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-s****t'... :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
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