My Web Log
Back in Arinsal, and it's snowing
Posted: 29/03/2008
I'm back in Arinsal at last and watching the first big snowfall of the season through the window. It has been snowing all day and all night, so the skiing tomorrow should be pretty good. I didn't get to go up the mountain today as I had to go into town to complete the immigration medical.
You may have noticed the site being down for some time recently. This was due to a hacking attack on the hosting company. Extra security measures have now been put in place (and unfortunately one of those measures broke the site leaving it down for even longer). So, I apologise, but I am now back.
On the subject of the website, I have been making a few tweaks. I have included headlines from my regular blog, http://winterwonderings.blogspot.com as I tend to post there a bit more regularly than I do here. Now I am back in town there should be a few more changes on the way, so watch this space.
Summer Skiing
Posted: 18/07/2007
Well, it's been a while since my last post on this site and summer is in full swing - so not the time to be writing about skiing. However I'm going to anyway...
I have just returned home after a fortnight skiing on the glacier in Les Deux Alpes, and I have to report that it is an excellent way to spend a summer holiday. Although technically it was a training course rather than a holiday. Skiing in the summer only happens in the morning - the lifts close at 1PM. This means that the afternoons are free for mountain biking, hill walking, volleyball or just lounging by the pool. It's an active but chilled out way to spend time in the mountains, and a bit less hectic than a winter holiday. So, if you're looking for a different sort of summer holiday, some of the ski resorts are well worth a visit in their quiet season. Do research them first though, as there are many other ski resorts which are deserted and ugly over the summer months with little in the way of activities or entertainment.
End of the Season
Posted: 18/04/2007
Well, that's it for another winter season. I'm off back to the UK in just under a week and a lot of people have already gone. The last month of the season has seen all the snow that we didn't have earlier on. It snowed pretty much every day for the best part of four weeks.
I spent the last three weeks skiing in Soldeu (the other side of Andorra) doing the end of my BASI Grade 2 ISIA exams. I passed both courses (Teaching and Technical) although the Technical especially felt like a pretty close run thing. So after three years (and I've lost count of how much money) I've finally reached the ISIA level. Thank you to everyone I've skied with who's helped with training and pointers. For anyone reading this who doesn't know what ISIA means, watch out for a forthcoming discussion on the various levels of ski instructor.
I have started a new Blog at winterwonderings.blogspot.com for the purpose of commiting my musings to the web. Expect it to be a bit more rambling than this one :-)
Don't forget to drop by arinsal-andorra.com for all the latest on the resort. The Forum page there offers a pretty good way to stay in touch over the summer. Speaking of summer, I hope you all have a good one, I'll see you next winter...
P.S. Apologies to anybody who has emailed me lately and not yet recieved a reply. I'll try to catch up with my backlog over the next couple of days.
New website launched
Posted: 25/02/2007
You may have noticed I've been a bit slack at updating this site recently. The main reason for this is that I've been putting a lot of effort into a new Arinsal website called Arinsal-Andorra.com which I am developing with one of my colleagues here at the Arinsal ski school.
The site presently provides an interactive map, image galleries and a forum, and will soon include listings of bars, restaurants, hotels and shops. So please take a visit and let us know what you think.
In other news the weather seems to have returned to it's usual pattern, - more or less - with February having a mixture of sunshine and snowfall at regular intervals. It makes a pleasant change from the endless sunshine of December and January, and the pistes that were shut through the early part of the season are now starting to open. Over in Pal the links to the Seturia sector are finally open, so it is possible to ski from Arinsal to the main station at Pal again. It looks as if things are shaping up for a pretty good end to the season.
Ian
Winter has arrived (at last)
Posted: 24/01/2007
So, I've finally got around to putting up the blog page. I'll try and update it with the latest news from resort every few days. Eventually you'll be able to leave comments, but for the moment you can reach me through the contact form.
The big news at the moment is that after a couple of weeks of sunshine and T-shirts, the snow and cold weather has finally arrived. The town is actually looking like a ski resort now, with white stuff everywhere. In fact the lifts almost didn't open today because of the amount of weather. You'll see a lot of smiling faces if you are in town this week, as all the locals get as excited as children at Christmas at the first sign of a snowflake.
Happy days