Arinsal Andorra

Number One is one of the longest serving ski instructors in Arinsal, and he has kindly offered to write a column for the website. Without further ado then, here is his first report:-

This morning, at about 6 am on the 10th Dec. I was awakened by a beautiful sound. The sound of a snow plough clearing the road way. A few of us decided that an early start was called for. We found about 4 or 5 inches of new snow on the beginners area. That is about 10 to 12 cms for those born after 1970.

At the top of the six seater chair we were not able to estimate the depth of new snow as there had been a bit of wind, so the snow had moved into small drifts or back to hard packed base. The run down Les Fonts required a bit of care until about half way, after that, the bottom section was delightful with some light powder on a firm base. As there are very few visitors in the resort, we were still able to find some untracked snow on the sides, even after a few runs. The rest of the runs were still closed but looked very tempting. I expect they will remain closed until the pistes have been prepared. Many of the snow cannons were working in some strategic places.

There are very few visitors but three Irish guys were spotted on the slopes. Aparently they had driven up from Barcelona and arrived in Arinsal just as the first few flakes of snow started to fall last night. Talk about the luck of the Irish. All the bars are now open and I hope to have an early night after a few beers in most of them, ending up in the RedX to discuss the time and meeting place for tomorrow. Keep thinking white. Number one.