bulgaria v andorra

I went to Pas de la Casa, Andorra as a beginner............I suggest you
DON'T. Unless you have no fear, then there is not enough terrain between
very flat green and scary (for beginner) steep & icy blue

Also the trek to the learning greens will put your kids off straight away.

Apparently Soldeu (also Andorra, next resort along) has much better
selection of greens.

In terms of operators....beware Panorama - the reps are Ibiza reps with
nothing to do for the winter. of the 5 reps in Pas de la Casa, none had
ever skied, could not organise anything bar a P*ssup in a brewery (and even
that they would have struggled with). We had to sort ourselves out for the
pre booked lessons!!

Good luck!

"Ian Diddams" wrote in message
om...
any vies on the above for a family (2xadults, 3xchildren - 8,6,& 4
years) of complete novices ?

I've heard both are good value for beginners.

Any recommendations even (hotels/resorts/tour operators/whatever!)

cheers

ian

We went to Ordino and it was absolutely amazing. We went in January, so
there was pretty much no-one around, and we had the pistes to ourselves.

I suggest have a look at www.andorra.ad and chat to Soraya via email She
arranged a fantastic holiday for us for E615 for 10 nights incl ski passes.
I thought it was great value.

The only let down is you need your own vehicle, as the bus service is a bit
limiting.

We are probably going to go up to Austria in January... lets hope it lives
up to Andorra.
--
Regards

Rodger

"Ian Diddams" wrote in message
om...
any vies on the above for a family (2xadults, 3xchildren - 8,6,& 4
years) of complete novices ?

I've heard both are good value for beginners.

Any recommendations even (hotels/resorts/tour operators/whatever!)

cheers

ian

In message , Ian
Diddams writes
any vies on the above for a family (2xadults, 3xchildren - 8,6,& 4
years) of complete novices ?

I've heard both are good value for beginners.

Any recommendations even (hotels/resorts/tour operators/whatever!)

There's an Andorra thread in rec.skiing.resorts.europe - try a Google
search on that group for both countries before you post, as it's likely
some people are away for the summer.

All the factual information you can cope with is in the Resorts section
of www.skiclub.co.uk

I know someone who's skied in Bulgaria, he had a blast.
--
Sue ];(

Hi there,

no idea about Bulgaria at all. However, I do ski in Andorra 2/3 times
per year, so I can give you a rough idea of what the skiing there is
like:

* Pas/Grau Roig: Don't even try that resort until you're very
comfortable in blue runs and can do reds more or less (I guess reds in
Europe = Black Diamonds in USA). Slopes are not very long and quite
steep. The ski school is average to good.
Nice scenery and good views.

* Ordino/Arcalis: Small resort, nice slopes and the people there are
very friendly. Plus, if you go off-season there are very few people,
so skiing there can be a real joy. Nice ski school, if a little small.
This would be my choice were I a beginner.

* Pal/arinsal: Very similar to Ordino, this would be a very nice
resort too.

* Soldeu/tarter: Arguably the best resort in Andorra. Quite large,
lots of varied slopes, ranging from easy beginners' greens to a wide
selection of black runs. There are also 4 marked ski tracks when the
snow is good (but I guess you won't take these yet, will you ). The
best ski school I've ever attended to (and I've taken a few, including
StAnton & Lech in Austria, Zermatt in Switzerland, etc.). good place
for beginners too, although probably less cozy than Pal or Ordino.

So, except Pas, all the other resorts are good for absolute beginners.
Good luck and enjoy!

(Ian Diddams) wrote in message . com...
any vies on the above for a family (2xadults, 3xchildren - 8,6,& 4
years) of complete novices ?

I've heard both are good value for beginners.

Any recommendations even (hotels/resorts/tour operators/whatever!)

cheers

ian


My first ever trip was to Bulgaria. It was absolutely dire. Food was
dreadful, resort was dreadful, instruction was dreadful. I learnt how
to snowplough & nothing more.

However, it had the big advantage of being cheap & I was a student at
the time. It must have improved since then (1990) or they'd be out of
business by now....

Andorra has a bit of a reputation like Costa del Sol & Ibiza for lager
louts, as it's duty free. But it is supposed to be good for beginners
(I've never been).

Hi,

i sure will go. The latest new thing they have is a new quad chair
plus they've opened a new skiable area (Canillo sector) which is quite
small but has two very nice tracks: a very long blue which takes you
around the mountain so you get to see quite a lot of the surrounding
sierras, and a screaming black ("Gaig" run) that takes you straight
down in much less time. I've done both and they're beautiful, (each in
its own style, of course).

If you'd like a map, just go to their website www.soldeu.ad...

Funny, talking to someone that was there that long ago. I've been
skiing there for only 3 years, so I don't have your historic
perspective...

If you manage to find some time off, go back...you'll be amazed at how
nice a resort that is nowadays.



) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(fawlty) writes:
* Soldeu/tarter: Arguably the best resort in Andorra.

I skied there 25 years or so ago. It was a great little place at the time,
and you could get a cheap room in somebody's house.
It had only one double chair at the bottom.
That's where I got my first ever ski injury: I didn't lift the tip of one
ski up and it got caught and went under the chair.
No release at the toe back then. so I got quite a sprain. I had to take
the chair back down.

If you go back this winter drop me a line. I'd love to get a ski area map.

bruno.