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Piau-Engaly - mini-report
Well, another season (for us, at least) ended with surprisingly abundant
snow down in the French Pyrenees. Piau Engaly, along with Cauterets, remained open until yesterday (Sun) and had a decent turn-out of skiers from both France and Spain. By then only a couple of chair-lifts (plus a drag-lift or two) were open but at least the Pic de Piau high-speed six-seater hauls right up to the top of the mountain in a single hop, and the pistes are planned pretty well to allow everyone to fan out from there. Morning conditions were, well, spring-like, really - not exactly unexpected, as temps were high, with clear blue skies. Grooming is difficult in these conditions, as the softer stuff late in the day freezes hard again overnight, turning the next morning's skiing into something of an 'impact-sport'... :0( But it soon softened a little, helping smooth out the washboard effect. Our knees were duly grateful. So why, after all we've learnt in the past, do we still do things like turning right (W) off the top of the lift and taking Perdrix, the near-hidden red which almost no-one else seemed to want to tackle? The sun obvously wasn't going to hit this until the afternoon, and the "Danger: Pente Raide!" warning signs were clear enough. And steep it certainly was. Oh what fun we had (?) testing the edges of our skis - not exactly a dignified descent, but at least we got down safe and sound, without falling down. The run also dropped us down straight into the Valée de Badet, where I had to take quick action to avoid a large, almost black marmot which for some reason decided to bound across the piste right in front of me. While we were calmly eyeing each other a few seconds later, I remembered that in the tourism office they have casts made of tracks, to help identify local wildlife, including bears. So far as I'm aware, no-one has yet had one of those bound across in front of them... The sun held for almost three days, yet the snow held up. Saturday's little fine-weather diversion was the 'le water-slide', preparations for which involved digging out a long trench on the lower slopes of the Lac piste, lining it with black poly and filling it with water. Skiers and boarders were then invited to head down at full-tilt to ski over the surface of the water and off the other side - which some of them succeeded in doing. The others got an early bath. Piau's a fun place, and has sufficient altutude to give it typically a 5-month season. It's also not a bad transfer from flights into Pau, Tarbes, Lourdes, etc. But it remains something of a well-kept secret. What could really make it better-known is to forge a link with nearby Saint-Lary Soulan, but this is unikely for now, due to local political issues. Until then we'll keep an eye on it, and pop back once in a while for a taste of decent skiing closer to us than the Alps. We'll also post a full profile online ASAP. RM www.mountainpassions.com - an Online Magazine with Altitude. |
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