A few years ago thinking about holidays in the snow would for us be synonymous with cold, discomfort and even some stress. However, after insistence by friends who are true enthusiasts of snow experiences, our family decided to go off into the adventure of discovering the charms of Winter sports.

Taking advantage of the Easter holidays, we went down to Andorra, to the “Grandvalira” Pyrenees ski resort, considered the biggest resort in Europe after the Alps, and which is linked to the ski areas of Pas de la Casa/Grau Roig and Soldeu /El Tarter, which form the large valley of Andorra.

While we were driving across Spain, through the Zaragoza area, the landscape of which we always greatly enjoy, we went on asking ourselves “What are we who love the sun, the heat and the sea so much, come to spend our precious days of holidays up a frozen mountain?” We had no idea how on the return journey our comments would be of veneration and ecstasy about the frozen mountain we had left behind! And that we would return with the intention of going back as often as possible.

Our precise holiday destination was Soldeu/El Tarter, located in the “Granvalira” Andorra valley, staying at the Hotel Euro Esqui.

View of the area of the Hotel Euro Esqui Winter /Summer

The adventure had already started some time before, when it was necessary to fit out the whole family with warm, waterproof clothing, gloves and balaclava, which almost made us look like veritable astronauts.

But it is at the time of trying on the ski boots, now at the ski resort, that the proceedings start to get complicated: the boots seem to weigh tons, and only allow us to walk like robots. Everything seems difficult. Taking the weight of the skis, not being able to walk in safety, putting the skis on and taking them off the conveyor belt every time one gets a lift to go up the ramp to the first training sessions, coordinating one’s movements, braking when necessary… Uh! So many rules start to get tiring. It is true that not everything goes well at first and that one immediately feels like giving up, but what intrigues us during these moments of learning is to see little three and four year-old kids sliding past us, almost with their eyes closed, with no fear of the consequences, with a perfection of movements that leave us speechless.

These first setbacks are taken in a team made up of the group of learners and their respective instructors, who, with characteristic good humour, make the three hours of the lesson pass by rapidly among training sessions, joking and discussions, in the intervals a hot drink, so that after two or three days of training we can jump of the chair lift without falling over and slide down the training slopes with confidence, feeling the frozen wind on our faces, our bodies sliding like a snowball faster and faster until finally, when reaching the flat area with our skis pointing together, one gradually slows down. This effortless sliding in the middle of the unusual completely white landscape with the intense brightness of the sun reflected on the snow releases feelings of freedom that it is difficult to experience anywhere else.

Other moments of perfect delight are to simply take in the winter sun on the esplanades located alongside the slopes, appreciating the whiteness of the landscape and enjoying our favourite reading materials.

After a busy day on the slopes, the hotel reserves leisure and recovery time for us, the so-called “après ski” using the spa and taking advantage of the hydro-massage system, fundamental for helping one’s muscles to recover, as well as the heated indoor or outdoor pools that allow us to enjoy the unusual experience of a hot bathe in the open air, while snowflakes fall into the heated water in the pool, with the impressive white mountain as a landscape.

For those who prefer a livelier end of day, there is always a great range of places for nighttime entertainment.

These were some of the moments we experienced during our first holidays in the snow in Andorra, and which will be repeated with similar euphoria over the coming years in the Sierra Nevada and Formigal.

In these times when hearing silence is becoming difficult, it is in the tranquility of the whiteness of the mountain and in the softness of the snow that one can hear and feel nature in all of its plenitude. There is no doubt that on the mountain there is a magic that forces us to breathe in a different manner. It is probably only the high altitude and the excessive weight of the equipment, but it is in the freedom that one experiences when one comes down the slopes that one feels a lightness of spirit that culminates with the reward of a tranquil arrival at the end of the slope, even with a few tumbles along the way, but which result in a challenge for a new climb up.

Note: pictures of the hotel taken from the site http://www.directski.com/ski/andorra/soldeu_and_el_tarter/hotel_euro_esqui
The other pictures belong to our personal files.

Emília Clamote/ CDI Library, tel. 44162, clamote@fm.ul.pt