SKI SLOPES OF PRADOLLANO SKI RESORT IN SPAIN
Piste off with your regular ski resort? Then come and ski in Spain!
For the avid skier, Spain never seems to list very highly on places to catch the best snow. That’s probably because the Spanish want to keep the secret of where to ski in Spain to themselves! Spain has a very varied climate, and this, coupled with the topography of the country, lends itself to some unusual weather patterns and odd micro climates.
Where else can your ski in fresh, crisp snow in the morning, and then drive down the mountain in little over and hour and be on the beach in a swimsuit?
The Sierra Nevada Mountains, Spain.
The Mountain range of the Sierra Nevada lies in the province of Granada in south eastern Spain and it is by far the regions best kept secret.
Although there are other ski resorts in Spain, mainly around the border with France in the Pyrenees Mountains, although Madrid has ski resorts nearby, namely Navacerrada, Valdesqui and La Pinilla plus it boasts a year-round indoor ski centre outside the city
Valencia also has a very low key resort at Teruel, with slopes on Javalambre and Valdelinares, however the snow doesn’t last long and it’s for novice to intermediate levels, but the facilities leave a lot to be desired.
Europe’s most southerly ski resort
The resort itself is known as the Sierra Nevada Ski Resort, although it is located in a small town known as Pradollano.
The weather in the region creates ideal skiing conditions for the advanced and intermediate level of skier, and as I write this today, the 20th Of January 2013, the temperature there is 3 degrees, clear blue skies and sunny, but the mountain saw snowfall last night and therefore today the depth of the snow is around 90cm in the upper parts of the mountain, going down to around 30cm on the lower slopes.
The actual area of skiing is on the north slopes of the sierra range, usually around the peak of Veleta, which is the 3rd highest peak in Spain.
Getting up to the top to start your ski run is not to hard with 20 ski lifts that lifts serve 100 km of piste at the Sierra Nevada but it can get busy at the weekends, especially during holiday times and a wait to get a lift is not uncommon.
Its certainly somewhere on the radar for the pro skier and it often hosts high level races for the FIS alpine ski world cup and is rumored to be hosting the 2015 winter university games.
Ski in the Morning, beach in the afternoon!
Yes, this really is possible if you plan to come skiing here and the best dates to come would be between the end of November and the end of April, making for a very long snow season indeed!
The facilities at the resort are very good, including ski and equipment hire, plus all other types of shops, bars, restaurants etc, to make a really enjoyable skiing holiday in Spain.
And the best until last, if you get bored of skiing, head down to the coast, taking about an hour on the A-44 road, and if you are in the area during maybe March time, you can be on the beach at somewhere like Motril and enjoying 20 degrees and bright sunshine. Make sure your next skiing holiday is in the Sierra Nevada for the best of both worlds.