise. With the low temperatures and lack of fresh snow avalanche risk was set as 2 and there were only a few signs of naturally triggered avalanches although I’m not sure how recent these were.

Team out practising avalanche rescue

All in all a good afternoons skiing. The resort is in better nick than I thought it would be although it could do with more snow. Snowing up the valley today so hopefully conditions will be good for the weekend.

Kerry and Anna with Pic du Midi d'Ossau in the background

Thursday saw us out on the slopes of Formigal. Fabulous day for it – clear blue skies once again, great snow conditions and being a weekday the slopes were empty.

Kerry hasn’t skied before so Anna gave her a crash course – sometimes literally! Kerry got on really well – the only reason she ever fell over was so that the Spanish hunk at the lift station would come and help her up.

The great weather and good snow conditions are due to continue into next week so Anna and I will be taking as much advantage of it as possible and getting out snow shoeing at the weekend.

Two 'Eddy the Eagles' in the making

Showing off...