The saying 'what starts badly ends badly' has not been true this season in the ski resorts of the Pyrenees. And the snow campaign, just one week away (with few exceptions) until the curtain comes down, has closed one of its best Easters. The accumulated thicknesses of more than two meters at the high levels as of April 1 have nothing to do with the lack of snow with which the Purísima bridge started this 2023-24 season.
Most of the resorts close this Easter with a substantial increase in skiers compared to the numbers for this same holiday last year. Baqueira-Beret, the Aranese resort reported yesterday, has sold more than 83,000 days of skiing between March 23 and April 1. It is almost double the 47,000 ski passes dispatched on these same dates last season. The number of visitors would have been higher “if the weather had been good”, it is repeated from the snow business.
The Lleida Pyrenees, with 110,000 ski days sold this Easter (60% more than last year), has moved within an occupancy range of 85% and 90%, according to data from the Patronat de Turisme. Its vice president, Juan Antonio Serrano, stated yesterday that bad weather on some days of this vacation caused cancellations of reservations. But the final number of visitors is still considered “very positive.”
Most stations are going to extend the season one more week (until April 7) but Boí-Taüll, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat announces, will push until the weekend of 13-14. And the Aranese season has plenty of snow in this culmination of the campaign. The accumulated thicknesses exceed 2.6 meters and if all the fall is piled up in recent weeks "a wall of 415 centimeters could be raised," these sources reveal.
The situation, in terms of snow depths, is repeated in Andorra and the Aragonese Pyrenees, with a very positive balance also this Easter. And as usually happens, Masella could once again be the last station in Spain to close the season. The Cerdanya complex will be extended, if the snow lasts, until May 1.
