anybody there?

soldeu on or arround the 25th of feb? about 17 of us going (boys hol!), hope the snow will be sorted by then! :?

dunno about the weather when you're going, but we just returned from Soldeu on Sunday 28th. We arrived on the 21st and there was no snow in the resort itself but the mountains and slopes did have coverings, enough to satisfy most (apart from those looking off piste). The following night (Monday 22nd) it dumped big time!, think most of spain got it too. Snowball fights at 1am in the hotel between balconys, and the next day's snowboarding/skiing was great, lots of fresh powder. The pisters are working constantly and the snow canons were left on near enough all the time, so the little mountains of snow they produce was pushed on to the slopes by the pisters. We had the tuesday and wednesday with some snow showers too. A bit hard/icy in patches, but all 4 of us were happy with it - it encouraged you not to fall over! :D Managed to go from top to bottom a few times (ok, spinning on my back twice with the board in the air for about 18m). My dad managed to ski across to some of the other resorts Tuesday onwards. Fri and Sat was lovely and sunny, still plenty of snow, but with a tan too!. I think Arcalis has the most amount of snow at the moment, but if I remember right, several weeks before I was panicing because there was barely any snow at all, then, 4 days before we went, the weather switched around and forecast a dump of it. Things can change at the last minute!!!. I'm sure come mid feb there will be plenty, cos I'm hoping Nevis, Cairngorms and The Lecht get a drop of the white stuff before the season's over.

sounding better already! ive got a little smile on my face now, and i think it will be safe to leave my mountain bike and walking boots at home! whats the night life like in and arround the area? any do's and dont's??
cheers
andy

we didn't go out much in Soldeu, mostly got carry-outs and took back to our room. There was 4 of us who went, and we took a portable DVD-player with us for something to watch at night when we were all aching. some of us went out on the Thursday night, went to the indian first (needed something solid before the drink, ok, maybe not, :mrgreen: ), then went on to the T-bar - just up a little from the Loaded snowboard shop (some good prices).

Whatever you do, do not attempt to 'bungee' a lime breezer with a straw. We had a comp against our instructors, clients vs. and I got named and shamed after failing badly and splurting liquid everywhere (managed to open my gullet and down it during a practice, but when the moment came, it closed at the wrong time and the drink backfired). oops!. 4 nil to the instructors at that point. (If Sam T sees this posting he'll know exactly who I am). hehe :oops:

The drink is cheap, very cheap from the shop, and their local lager is very nice. You will pay over the odds in some bars, depending on what they've got going, but from what we heard, the night life is good - just a lot of pub-crawls.

Couldn't get enough of the chocolate out there too, it's not as sweet as ours, but still very nice. I was taking a few bars of choc up the slope, sugar fixes do help a bit when you're running a little knackered. Bottled water is about average I think, we ended up topping up our bottles of water in the hotel (none of us threw up or got a bug, so it's clean to drink), and leaving it outside in the fridge with the beer (not really a fridge outside, just use the balcony, it's colder than a fridge). :-)

Will give you a little tip though.... the gondola's start at 9am (instructors and staff go first), and the chair lift starts about 9/9.20am. If you can, catch the chairlift up to the 1st station instead of the gondola and you'll beat most of the queue. The gondola's the easy option most tend to take, it's sheltered, and easy for beginners. We took the chairlift some mornings when it was busy, sat in the cafe for a coffee and then hit the slopes. excellent! :)

I would definately go back there, but it's like all places....unless it's a glacier, you're gambling against the weather. Hope it's all snowy when you get over there. There's more snow there just now 40cm/20cm than what there was when I was out there (20cm/20cm).

Good luck!

Planning Ski Andorra late February in Pal-Arinsal and/or Arcalis. Any update on snow conditions and forecast? Thanks

http://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/Andorra/Soldeu_el_Tarter_snow.html

little bit more but.. it all helps!