Arinsal Andorra

We had some snow on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, which made the slopes look a lot more attractive. Après ski was lively but not as hectic as the previous week. Mike Jones, aka Elvis, was very active appearing at several locations. The Derby has a new band starting this weekend which I must try to see. There is not much more to report this week other than to say that it was another enjoyable week for me.

On Thursday, whilst waiting for my lift from Corinne, I saw a Land Rover with a trailer on which was a dead wild boar. This had me thinking, what other wild life visitors could see in Arinsal. Like most other ski resorts, there is so much human activity that all but the most human friendly creatures are rarely seen. I have seen red fox on my first trip of the day on the chair lift some years ago. I also saw three deer in a field close to the road, whilst walking to La Massana. I have no idea of the species. Corinne often reports seeing Cabriole, whilst walking her dog in the morning. These are smaller than an Izzard and graze lower down the mountain. I spoke to her only yesterday, after she and a friend had visited the Palarine for the excellent Friday night Indian buffet. When I told her what my report was going to be about, she told me that she had seen three Cabriole from her kitchen window, whilst making her early morning cup of tea that morning. She lives in La Massana which is the next big village down the valley from here.

The skiing in Pal is mainly below the tree line which means there is much more cover for wild life. We often see small birds, usually coal tits there. In Arinsal, we frequently see small flocks of Rock Bunting. My bird book says that they are shy of humans but perhaps, the leftovers from the restaurant terraces are too tempting for the birds. There are occasion sightings of Eagles or Griffin Vultures high above the Alta Capa. This is usually at a distance so I am never sure what bird I am seeing, this could be due to my poor eyesight. As a rule I guess that if it is a solitary bird, it may be an Eagle but if there are several, it is almost certain that they are Vultures. This season two people have told me that they have seen an otter in the river in Arinsal. No one has reported this previously. You may be aware that the French and Spanish governments have released brown bear in the Pyrenees. I have not heard of a sighting in Andorra yet.

I apologise if this report is of no interest to you, as I know that most of you come to Arinsal for the skiing and excellent Après ski. There are times when I find it difficult to write something original about those two very important subjects so I thought that this would be slightly different.

Postscript:

After reading last week's report, one of the instructors told me this amusing tale: he was taking a class down Marrades last Friday, when a mouse ran across the piste and stopped. The class halted and watched the mouse just sitting there. Marrades is a narrow path and the mouse was sitting on the side with snow and the other half was rather icy. All the girls chose to ski on the ice rather than go near the mouse. One girl fell and lay there screaming until her instructor helped her to ski away. He said that all this time the mouse just sat there laughing at her??

Corinne said that she sympathised with the girl, as she remembers many years ago, her very young son asking her, "What animal are you most afraid of?" When she replied "A mouse." She said that he pulled a most peculiar face, having expected and answer of Lions, tigers or similar.

The New Year’s Eve Party in the Palarine was a great success. Everyone made a huge effort. I think the best costume was definitely, Steve and Karen, who came as the characters from Avatar. Karen admitted that her hair alone took over an hour. I would have awarded a prize to the French maid, for the costume that used the least material. I had a couple of Bulgarians in my group who were staying in the Palarine, who wanted to take an active part but had not brought a costume. They made a good attempt with what they found in the local shops. The French maid was inspirational to them. They realised that all they had to do was bring their best underwear and a couple of paper doilies then you are a French Maid. I liked the costume. Someone suggested that my Angel costume was most inappropriate for the wearer. Stuart (BBA) always tries hard but never really succeeds. In the past he came as Freddy Mercury but people thought that he was Sergeant Pepper. Then he dressed as Clint Eastwood but people thought that he was the tall one in Brokeback Mountain. This year he was Robin Hood, again we got it wrong, we thought he was a pixie.

