So Pas is a party town with plenty of fun to be had in the evening, but what’s the riding like? Here’s what we found as we made our steady progression from beginner to intermediate. Don’t worry advanced riders, I’ll try to include as much as I can for you guys.
Pas is Andorra’s highest resort with elevations between 2100m & 2640m. It is situated right on Andorra’s boarder with France, only a couple of miles in from the customs post, but be warned it is still a 4 hour transfer from Toulouse. The transfer is made a lot more interesting by the stunning views and snow covered mountain roads, that people don’t seem to slow down for. We organised our trip through www.neilson.co.uk and were lucky enough to get a brand spanking new bus for our transfer, however the newness did not last for long. A car skidded into the side of the bus on the way. The car driver just stuck his thumb up out the window as if to say I’m fine, then drove off. Every one on the bus found this very amusing, well apart from the bus driver.
Buses are not allowed into the centre of Pas so be prepared to walk to your hotel, most organisers will arrange a vehicle to take your luggage. There are a number of good places to stay in Pas many of which are right on the slopes. The village is set up for tourists and has a great range of restaurants, pubs and clubs, something for everyone.
So Back to the riding! On the pas side of the mountain there is one main red run with a reasonable sized snow park halfway down. For beginners there are plenty of places to learn on the 3 or 4 blue runs. For the more advanced rider I would recommend going over the top to the other side of the mountain. The resort is linked to Soldeu and El Tarter which offer the more advanced terrain. As we were making our transition from beginner to intermediate we had plenty to keep us busy on the pas side, so we did not venture over the top. For those of you into tree riding pas does not have any although I am not sure what the linked resorts offer in the way of tree lines and glades. For the powder hunters out there you will not find much here.
For the majority of the week that we were there the snow levels were good. Towards the end of the week it had stopped snowing and the wind had picked up. We rode the TSD 4 Pas de la Casa chair up to the top and found we had to dismount onto a sheet of naked ice. All the snow from the top had been blown away, as I’m sure you are aware that trying to negotiate the bunch of people standing around at the top of a lift without your foot strapped in is not easy at the best of times, trying cope on a sheet of ice is lethal. This is the busiest chair in pas so you will encounter people standing in your way at the top and queues at the bottom.
Lift queues are long and fairly stressful here although some of the lifts over towards the left hand side of the resort are a little quieter. I experienced a small child around 8 years old stabbing my 1 week old snowboard with his ski pole. His mum just looked at him then glared at me as if to say if he wants to do that it’s fine by me. Well you can’t really say a lot to that and I wasn’t about to have a go at a child so we waited for the lift and he stabbed away to his hearts content. I’m sure there are many of you out there who would have said something to either the mother or the child, however I was not in the mood for an argument. Tempers run high in these lift queues.
On the whole I would recommend this resort to those of you who want a budget European boarding holiday, with plenty of nightlife. For the advanced riders who want the parties stay here and venture to the other resorts during the day, for those who don’t mind not having the party scene you may want to consider staying at one of the others. Beginner and intermediate riders should be happy here with good terrain to advance on and plenty of fun for the evenings. For more information on pas and the linked resorts check out http://www.grandvalira.com
