They started with little snow and finished below minimums. Written like that it looks like a guaranteed disaster. On the contrary, the 2022/23 ski season brings down the curtain with a very positive balance sheet, despite the fact that it has been one of the driest winters ever experienced in Catalonia, and with the debate, alive as ever, about the consequences of climate change.
The snow entrepreneurs had a hard time at the beginning of this season to repeat the figures of the last campaign. The influx of skiers at all the resorts of the Pyrenees - after the shutdown forced by the pandemic - was a record in 2021/22.
The balance of this winter is, therefore, much more positive than what the omens said at the beginning of December, when the ski season began. The mountain resorts managed by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (La Molina, Vall de Núria, Vallter, Espot, Port Ainé and Boí Taüll) close the season with 830,000 ski days sold. 1% more passes than last year's campaign. These complexes highlight the good results of the Alta Ribagorça resort, with almost 30% more skiers (172,702) than in the 2021/22 season.
Baqueira Beret has once again been the station with the highest number of visitors in the Catalan Pyrenees. The Aranese resort is only 10,000 ski passes away from the million days of skiing. "This has been the second best season in history (990,032 visitors) with 136 days of full operation", say Baqueira.
The weather has been kinder on the southern slopes of the Pyrenees, but this positive balance would not have been possible "if it were not for the great effort of the entire mountain team to be able to offer optimal snow quality", they add from the Aranese station And they point out that after last season's historic records, this campaign, with a much less favorable climate, "have come close to last winter's numbers".
Masella, in La Cerdanya, closes the season with almost 380,000 skiers. A figure lower than last year's, "but positive, since it was difficult to match last year's record with this winter's weather", they say from this complex.
The Aragonese stations of the Aramón Group also make a positive assessment of this atypical season due to the lack of the desired precipitation. Around 1,100,000 skiers have passed through these complexes, a figure similar to that of the last campaign.
"The snow that fell and the low temperatures recorded from that date brought an exceptional quality of snow to almost the entire ski area of the resorts" they say from Aramón. "These conditions were maintained until mid-March and the influx of skiers was exceptional, especially on the weekends of a month of February with a historical record of influx", they add.
One more season it has become clear that the growing investments in snowmaking systems in these complexes ensure the role of economic engine assumed by these resorts in the mountain regions. Thanks to skiing, hotel occupancy remains very high near the slopes in winter. To this must be added the thousands of jobs (even if they are temporary) generated by this activity.