It really was a great party, with lots of dancing and one of the biggest Sweet Caroline, ever. In fact, at one point I thought that people would be trampled underfoot like those terrible tragedies that happen at the Hajj in Saudi. I think that we had seven different nationalities in the Sweet Caroline circle. The party finished late and I was glad that I was day off on Saturday. I was down in time for a late breakfast. Well done and many thanks to all the staff at the Palarine for a great night/morning.

Now something about the skiing; my group this week was very well balanced. No one was particularly fast and no one was exceptionally slow. In fact, they seemed to take it in turns to be very good or very bad, in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol that had been consumed the previous evening. The phrase “Skiing Holiday” consists of two words and I believe that it is important to enjoy not only the skiing but also the holiday. However overindulgence during the “Holiday” can seriously spoil the enjoyment of the “Skiing”. You do not ski well with a hangover. (I should know). My class were all good intermediates, so I took them to the top of the Pic Negre and skied them down to the Crest Hotel in the village. A vertical drop of about 1,000 metres and with a length of approximately 7 kilometres. This run did produce a lot of tired legs. So remember to start your pre-skiing exercise programme well in advance of your holiday.

This week, I was frequently asked “Any snow due?” We have plenty of snow on the piste, due to the many snow cannons that Arinsal has. But to be honest, there is not much off the piste and this makes the resort look unattractive. Many people want to ski and also enjoy our marvellous scenery, so it would be nice if we had a fresh fall soon.

I had a great day’s skiing on Christmas day. The slopes were deserted and the sun was shining, on the down side there was a very cold wind blowing. I was skiing with Ian, or more accurately I was going up the lift with him. Ian is training for the Euro Speed Test, so when we set off I would follow him down. He then had a short wait at the bottom, or sometime not so short a wait. We skied the top gullies, which had filled with fresh windblown powder. By the time we had skied a few of the gullies we would go back to the first and the wind had filled in our tracks. It really was a great day. But where were all the people? Surely they could not all be hung over or had decided to eat turkey all day instead of skiing. Whatever they were doing they missed a great day.

One evening Mike, aka Elvis, entertained the guest in the Palarine bar. There were very few British there but quite a few Catalans enjoying a drink after their Chinese Meal. We had the first “Sweet Caroline" of the season. With hindsight I think that it may have been too early. There was a bit of dancing and about midnight I noticed that there were six Catalan children dancing, the eldest about 9 years and the youngest 6. They were well behaved and enjoying themselves. Mike was playing for them and keeping them involved, whilst their parents enjoyed there coffees and brandies. There is such different attitude towards children in bars here than that in Britain.

Mike had an easy evening as we had several quest appearances. Lucy Jones, who was over here from her London Musical Theatre School, gave us a great performance, as did her younger sister, Sophie. Both received a much bigger round of applause than Mike. (What does this tell you? Mike!) There was a surprise performance by Josh Jackson, the 8 year old internationally recognised, Michael Jackson impersonator. It was another most enjoyable evening in the Palarine.

I am posting this report early, as I am seeing in the New Year at the Palarine. The guests are treated to a spectacular Chinese Banquet, followed by a fancy dress party with a free bar. Just in case I do not feel like typing tomorrow I am posting this now. I will, of course, give you all about the party in next week’s report. Well, at least, all the bits that I can remember.

I wish all my reaaders a Very Happy New Year, with lots of great skiing, in perfect powder.

Webmaster note: Apologies to the author for misplacing the last two paragraphs when we originally published this report. We have updated it so readers can enjoy it in its entirety.

I did not send a report last week as I had returned to England for a hospital appointment. Then my return journey was delayed by three days due to my flight from Gatwick being cancelled, this meant that I did not arrive in Arinsal until midnight on Tuesday. I had a few private lessons for the rest of the week, some of them being my speciality, nervous ladies here with their children. The kids were flying around the mountain, while the mothers were finding it difficult keeping up with their group lesson. Both my ladies made great progress and said that next year that they would not book group lessons but take private, one to one, lessons instead. Group lessons can be very good for the social side. Someone on their own will meet other skiers of a similar level and so have someone to ski with after the lesson. In a small friendly resort like Arinsal, it is inevitable that you will bump into others from your group whilst out in the bars and restaurants. But if your aim in taking lesson is to improve your skiing, then private lessons are a must.

