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Skiing Pyrenees - Ski Pyrenees

Alpine skiing in Bareges and La Mongie, Pyrenees and Snow forecast

Mountainbug offers Alpine skiing in the impressive Tourmalet (Barèges-La Mongie) ski domain; the largest ski resort in the French Pyrenees. Skiing in the Pyrenees is a secret well-kept by the French – here you can explore kilometres of well-groomed piste set in beautiful unspoiled scenery, for a fraction of what you would pay in the Alps, and without the crowds. We are based in Bareges - a traditional mountain ski village with friendly residents and a lively atmosphere.
View live WEBCAMS, PHOTOS & VIDEOS . Click here for FULL Photo Gallery

TOURMALET SKI RESORT (Bareges-La Mongie) 1250-2500m altitude >100 km of runs 69 pistes 42 ski lifts 5 black runs 20 red runs 20 blue runs 24 green runs

Downloadable piste map:

Accommodation is provided at our lovely 3-star ski chalet; in the heart of the village and close to all the local shops, bakery, thermal spa, bars and restaurants. We are one of the very few ski chalets in the Pyrenees and offer a high standard of service - spacious rooms, en-suite bathrooms, delicious food and many facilities.

We are here to advise you on the resort and offer a free tour. We can also pre-book ski hire and ski lessons for you (see below for details).
Click here for: Ski holiday prices and availability Click here for: The Bareges ski photo gallery

Ski chalet Pyrenees - a traditional village house in Bareges	A warm Winter welcome to skiing in the Pyrenees	Pyrenees accommodation - spacious and characterful en-suite bedrooms	Chalet Pyrenees - cosy lounge with well-stocked bar & wood-burning stove
B&B or half board - delicious 3 course evening meals with coffee	Chalet Pyrenees - the front patio buried by a February snow dump	Pyrenees accommodation - lovely en-suite bedrooms with exposed beams	A cosy lounge for apres-ski tea, cakes and relaxation in the Pyrenees

Ski pyrenees - the gentle blue run from Super Bareges to Tournaboup

Pyrenees skiing - quiet pistes in the Laquette ski area

Ski Pyrenees - ideal for groups & families

Skiing Pyrenees - group shot beside the Laquette piste restaurant

Ski Pyrenees - cruising blue run down to La Mongie

Skiing in the Pyrenees

The skiing in the Pyrenees is relatively unknown in the UK, but the Pyrenees are wonderful in the winter – receiving more snow annually than the Alps, due to their maritime position near to the Atlantic coast. The weather conditions are ideal – stable high pressure systems bringing clear blue skies, interspersed with heavy snowstorms to refresh the slopes. As a result, the Tourmalet resort has a long season from the end of November through to the beginning of April. Recent huge investments in snow-making equipment should guarantee snow throughout. Pyrenees skiing, and the Tourmalet resort in particular, is excellent for beginners and intermediate skiers, with gentle nursery slopes and beautiful, wide runs giving access to every area of the resort. The resort has 24 green and 20 blue pistes, making it possible to visit all of the five interconnected ski areas without straying onto anything too challenging. Not forgetting the advanced skiers though, there are 20 red runs, and 5 blacks, as well as huge off-piste potential. Off piste-skiing and ski touring in the Pyrenees is becoming more well-known, www.pistehors.com, and the local ski instructors are swift to encourage forays away from the pistes. The Pic du Midi lift is now open to anyone wishing to attempt the legendary descent from the observatory at 2877m right down into the resort at La Mongie.

*Guided trips in 2011*

Off piste ski safari holidays in the Pyrenees, 2- and 6-day trips.
Ski touring holidays - join an introductory week or request a custom trip for your group.
All inclusive guided weeks: 975 euros pp (min. group size 4)

For much of the ski season in the Pyrenees, you can ski home to the village (situated at 1250m and served by a lovely blue-run through deciduous woodland or a green run following the burbling Bastan river). The ski resort has free parking both in the village, and just up the road at Tournaboup, where the main lifts depart. From our base in the village, five minutes ride on the free ski bus – stopping regularly just metres from the house – is the easiest way to get to the slopes. If you have your own transport, and one resort is not enough, there are 4 more ski resorts within 50 minutes drive of Bareges!

