Baqueira-Beret
Encyclopedia
Ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...
located in the heart of the Pyrenees, in the Aran Valley, Lleida
Lleida (province)
thumb|250px|Monastery of [[Santa Maria de Bellpuig de les Avellanes]].Lleida is a province of north-eastern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is bordered by the provinces of Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Zaragoza and Huesca and the countries of France and...
, Catalonia. The ski area extends from 1,500 to the 2,510 meters.
The resort
Baqueira-Beret is the largest Winter resort in the Spanish Pyrenees, with 110km of marked pistePiste
A piste is a marked ski run or path down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain sports. The term is European, from the French for trail or track, synonymous with trail, slope, or groomed run in North America....
s and 7km of cross-country ski and 1.922 hectares of ski area. It is located in the highest part of the Aran Valley (Naut Arán), and Pallars Sobirá (Valls d'Aneu). It has long and wide ski runs some through trees. It is divided into three different zones, Baqueira, Beret and Bonaigua. The resort of Baqueira-Beret, due to its westerly aspect, has a good snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
record throughout the winter. In addition is more than 1,000 meters vertical drop and an extensive skiable zone which makes it one of best ski resorts of Spain. It is the favourite of the Spanish Royal Family
Spanish Royal Family
The Royal Family of the Kingdom of Spain consists of the current king, Juan Carlos, his spouse, Queen Sofia of Spain and their direct descendants. The Spanish royal family belongs to the House of Borbón...
.
Much of the region of the Aran Valley and Pallars Sobirá is made up of over 50 small rural populations, each one with stone and wood houses and ancient Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
churches. The resort was founded 60 years ago on the initiative of the local authorities in the Aran Valley. A group of people commanded by Jorge Jordana Pozas, Jesús Serra Santamanas and Luis Arias (after whom a slope is named after he died in a dramatic accident) founded the ski resort in the municipality of Naut
Naut Aran
Naut Aran is a municipality in the comarca of the Aran Valley in Catalonia, Spain. It is the second largest municipality in Catalonia in terms of surface area , and was created in 1967 by the merger of the municipalities of Arties, Salardú, Gessa, Tredòs and Bagergue: the former municipalities...
given the good snow conditions found there. Baqueira-Beret, with over 110 kilometers of ski runs, is the most visited and extensive station on the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
.
Lifts
Almost all of the resort's lifts are modern and of high capacity, the resort has:- 1 gondola liftGondola liftA gondola lift is a type of aerial lift, normally called a cable car, which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel cable that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supporting towers. The cable is driven by a bullwheel in a terminal,...
s - 20 chair lifts of which: 2 six seaters, 6 four seaters, 7 three seaters and 5 two seaters.
- 5 ski towSki towthumb|right|A rope tow or ski tow.A ski tow, also called rope tow or handle tow, is a mechanised system for pulling skiers and snowboarders uphill....
s
Pistes
The resort offers 71 pistes of different difficulties:5 beginners. 34 easy. 26 intermediate. 6 expert.
Services
The Ski Center offers the normal services, ski school, equipment rental, restaurants and cafeterias on the slopes, medical services, etc. There are also hotels and apartments as well as ice skatingIce skating
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...
, heated swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
, and shops. There are also numerous restaurants and bars.