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.