Online ski pass bookings (5% reduction when booked online):

Click here for the general NPY online booking page: The ski passes ordered here are "rechargable" and opperate much like an 'Oyster card' with the automatic "hands free" gate system in the resort. The page is only available in French but is fairly simple to follow - as it was made with France in mind we advise using our postal address so you can pick up your "forfaits" when you arrive with us, all orders must be made at least 8 days before you plan to ski (please email us too so that we know to keep an eye out for them). Please note that we do not get involved in booking of lift passes and any issues with booking/collection/problems are purely your own. Here is the direct link for the booking of week long passes: http://www.skipass-tourmalet.com/catalog/ Alternatively it is very easy to buy them directly in resort when you arrive.

Pyrenees ski pass price guide: 2009/2010

The "Grand Tourmalet" pass includes access to the Pic du Midi cable car - either for a visit to admire the views and look around the museum, or for the more daring, an off-piste descent on skis or snowboard (advanced skiers only!).

Pyrenees ski equipment hire prices - guideline prices

A good range of ski, snowboard and boot hire is available in the village, and typically costs 11 to 21 euros a day per person depending on your level.

Helmets, snow shoes and sledges can also be hired in the village. We also have our own snow shoe and pole sets for hire at 6€ a day.

Pyrenees Ski lessons 2009/2010 prices

We recommend the Independent ski school "Ecoloski". The ski school is particularly good with children and the instructors speak good English. There is a ski creche for over threes, priced as for group lessons. Mountain Guides are also available through the ski school for off-piste skiing, telemark skiing, ski touring, snow-park tuition and ice-climbing. 2009/2010 lesson prices are:

Please get in touch if you require advance bookings for ski equipment or skiing lessons. Ski Pyrenees - Booking and pricing area

Family skiing in the Pyrenees

Skiing in the Pyrenees is an excellent choice for families. There are well-linked runs for skiers of all abilities, and plenty of good piste restaurants, which are a handy meeting place at lunchtime or after lessons. The local ski instructors are fantastic with children, and the ski creche is open for over threes. The ski creche is situated on the Tournaboup nursery slopes, with games and a ski course for kids. A rope tow and rolling carpet "tapis" lift make skiing easy and fun for young children. Reliable babysitters are also available locally.

Pyrenees skiing - ski school for children of 3 years and over	Group lesson with the excellent independent ski school, Ecoloski	Ski Pyrenees - Christian keeping his group entertained as usual!	Skiing Pyrenees - youngsters' ski creche - Tournaboup nursery area

Snowboarding in the Pyrenees

The Tourmalet ski area is ideal for snowboarders because almost all of the resort is accessible by chairlift and most of the runs are really long and wide. Beginners will find the easy slopes of Laquette ideal for learning, and the ski school instructors are great fun (see pics below). Intermediate and advanced boarders in particular will love the snow park and huge off-piste potential just next to most of the runs. The resort is home to several important snowboarding/freeride competitions - the Dragon team made good use of our railings in the heavy winter of 2005!

Quicksilver 4* TTR "Mathieu Crepel Invitational" (February 2008) - the first World Championship snowboarding event to be held in the Pyrenees, arranged by Mathieu Crepel - local snowboarder and World Champion in 2005/2006. Some of the best riders in the World met at the Tourmalet ski resort to take part in this slope-style contest on a Big Air jump constructed on the "piste de Toue".

Off-piste skiing in the Pyrenees

Around the Tourmalet ski resort, there are vast areas of undeveloped skiable terrain to be explored. The decision in 2003 to open the Pic de Midi cable car to skiers has created an off-piste skier's dream. It is now possible to descend from 2877m at the summit, right into the valley bottom at La Mongie - a descent of 1000 m. According to Raymond Cuilhé, mountain guide in the Bagneres-du-Bigorre valley, "to find the equivalent in the Alps you would have to go to the Aiguille du Midi at Chamonix or the valleys of the Meije in Isere".

**2011** - guided 2- and 6- day off piste ski safari holidays in the Pyrenees.
Please enquire if you have a date in mind!

