We'd only ever gone skiing before. We'd always meant to have a days taster at snowboarding whilst away, but never got round to it. So after coming back from skiing in February, we decided to get a last minute deal to somewhere cheap to do a full weeks boardin'. On Sunday the 13th of March 2005 we flew from Manchester, heading for Pas de la Casa, in Andorra.
Andorra is in the Pyrenees between France & Spain, it's a very small duty-free country. It's very popular with us Brits & as a result gets pretty crowded. It gets even busier at weekends when the French & the Spanish drive in for the skiing & the duty-free. Pas de la Casa is situated just over the French/Andorra border & has Andorra's liveliest nightlife.
When we first arrived, we were surprised to find that all the coaches park at the bottom of the resort. Once you've retrieved your baggage, you then have to drag it up the steep windy hill to your accommodation. Needless to say, our hotel was right at the top.
They'd had a huge dump of snow the week before, the roofs were still covered & there were some huge icicles hanging off gutters. But a heat wave arrived the same time as us, so a mega-thaw ensued & cleared the roofs in a matter of days. We had 7 gloriously hot sunny days, by the third day the snow was turning to slush in the afternoons & was solid ice in the mornings.
(Click on the piccies to open a bigger version in a new window.)
Sitemap
Our little plane at Manchester Our big bus at Toulouse airport in France First unprovoked attack of the holiday! The Long Transfer (Toulouse to Pas de la Casa) Winding road up the Pyrenees Almost there First view of Pas de la Casa The First Days Snowboarding Mel's first go on a snowboard (one foot unattached) Mel heading straight for Tincho the instructor Learning to side slip (both feet attached) Mel decides to learn going backwards first! Still going Smile for the camera Stew was there too Coming to a complete halt without kneeling or sitting needs a lot of concentration Exiting the lift isn't easy at first We practice on a blue in the afternoon On The Slow Lift The black coming down towards the mogul field The red coming down in the middle The small park with jumps, rails, etc. More Boarding Mel had swapped her board for skis on the fourth day Heading off down a red View over the other side of the mountain Group shot on the last tuition day Group shot on the top Getting ready for a red Tincho, our instructor, was from Argentina On the way down Just took the board/skis off for the last time The Hotel Mel outside the hotel Stew outside the hotel The Hotel Reial Pirineus Down Town In the centre of town Pas during the day Pas at night, with some friends we met Heading Home Mel asleep on the bus Getting on our little plane That hand luggage looks a bit suss!? On the plane. Can you tell Mel wore her sunglasses a lot? Mel finds a 3 litre bottle of Jack Daniel's in Stew's hand luggage!! The End Mel decided she didn't like snowboarding & wont be doing it again. Stew loved it & has already bought a board ready for the next trip. Skiing Ski Snowboarding Boarding Board. Bullough54321 ZZ002
| 
