The Catalan Nordic ski resorts have practically finished the winter season after the drastic rise in temperatures in recent days, which have melted a good part of the snow that remained on the circuits.
Those of Tavascan (Pallars Sobirà) and Guils-Fontanera (Cerdanya) are the only slopes where snowshoeing or high altitudes can still be done and Sant Joan de l’Erm (Alt Urgell) is open for tourist services. At weekends they are also offered in Lles y Aransa and Virós-Vallferrera.
Meanwhile, the Tuixent-la Vansa facilities, in Alt Urgell, are closed to individuals and with the snow produced at the base they are still hosting some school groups this week.
The technician of the Association of Nordic Ski Resorts, Imma Obiols, explained that this year’s season has been a bit “disappointing”, given that the lack of snow has negatively influenced the influx of skiers on some cross-country tracks .
In addition, despite the fact that they expected to be able to extend the season to the entire month of March due to the rainfall that occurred at the end of February and the high temperatures, which in recent days have been above 20 degrees, they have been forced to “close from one day to the next”.
Obiols has said that despite the fact that there would be snow in the coming days or weeks, the incidence of the sun is higher at this time of year and that, therefore, it would melt quickly. Despite this, he believes that from the seasons they have to think about expanding the range of activities that they can offer throughout the year, taking into account the tourist attraction of the refuges and the environment for hiking or cycling excursions. , among other.
For his part, the director of the Truixent-la Vansa resort, Albert Nadal, describes the season as “short but very intense” given that, as they have indicated, they have attended more than 6,000 schoolchildren and have had a large influx of skiers during on weekends, as well as on weekdays. In this sense, he has explained that everything has been because “people saw that it would not last long.”
In fact, this Alt Urgell resort has been open for just over three months and now its managers have found that they did not have a good base of snow left to keep it open. Nadal considers that, although the weather has been a factor against it, it has turned out “quite well”.
In addition, Nadal has signed that they have been experiencing “very beastly” temperature fluctuations for a few seasons, but he has pointed out that the added problem this year has been that “it has not snowed in quantity”.
