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Sky
Sky in Andorra. The fascinating story
| The abundant snowfalls of 1924 would have delighted skiers in the
90s but the snow which lavishly covered the country was of no benefit to the less than
numerous inhabitants of the Principality of Andorra who were suffering severe difficulties
in getting from one village to the next. Despite this, the mail service had to go on and
that year Miquel Farré, the postman at Soldeu, during one of his habitual journeys on
snow shoes to the French village of Porta to fetch the mail discovered the long ash wood
planks which his French colleagues were using to get about.
The postman did not hesitate for a moment to swap his snow shoes for skis. Needless to say, his arrival sliding along on these strange gadgets created a sensation in Soldeu. Miquel Farré's mates set about copying the curious planks you tied to your feet with thongs (which his family still jealously guards). The first skis reached Andorra not for sport, but as a way round the difficulties in getting around between the villages which then made up the country which a few years later was to become one of the most complete ski centres in the Pyrenees. |
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The use of skis to get around became general throughout the Principality and in the winter of 1929, which was equally generous with snow, there was the first winter crossing with skis between Soldeu and Pas de la Casa. In 1931, three young Andorrans proudly opened the first ski slope at Vall d'Incles, which only had the drawback that you had to go back up on foot. Interest in ski grew among Andorrans and in 1932 the Andorran Ski Club was founded. In 1945 it was to become the Envalira Ski Club with 50 members.
In 1935 the first meeting between Andorran, French and Spanish skiers was organized at Envalira but the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War put a stop to the trial continuing. Even so, this did not stop the Andorrans' interest as they were betting on the future: during the Civil War years (1936-1939) the first teleski was installed in Andorra; it looked pretty rudimentary but served its purpose. Located on the road from Grau Roig to the Refuge at Envalira, it hoisted skiing pioneers up the mountain side.
But the Andorrans were not the only ones to appreciate conditions for skiing in their mountains. Before 1936 there was the so-called "white train" plying between Paris and La Tour de Carol which regularly brought skiers to Andorra.
In the winter of 1936 the groups of young Andorrans most given to skiing used this means of transport for purposes other than sport. It was during the Spanish Civil War, there was no oil in Andorra and you needed to earn a living: the solution was to set out for L'Hospitalet in France early in the morning with skis on and your feet wrapped in sealskin and come back in the evening with a load on your back.
The war period which went on until 1945 isolated Andorran international competitions but these began again in 1946 in an almost clandestine fashion. From then on, the slopes in the Principality became the link between French and Spanish skiers with the annual holding of the Easter ski competition.
The passion for winter sports was not limited to the mountains bordering France. At Arinsal in 1952 Àlvar Menéndez installed a tow lift on the slope at El Pedregat and the same year three skiers, Francesc Viladomat, Agustí Albareda and Bernat Boixeda, built a teleski at Pas de la Casa, and in Ordino in 1954 they set up a small lift with a truck engine at El Prat Gran.
The role of Andorran skiers in Spanish championship was memorable in those years: in 1950 Francesc Viladomat won his first championship of Spain for Andorra with Lluís Molné in second place. Events speeded up with the euphoria of the Andorran champions but there was still a big problem waiting to be solved: the road over the Envalira pass linking Andorra to France was passable only in summer and this meant a problem for skiers to access the slopes at Pas de la Casa. But this did not slow down Francesc Viladomat's plans. With a group of men working night and day at –20º centigrade he at last achieved his aim and on 1 December 1957 the first mechanical installation on the Andorran slopes was opened. This was the Coll Blanc teleski at Pas de la Casa which started working with a truck engine.
The regular opening of the Envalira road achieved by Andreu Claret in 1958 was the complement to the future challenge thrown down by Francesc Viladomat. Skiers from Spain were joined by the French who could come by road throughout the winter. The commercial boom of the 60s consecrated Andorra as an ideal tourist destination for a weekend, both for skiers and shoppers.
In the following years, the installations at Pas de la Casa spread out to Grau Roig and in December 1986 the station was the first to be equipped with artificial snow canons.
The second station in the Principality of Andorra also came into being thanks to the initiative of skiing enthusiasts. Miquel Baró, Josep Torrallardona and Martí Salvans opened the first chair lift at the foot of the village of Soldeu in the Espiolets area. It was February 1964 and tourist euphoria was encouraging the country's prosperity in all directions. So in the winter of 1981 the station enlarged to take in the Tarter area and took the name Soldeu-El Tarter. The artificial snow canons reached the station in the winter of 1987.
The birth of the third Andorran ski station in 1972 caused a significant change: the stations extended their range of action to the western valleys in the country. Arinsal, promoted by Josep Serra, opened its doors with a chair lift and three teleskis. The station was equipped with artificial snow in the winter of 1988.
In the winter of 1982-83 Pal, the fourth station in Andorra and the first to be a public enterprise, saw the light of day. The canons arrived four years later, in December 1987.
The last station opened in Andorra is that if Ordino-Arcalís, also a public initiative. This northernmost station in the country was opened in December 1983 and got its artificial snow installation in 1990.
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