Arinsal Andorra

Last year we held a very successful Burns' Night in the RED X bar. Two clients, who attended this party are returning this year. Due to a gap in TV production JAKE, who was here with his brother also called JAKE, is going to spend two weeks here to include Burns night. He will arrive on Sunday. His stay will overlap with “SPECIAL K “, who is another fan of Burns night. This will be SPECIAL K's 5 th visit to ARINSAL. This remarkable and popular lady has won her ski school race on her 4 previous visits. Can she make it 5 in a row? Watch this space for the answer. This year she is bringing her man on his first ever skiing holiday. The ARINSAL Ski School are excellent at helping first time skiers to enjoy the sport. We all hope that Steve becomes another fan of ARINSAL and will return on many occasions in the future.

ARINSAL has a large amount of clients returning each season. This is particularly the case with our many Irish guests.

Now for some information for our first time visitors;

A frequently asked question is, “What group should I join? “

The answer is fairly obvious if you have never put on skis. You go to the beginner's class.

If you have skied before and when you stand outside the ski school and look to the right, you will see a 4 seat chair lift. If you can safely ski underneath it, you should go to the intermediate groups, where you will be graded and put into a suitable class. In Arinsal we have levels 1, 2 and 3 for intermediate skiers.

The problem group are those people who have skied before but do not feel confident enough to join the intermediate group. They should go to the dry slope/ advanced beginner's group. This applies to people who have had two hours on a plastic slope or went skiing 35 years ago with the school and anyone in between.  I have this group this week.  We spend a little time classifying these clients to make 3 or 4 different levels.

Skiing is like knowing how to fall of a bicycle or eating cucumber.  It soon comes back to you.

New Year week is now over. I saw the New Year in at the Palarine Hotel. We had a magnificent buffet followed by an inclusive bar and fancy dress party. The hotel helped with the fancy dress and I think that less than half a dozen were not in costume. I wore my infamous Speedos as a beach bum. No one abused the bar, I did not see anyone totally drunk, but then I did not see anyone over 18 totally sober. A great night.

I met my morning group at 9-30 am. All 12 were waiting for me. Well done guys. Most of the group were Irish and I think that was a great turn out for New Years day.

Wednesday and Thursday brought some welcome snow. On thursday the roads were very slippy. In fact I walked back to my hotel and in my 20 minute walk I saw 4 vehicles (including the ski bus) in various ditches.

The skiing on Friday was superb. Fresh snow and a clear blue sky. Absolutely marvellous.

The first real week of teaching has just finished. All the instructors had work. As it was Christmas week there were a lot of children in ski school. The younger ones and beginners were kept in childrens groups. I had an intermediate group which consisted of 5 well behaved older children and 7 adults. They were a nice mixture of Dutch, Irish and English.

We all got along together and we often went out in the evening, as a group, to watch our video. A lot of the bars take videos of the groups skiing and show them to entertain the drinkers in their bar. No one bar could accommodate the whole ski school so you must find out, from your instructor, which bar, if any, videoed you that day. These videos are not only amusing but can be a useful training aid. The kids loved to see themseves going over jumps!

As the schools are still on holiday, I would expect a lot of children next week. We would also expect a lot of merrymakers, out to celebrate the New Year.

Still no new snow, but it is still cold, so think white.

On Sunday, the first of the British groups arrive in Arinsal. The English instructors will be glad to get some work at last. I will be very pleased to get some groups as it will give me something to write about.

Last night some of us had a very convivial meal in the QUO VADIS PUB. Each week this pub has a free raffle for customers and the prize is a pair of skis. And this week `I WON! I am now the owner of a brand new pair of Blizzard skis. Thank you QUO VADIS.

On Wednesday night .we had an excellent curry at the British run SAN ANDREU. Simon and the lovely Kirsty provide an amazing variety of curries to suit all tastes. It is help yourself, so do not be surprised if you see a lot of fat instructors this season.

We rather overate slightly, on Sunday at the HOTEL PALARINE. They provided a huge Chinese buffet. The Dingo and Steve the Horse appeared to be in a competition to see who could eat the most desserts. Jan the Swede, from Manchester, persuaded Robber's Dog and I, to sample few bottles of Fuller's " London Pride". The Palarine had managed to find a couple of crates of real ale. Something that I miss over here.

I hope that next week I can write about skiing and not just food.

The slopes were incredibly quiet on Sunday. I had a lesson with a delightful young lady, called Erica, who admitted hating hearing snowboards and skiers behind her. We took the high speed six seat chair up Les Fonts (1.7 Kms long) We chose the less popular Port Vell run and then onto the Margarita to the Obelix restaurant and had seen only two skiers and two snow boarders. It was blissful. We then rejoined the Les Fonts piste down to the bottom. Do not expect it to be that peaceful if you are coming to Arinsal for Christmas or New Year.

This story reminded me of a client, who thought that more people would come skiing if it was less crowded!

Talking of crowds, a bit of advice for visitors coming during a busy period. On MONDAYS the ski school finishes at 5pm, and a queue often forms for the Gondola down. If you are at the back of the queue, it is quicker to take the two seat chair from the Panoramix Restaurant down to the Crest Hotel. You should turn LEFT off the chair and walk DOWN the road for 150 metres, where the road turns right over a bridge. From there it is five minute walk to the Princessa Park Hotel and the other hotels in the village. The base of the Gondola and ski bus are only a few more minutes walk down.