The saying “what starts badly does not end well” has not been fulfilled this season in the ski resorts of the Pyrenees. And the fact is that the snow campaign, just seven days away (with few exceptions) from bringing down the curtain, has closed one of its best Holy Weeks. The accumulated thicknesses of more than two meters at high altitudes on April 1 have nothing to do with the lack of snow with which the Puríssima bridge started the 2023-2024 season.
Most of the resorts close this Easter with a substantial increase in skiers compared to the figures for this same holiday last year. Baqueira-Beret, the Aranese resort reported yesterday, has sold more than 83,000 ski days between March 23 and April 1. It is almost double the 47,000 passes issued on these same dates last season. The number of visitors would have been higher “if the weather had cooperated”, 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 between 85% and 90% occupancy, according to data from the Tourism Board . Its vice-president, Juan Antonio Serrano, said yesterday that the bad weather on some days of these holidays caused cancellations of reservations. But the final number of visitors is still considered “very positive”.
Most stations will extend the season by one more week (until April 7) but Boí Taüll, announces Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat, will hurry until the weekend of 13-14. And it’s a good thing that the Aranese station has plenty of snow in this campaign colophon. Accumulated thicknesses exceed 2.6 meters and if all the fall were piled up in recent weeks “a wall of 415 centimeters could be erected”, these sources reveal.
The situation, in terms of snow thicknesses, 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 extend, if the snow lasts, until May 1.
