Never been there, but the Reuter's Guide to Ski and Snowboard Worldwide has chapters on Soldeu and Pas de la Casa. The guide says these resorts offer good intermediate skiing, efficient lifts, and reasonable hotels. The big complaints with Andorra are its lack of charm compared to the Alps and its lack of a linked lift system between major resorts such as Soldeu and Pas de la Casa.

For conditions:

http://www.ski.andorra.com/uk/default.asp

[This message has been edited by johnfmh (edited 12-25-2002).]

I'm going to Andorra in 2 weeks and want to check out snow conditions.

I can't seem to locate any decent UPDATED Web site on the snow.

And, anybody been there before??

Tips would be appreciated. (EG I'm traveling 2 weeks afterward so can't take my skis and need to rent. Do they have same models over there as here? -- I have new K2 Axis X)

MM

I'm Spanish, I've been there a few times, but a while ago :-)

You may want to check out this link for snow conditions:

http://www.tele-ski.com/parte/andorra.htm

If you don't speak spanish, the headers read:

Resort | Open lifts/total | Total skiable kilometers | Open trails/total | Snow cover in cm. | Type of snow | Access to Resort | Observations

Type of snow will tell you:

"Polvo" means powder
"Dura" means hard
"Humeda" means humid

This webpage has links to all ski resorts in andorra.

http://www.andorrainfo.com/eng/pages/estaciones/estaciones.htm

I've been to Arinsal and Soldeu. In general, the higher a ski resort in the mountains, the better the snow conditions.

Most spaniards and frenchmen who go to Andorra to ski stay at the resort or close to the resort. If you rent a car you'll be able to try out different resorts each day, provided you feel comfortable with driving in mountain roads where the conditions can be quite tricky (you will need snow chains some days).

With regards to equipment, they will surely have lots of variety, esp. european brands like Rosignol, Technica, Fischer, Salomon, etc. You may have to rent "High performance" equipment, though, to get a choice of brands and models.

Also renting tends to be a little more expensive than in the US.

Hope this helps. Enjoy !!

Sam

Thanks so much for the tips.

I can't wait - a week until Barcelona. Then a few days later we'll be in the mountains!!

Hasta luego...