Read more about the Tourmalet ski resort and the move to open up the Pic du Midi to skiers at www.pistehors.com (good off-piste skiing website). Some quotes: "Barèges already offered many and extensive off-piste opportunities but this move has placed it firmly in the big league.".... "It says in the Sunday Times that Barèges is the best kept secret in the France"...."The traditional spa town of Barèges could be a Pyrenean version of Chamonix but the challenging skiing and open access of the Pic is more like la Grave."

Ski Pyrenees - relaxing and enjoying the views from Laquette	Apres-ski Bareges - a "giraffe" at the local bar "Le Richelieu"	Skiing Pyrenees - deserted pistes in late February	Pyrenees ski holidays - fun and games at the chalet

Pyrenees apres-ski

Bareges is a small, friendly mountain village. It is nice and quiet out of the main season, but gets lively during the holiday periods. The village has several good bars, and many hotels, all of which have a public bar. Made famous by its legendary 2.5l lager "giraffes", our local bar, "Le Richelieu", is run by our neighbours - the Sabathie family - and is literally just round the corner on the main street. It has a pool table and "babyfoot" table football, and shows all of the big games for sports fans. The village also has a cinema and thermal baths. The spa is the highest in France and has been completely refurbished this year - well worth a visit for some apres-ski pampering! While many appreciate the chance to pop out for a drink before dinner, the majority of our guests prefer to relax in front of the fire in our own lounge. We have a good selection of English books, family games, CD and DVD player with a big-screen digital projector, and a well-stocked bar.

Snow Forecast for skiing in the Pyrenees

Visit our NEWS page for regular updates on weather and snow conditions out here in the Pyrenees.

Some photos from Winter 2009-2010

First snows in November - Emma on skis at 9 months pregnant	Rob buried in early November	The village smothered in early December
Eric the berger's cabane, December	A rare outing - Castillon chair	Perfect powder, Laquette in January
Beautiful Laquette in late January	Rob outside Chez Louisette	Skiing home to Bareges in January
Top of the Coume Lounque buttons	Rob at the halfway station, February	Nappies drying on the line in March

Pyrenean skiing myths explored

1. The Pyrenees are low-altitude 2. They are not snow-sure 3. Skiing in France is expensive...

1. Bareges-La Mongie ski resort (also known as Tourmalet) ranges between 1250m and 2500m in altitude. If you include the World-class off-piste itinerary from the Pic du Midi at 2877m, there is a maximum vertical descent of 1627m (one vertical mile!). The Tourmalet resort has higher top lifts than many of the major Alpine ski areas, and the Tournaboup lift departure area (official start of the resort) is at higher or equivalent-to altitude than many of the Alpine stations:

* resort information taken from "J2ski website"

2. The Pyrenees regularly receive more snow that the Alps due to their Maritime climate. Last year was one of the best Winters in 30 years, with the Pyrenees being second only to Corsica for the amount of snow falling over the 2008-2009 season. We could ski home to Bareges virtually right through the season, from late November to late March. Right at the end of the Winter, in mid April, we still had over 3m of lying snow in the Neouvielle Nature Reserve above Bareges (unbelievably good ski touring!), meanwhile some of the resort in the Northern Alps were closing early due to lack of snow! Needless to say, there was no need for artificial snow-making last Winter, but it is reassuring to know that the Tourmalet resort has snow cannons on almost all of nursery slopes and blue pistes, covering the entire resort axis between Lienz and La Mongie.

As demonstrated above, the Tourmalet resort is higher altitude than many of the major Alpine ski areas, so it keeps its snow well right through the season. Early in the Winter, while you might be tempted to go to a high altitude mega-resort, barren rocky, high-level pistes require a thick cover of snow before they can open, while runs with a grassy base (the majority of the pistes here) need only a nice sprinkle to come into condition. All good news for the Pyrenees!

3. Skiing in the Pyrenees is around 1/3 cheaper than the Alps for lift passes, lessons, equipment hire and meals out on the slopes. Here, you can get a typical "plat du jour" for 8-10 euros, and a sandwich for 3-5 euros. Of course, if your euro notes are all in the three digit-denominations, and you don't mind paying 10 euros for a hot chocolate, there's always Courchevel.....

Our address, for ordering ski passes:
Mountainbug: 8 rue Mme de Maintenon, Bareges, 65120, FRANCE