The
Sierra Nevada is Spain's most famous mountain range, and also contains the highest point in peninsular Spain (the summit of Mulhacén at 3479m). Rising behind the city of Granada, we took advantage of its proximity and made a day trip out of it. In the summer it's known for its hiking trails, and in the winter, what else but for its skiing. So on Friday the 13th, we took a bus up to the mountains (€9 round trip) to enjoy a day of snow and skiing. (Quick cultural trivia: in Spain and Spanish speaking countries, the day of bad luck is on Tuesday the 13th. They have an idiom that goes:
"En trece y martes, ni te cases ni te embarques." which means that on a Tuesday the 13th you shouldn't get married nor board a ship).
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| Snow capped mountain peaks |
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| Winding roads up the mountains |
The bus ride was a short hour away from the city, winding up and around the mountains. We left at around 10am and enjoyed the magnificent views from the bus as we were going up. We arrived at
Pradollano, which is the name of the resort village in the Sierra Nevada where all the ski shops, hotels, restaurants, etc. are. It's such a small and cute snow town! Pradollano is also more commonly known as the
Sierra Nevada Ski Station, and it's Europe's southernmost ski station. Because of its high elevation, the skiing season can last up to early May.
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| I was pretty amused with everything, including this snow plow |
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| Such a cute ski town! |
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| The main plaza |
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| The cable cars and mountains |
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| With the snowy mountains behind us |
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| Loving all the snow :) |
We walked around the town a bit, then went to check out the ski shops. It was Lyle's, Julie's and my first time to ski, so we inquired about ski classes as well as gear rental. After scoping out a few shops, we headed to the main plaza to buy our ski pass. It's quite pricey at €37 for a half day pass (1-6pm), and €43 for a full day pass. We just got the half day pass, since that was more than enough time for us to learn and ski. After buying our passes we decided to have an early lunch in Pradollano before going up to ski, also since we heard that food was more expensive in the restaurants where the mid-ski station is.
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| Buying our ski passes |
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| Buying our ski passes |
We found a store
Sbc that offered good deals on classes and gear rental. Since none of us knew how to ski, we opted for the 2 hour class which cost us €88 or about €29 per person. And since we were availing of the classes, the woman in the shop gave us a discount on our gear rental. We were able to rent the skis, boots, and poles for €20 instead of €25, and she even threw in snow pants and gloves for us to rent for free!
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| Our ski gear |
Then at around 2pm, we were off to ski! Together with our instructor we took the cable car up to Borreguiles, which is the mid-station where the bunny slopes are, as well as the ski lifts are to get to the higher slopes. Borreguiles also has several cafés, restaurants, ski shops and lockers, but they're more expensive than the ones in Pradollano.
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| Cable cars |
And then we were ready to ski! Our instructor taught us how to put on the skis; proper posture; how to get moving, stop, turn, etc. It's not as difficult as I expected it to be, but it's not particularly easy either. We started off in the practice slopes (surrounded by lots and lots of children, haha). These were the really baby practice slopes that were just a few meters long. After maybe half and hour here, we moved on to the longer slopes.
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| Practice slopes |
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| Practice slopes |
It was a really fun experience! I had no problem moving and gaining velocity, but I had a hard time controlling my turning. I fell only once though, yay! After an hour and a half total of skiing, we struck up conversation with our instructor asking about the slopes and had this funny conversation (translated into English):
Us: Where are the most difficult slopes?
Instructor: (Points). The most difficult slopes are colored black and red.
Us: And the easy ones?
Instructor: Blue and green.
Us: So, what color slope are we in now?
Instructor: Uh, this one has no color.
So basically we were in colorless practice slopes the whole time. Haha. We spent the rest of the half hour continuing our practice, then our instructor said goodbye to us and left us to keep skiing.
By this point we were pretty confident in our beginner skiing skills (see my victory pose in the picture below!) so we decided to check out one of the green colored slopes that was right nearby.
But really, one of my main reasons for wanting to check out the bunny slopes was because I really wanted to ride the chairlift! Haha. So we hopped on the chairlift and rode it up the mountain (just under a 10 minute ride).
The view was magnificent from up there! Surrounded by all that snow felt really amazing. We basked in the view for a while, and then we were ready to go...
...and promptly fell after 5 seconds of skiing. The slopes were much harder than they looked!!! (Those countless kids skiing make it look so easy). They were pretty steep, and I couldn't control my velocity. I was going way too fast for my liking and couldn't slow down. At first, I couldn't even remember how to get up properly, but after watching a few other skiiers, I figured it out, and was at least able to get up after each time I fell. I fell countless times, mostly because I was going so fast, and because I couldn't slow down, I would just make myself fall on purpose so as not to bump into any skiiers. It was really hard and tiring, but also quite fun. There is quite a thrill in skiing!
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| The mid-station Borreguiles |
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| From the station looking up |
By the time we made it down that first slope, we were pretty exhausted, and I was ready to call it a day. We took the cable car back down to Pradollano, returned our gear, but some souvenirs, then headed back to Granada. It was definitely a fun first experience, and a check off my bucket list! Skiing is an expensive sport though, so I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon, though I'd love to go skiing another time. :)
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