The Weather on the first two days after my return was a bit too warm and humid but fortunately it turned cold on Christmas Eve. The snow cannons were running, even during the day and the sun was shining. In fact Friday had great skiing conditions. I enjoyed several good runs during my free time. In spite of it being Christmas Week there were very few people in the resort, so I was able to enjoy fairly fast runs on the very quiet pistes.

I was reminded of the quotation that I have often used in the past, “A lot more people would come skiing if it was always this quiet.”

After a perfect first week, I was slightly disappointed with this week. I still enjoyed my skiing but the weather had warmed up a little and there was more humidity in the snow than the light dry stuff we all enjoyed so much last week.   The conditions were not bad but we had been spoiled by perfect snow that we had previously. However the conditions improved when the Spanish left. The weather was brighter and colder and of course, there were less people. I felt sorry for those who had come up for the holiday as they had the worst conditions so far this season.

There were a lot of Spanish in the resort this week.  The 6th Dec is a Spanish National holiday and the 8th (as the devout amongst my readers will know), is the Immaculate Conception, major holiday in Andorra and Spain. The Spanish join these two holidays with the nearest weekend and take a ski break.

I thought that I might advise you on other Bank holidays that may affect your visit to Arinsal.

8th Dec. Immaculate Conception.  Can be very busy.

25th and 26th Dec. Bank Holidays as in the UK. Can be very busy

1st Jan. Bank Holiday. Sometimes quiet in the mornings as the Andorrans make a big thing of  New Year’
6th Jan. Epiphany, The three kings, Little Christmas or the last day of Christmas. Bank Holiday. Usually quiet as the Spanish go home to celebrate this at home.  There is a big parade the evening before, during which the 3 kings distribute sweets to the children.  The traffic can be awful due to the parade.

17th Jan. St Anthony’s Day. A major holiday in Andorra.  The council brew up a huge Stew/Soup in public squares and distribute it to the “poor” of the Parish. It may be worth missing an afternoon’s skiing to attend this event. (Bring your own mug, spoon and glass). There is usually free wine and music and cake to finish.

25th Jan. Robert Burns’ birthday. This is not a bank holiday and does not affect skiing but he Palarine usually provides an excellent Burns’ Supper, with Haggis, tatties and neeps.  They also serve Cock-a-leekie soup, prime Scottish Roast Beef, smoked salmon, tipsy laird and other sweets from Scotland.  This is followed by Scottish dancing in the bar. We start and finish the evening with the ever popular “Strip the Willow”.

17th Mar. St Patrick’s Day. Not a Bank Holiday but usually a great night out in the bars.  Again the Palarine puts on an Irish evening with Irish dishes, Colcannon, Irish Stew, Bailey’s Cheesecake and many other dishes that I am not familiar with. There is usually live music and a bit of a knees up in the bar. Last year the Derby imported an Irish band for the week and I enjoyed a very lively après ski there. Regular readers may remember my description of last year’s event.  The Irish do like to celebrate St. Paddy, especially when away from Ireland. 

19th Mar. St Joseph’s Day (the Father of Jesus). A major holiday in Andorra. 

I hope that the above may be of help if you are visiting Arinsal this winter and have to catch the bank.  The resort and the ski school are open every day until the end of the season.  I have not mentioned Easter as this year it is so late, I think that the travel companies will have stopped before then. One Bank holiday that caught me out, whilst trying to draw out some cash from the bank, is in October; St. Carlos of Bormio, the patron saint of Bankers. Everyone else ignores poor old St. Carlos and carries on as usual but all the banks were shut.  I needed the cash so I thought,  “What a load of bankers.”