On 2 Oct 2011 20:49:05 GMT, PipL alter ego
wrote:

pushes aside tumbleweed and taps mike
Er, hello, is this thing on?

blows cobwebs aside

Did somebody say something?

Andorra: I've always thought of it as being somewhere I wouldn't bother
going, but I might be skiing with friends who've had a premiminary look
at what's available and seen details of a resort here (I didn't ask
exactly which resort), so I thought I'd do some research.

Quite right too. Which resort you thinking of, or haven't you got that
far yet?

This would be a family group with children aged four to about twelve,
whth all except one person pretty much absolute beginners.

Good English-speaking instruction is a positive factor there - none of
your ESF 'just follow me' nonsense. So yes, a good place to start.

Is the snow reliable and is the resort likely to be both beginner-
friendly and have enough to do for a reasonably good skier/snowboarder
for a week?

Probably, which resort? and Yes, respectively.

Is there much to do for part-time skiers?

Lots of places to drink. Other than that, not a lot. Oh, some bits,
notably Pas de la Casa (which are, IMO, best avoided) are full of
brash 'cheap' shops and bars, sort of like duty-free Magalouf a la
Montagne. The so-called duty-free shops always manage to have models
of stuff that you've never heard of, and therefore can't compare
prices on. Often last year's model, sorta thing.

Ski schools - any horror stories?

Nope.

But what else?

The only time I've been there was for three weeks (Ski Club repping)
over xmas and new year. As it happened that particular season had a
very poor start in the Alpes, but there was so much snow in Andorra
that they had to close the roads at times.

My experience was of the Granvalira area, which at that time was only
just renamed, rather than the seperately run areas of PdlC and Soldeu
up till that point. It's really quite an extensive area, with some
variety too. Some tree skiing, some higher and more exposed. Quite a
bit of off-piste potential too, particularly one part which was only
served by a Cat-tow which didn't always run, and gave onto at least
four obvious descents otherwise unreachable. Great, it was.

Nightlife (in Soldeu and it's little hamlet of el Tartar) is quite
lively, with many brit tour groups going on organised bar crawls and
suchlike, and the noise and litter levels are consistent with that, so
best to avoid the more central hotels if you want more peace and
quiet.

Also note that most of the hotels do buffet service, which was OK, but
raraely good. They don't seem to have the focus on keeping food hot
hot like we do. We were eating around on a weekly rota, different
hoptel each night, and some were better than others, but TBH I can't
remember which were which, plus it's five years or more ago, so has
probably changed. But if I were going I'd choose somewhere that did't
do buffet dinners. YMMV.

Anthing else you want to know?

--
Ace
Ski Club of Great Britain http://www.skiclub.co.uk/
All opinions expressed are those of the poster and in no way reflect those of the Ski Club or its members